FREE PLAGE PUPILS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 95, 19 October 1909, Page 7

FREE PLAGE PUPILS.

» JJOT ENOUGH BOOM AT GIRLS' COLLEGE. K!EW BUILDING ASKED FOR. The matter of making provision for free-place pupils at the Wellington Girls' College is the subject of the following letter sent to the Secretary for Education yesterday by Mr. C. P. Powles, secretary to the College Board of Governors: — "With reference to the agreement by the Governors of the Wellington College and Girls' High School to take free place pupils at the Wellington Girls' College on the faith of a promise made by or on behalf of the Hon. the Minister for Education, that if additional accommodation be found neces^ sary the Government would defray the expense, I have the honour to remind you that the terms of the motion proposed by the Hon. Dr. Findlay, speaking with the authority of a Cabinet Minister, were : That the board agrees to receive female holders of proficiency certificates at the Wellington Girls' College to the extent of any existing vacant accommodation, and of any further accommodation provided N by the Government under section 10 oi the Education Act, 1908. "The governors are advised by the secretary of the Education Board, who consulted the inspector and the various head teachers of the Wellington city and suburban schools (not including Pet one and the Hutt Valley), that at the beginning of 1910 accommodation will be needed for 170 girls qualified as free place pupils, and wishful to attend a secondary school. This number includes about thirty pupils removing from the existing classes held in the various district high schools. The present room space of the Girls' College will allow of the admission of an additional attendance of 20 girls, and it is therefore necessary that a new building to accommodate 150 pupils shall be erected without delay. The governors consider that this calls for the putting up of a school in brick with six classrooms, a large assembly hall, necessary cloak rooms adjoining the class-rooms, and accommodation for instruction in physical science, with equipment and. furniture throughout. The total accommodation needed will be much the same as that already built for the boys at the Wellington College. There will be no need of a cooking room, as the cooking class can, by arrangement with the Education Board, be carried on in the Normal School buildings adjacent. The present assembly hall in the Girls' College is not large enough even for tho existing attendance, and it is suggested that it be converted into a gymnasium, for which it is very well adapted. "I am now directed to ask what pro•posals the Government have now to make with the view of enabling the governors to meet the requirements of the case, and in order to, assist in coming to a conclusion I have to mention the following points which should be carefully considered. "Site of new Building. — The area of the present ground is 1 acre 3 roods 1 pole," with a piece 57.9 "and 113 attached, but the shape of it is such that a comparatively large area is unsuited for building or playground purposes. A sufficient light and air space surrounding both new and old bui.' lings is very essential. "Playground. — A large and healthilyarranged playground is an absolute necessity for an institution such as the Girls' College. The present ground is all too smaD for the present school. There are two tennis courts, and the physical features of the ground prevent the addition of a hockey ground, croquet lawn, or, indeed, any other ground suitable for the practice of those physical exercises which are considered ati essential element in the school life of growing girls. "The governors are not aware of any ground which can be obtained by them suitable for so large and important an institution. Mention has been made of the college ground at Sussex-square, but as a fact there is no space available for buildings, as the land not now occupied is so precipitous as to be unsuitable ' without lnrge expenditure, to say nothing of the objection of having boys 1 and girls' secondary schools in such close contiguity."