CANTERBURY COLLEGE FORESTRY SCHOOL

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 184, 3 May 1934, Page 8

CANTERBURY COLLEGE FORESTRY SCHOOL

Loss on Institution “NO JUSTIFICATION FOR CONTINUANCE” % “If the school were continued it would mean that the cost per student to the taxpayer would be about £l2O per annum over and above the fees paid,” remarked the Minister of Education, Hon. R. Masters, when invited last evening to comment on the recent announcement regarding the- closing of the School of Forestry at Canterbury College. Mr. Masters pointed out that it had been necessary for the Government to provide considerable additional financial assistance to Canterbury College to enable it to continue the ordinary functions of the college. “The Canterbury College,” said Mr. Masters, “has suffered a loss of nearly £6OOO per annum from the fall in rents from endowments due to the depression, and, as a result, it has been necessary to increase the Government grant for arts and general purposes. The Government grant of £lOOO per annum to the School of. Forestry was withdrawn from April 1, 1932. The loss to the college on the school in 1932 was £653, and the loss last year was £766. The estimated loss in 1934 is £959, and by the end of this year the estimated cash deficit in the School of Forestry account will be over £3OOO.

“In 1931 there were 26 forestry students, in 1932 the number had fallen to 15, in 1933 to 9, and for the first term this year only 8 students are in attendance, two of whom are first-year students. If the school were continued it would mean that the cost per student to the taxpayer would be about £l2O per annum' over and above fees paid by the student. It has to be remembered also that there is a surplus of trained foresters in New Zealand, and a number of ex-students of the School of Forestry cannot obtain professional work, and are employed in a number of cases as forest labourers. There is, therefore, no justification for the continuance of the school at the present time.”'