A CRIPPLED COLLEGE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2955, 15 December 1916, Page 8

A CRIPPLED COLLEGE

The report of the October -.Visiting Committee of the Wellington Technical Education Board has now been_ issued_ in pamphlet form, and its circulation should do something towards -stimulating a strong public , protest against the unpardonable neglect with • which ■ the local Technical College has been treated by the' Government. The National Government, it may be observed, _ has been long enough in office to incur full responsibility in the matter. The facts set out in. the report of the October Visiting Committee are by this ■'time pretty well known. Owing to a lack of accommodation which might very easily be made good, technical education is at present rather being strangled' than fostered in Wellington. . The existing accommodation is in the first place inadequate, and much of it is' unsuitable. Many more rooms are needed than are available, and not a -few ' of the. rooms in use are badly lighted and ventilated or otherwise unsuitable for the purposes to 'which they, are applied.- To make matters worse -the City Council and the Education Board are in urgent need of a proportion of the building' space now. occupied by tho Technical ■ College, so that there is an imminent prospect of a material reduction in its already cramped and inadequate accommodation. It is stated in tho pamphlet under notice that'in the last six years 5500 individual students have enrolled in the Wellington Technical College, and ' have taken courses occupying, on the average; one and a half yeatfs. In the same period 12,000 young peoplo in Wellington and suburbs, excluding Pefcone and Hutt Valley, have attained the age of twenty - years. It is computed that at least fifty per ccnt, of these young' people

would have taken courses occupying from two to three years if reasonable accommodation had been available. The average yearly enrolment should, therefore, have been at. least 2500 instead of less than 1500.' Pfom this it appears that not far. short of one-half the students who might annually enter the -.Collego are excluded for lack of space. _ Remembering that most of those who. do. enter have to pursue their studies in cramped workshops, and crowded and unsuitable class rooms," it should he hardly necessary to insist that immediate steps .must he taken to provide • a suitable building. The plea of lack .of funds w'lth which the Government .has. hitherto .met this legitimate demand is a plain proof of failure to grasp the facts. The Technical Education Board esti-mates-that, the present failure to make adequate: provision for technical education in -Wellington will entail an annual economic loss for many years of between £30,000 and £40,000. ' Considering the extent to which technical instruction promotes productive efficiency, and that as matters stand it is being denied to "thousands of pupils in the. space of. a .few years, tno estimate seemslto err. .on the side of moderation. Even on this basis, however,' the economic loss for a single year would more' than cover the total capital cost of a building which would adequately meet all needs, for some . years to come. Ministers are'heard at times on the subject' of after-war efficiency, and the' Minister . of Education has in hand the project of diverting a considerable number .of >ch'ilclren from secondary to technical schools, ' where they would spend Uieir' time to better purpose. . No better field, could be desired than Wellington _ affords at the present time for, giving'practical effect to the last-mentioned project, and by the same act' .laying the foundations of after-war efficiency. For the time being Ministerial talk and the conditions under which technical instruction is struggling along in Wellington present a staggering contrast. A sense of humour, not to speak of a sense of justice, should enable Mr. Hanan' and his colleagues to realise the fact, and to take action accordingly.