COLLEGE GROUNDS

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 150, 25 June 1921, Page 5

COLLEGE GROUNDS

GOVERNMENT'S LIABILITY FOR MAINTENANCE.

It vyas stated yesterday at the monthly meeting of the. ■ Wellington College Board of. Governors, that, in reply to a request for a grant of £593 18s 6d J» enable the board to refund to Mt. J. P Firth the amount expended by him on the maintenance of the school grounds during la«t year,-the Minister of Education (the Hon. C. J. Parr) ■ advised that while Mr. Firth's generosity was" to be commended, the Government's liability for the' maintenance of grounds waa limited to the proportion of the grant made under the regulations for general and incidental expenses that the board may devote to the purpose. In any case the practice of the Department was to refuse responsibility lor expenditure incurred before it was consulted. The Minister regretted, therefore, that he could hold out no hope of a grant for tKe purpose. The Chairman (Mr. W. F. Ward) remarked that the expenditure for the upkeep of the grounds would, have to come out of the. incidental expenses, which was quite an impossibility. ' Ifc was reported, however, that according to a statemenlt supplied by Mr. T. R. Cresswell (headmaster), the board would be able to spend about £550 on the ground this year.

Mr. Dentoo pointed out that the upkeep of the grounds in pre-war tiAi^s was SI W day. The Chairman said that th« board would have to make another effort At tha money available was insufficient. , '■'