CONGESTED SCHOOL

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 150, 22 March 1934, Page 2

CONGESTED SCHOOL

Conditions at Technical College OVER 2000 ATTENDING Overcrowding at the Wellington Technical College is to be brought to the attention of the Government by the Education Board. Mr. A. C. Blake, one of the board’s representatives on the college board, said it was his duty to draw attention to the congestion in every part of the building. He had been taken over the institution by the principal (Mr. R. G. Ridling) and found that the cafeteria was being used as a classroom and so was the basement, and in the engineering branch they were taking classes in relays. The crowding was a great handicap to the school, ami students could not do the work Mr. Ridling would like. Plans for a new wing, estimated to cost £21,000, had been drawn and had bgen before the Government for some time. Over two thousand were' attending the college, half in the day and half at night. He moved that the Government be urged to take immediate steps to provide extra accommodation. Mr. C. H. Nicholls said he understood that quite a number of the students would, in normal times, have been out of the college and working at their trades. The chairman (Mr. T. Forsyth) and Mr. J. J. Clark assured Mr. Nicholls that the increase had been natural and would be permanent. Mr. Blake’s motion was carried.