A BATTLE OF SITES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIII, Issue 36, 12 February 1907, Page 2

A BATTLE OF SITES.

PETONE'S SECOND SCHOOL. WHERE WILL IT BE? Those concerned in Petone's educational welfare are awaiting with interest tha result of the sacor.d request from tho Wellington Education Board to the Educational Department for tho purchise of a site on the Hutt-road, known as the West-end sito, for tho purpose of a second primary school. Tho powers that bo have shown themsolves to bo opposed to this site, despite tho strenuous advocacy of tho local School Committee, backed up by tho local public and the Education Board. A member of tho Post staff was detailed to 'make enquiries into the whole matter and to visic the localities in question, and as a'result ho has to report that the board and committso have a strong t.asu which the views of the department so far as they are asccrtainablc havo failed to weaken. It is considerably over a year ago sinco representations were -made to the board of the urgent nec.op&ity.of providing mofo accommodation in the only Potone School, as it was much overcrowded. The board could not fail to recogaise tho necessity, but as the attendance had reached nearly 1000 it was agreed -that a new school should be erected. The West-end site recommended by tho committco was approved. Then cropped up the whole question of tho "educational requirements of the Hu'tt Valley," and, with Mr, Lee, chairman of the board, in the forefront of tho opposition to the committee's wishes the "battle of thu cites" began. It would be tedious to give all the detailed happenings since. The first mistake was' to try and force on Petone an area at tho end of AYhite'a Li-no at tho' unbuilt on end of tho borough. Petone and Ilutt Committees alike arose in protest, and that site was abandoned. The site now favoured by tho Governni cnt is one on. its o\s"n property in the Wilford Settlement, two acres of the land acquired for y/crkers' homes. This site, it is not denied, is a good one so far as it goes, and tho Education Board has shown it appreciates the need for securing it as a roservo for school purposes by formnlly applying for it, but it docs not meet tho present necessities of the position in tho way tho West-end sito does. The poulation of tho west end is ten times that of the east in the proximity of the Wilford site. There arc several hundreds of children ready now % to 'attend a new school at the west end, for that part of Petone — to the north-east of the railway station — is thickly populated. Tho erection of a school there would prove a great boon and relieve the serious •congestion at the main school, which is daily becoming more difficult to cope with. ' There is no doubt that in the course of time a third school at the eastern end will be necessary. But that time is not yet. A significant feature of the agitation in Petono for the west-end site i 8 tbe_ remarkable unanimity that seems to exist, for even "east-endors" have "thrown in their lot with the "west-enders," recognising priority of. claim. ' The question now is : WTiat is tho department or the Minister going to do? On tho one hand is, apparently, the individual opinion of an official — perhaps more ; on the other, the reitorated request of tho Education Board backed up by tho local bodies and a very atrong public opinion in the place most affected.