"LAMENTABLE"

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 143, 14 December 1922, Page 6

"LAMENTABLE"

DELAY AT TECHNICAL COLLEGE

"THOUSANDS OF POUNDS LYING IDLE."

'■ Reference to the new Technical College Buildings'is made in the annual report of the director (Mr. J. H. Howell) presented at the Concert Chamber of the Town Hall this afternoon. The report states :— i "In May we gave up our tenancy of the notorious rooms that had been so long occupied in Cuba street and transferred the engineering department to the new college. The classrooms were only just finished; the ■ heating . installation was not completed; for months we have, had to walk through 'corridorr under' the plasterers' scaffolding and to carry on classes amid the many noises inseparable from building; ,but I believe no one, even under these circumstances,would have wished to postpone the removal for a single day. Next year there will be some limited accdmmodation for girls and we shall, therefore, be aMe to arrange for three, or more, classes to be transferred;. to the excellent .conditions of Mount Cook. "It is lamentable that the -whole of the front has not been completed, and that thousands.of pounds are thus left lying idle. It is not in any way the fault of the board, but is due simply to' the refusal of the Government both to make the necessary grant and to" allow the board to raise money by the issue of Government debentures—a plan that has been adopted in Pukekohe, in Hamilton, in Masterton, and elsewhere. We still hope that the Government will permit the money to be raised in ample time to allow the completion of this portion of the building boforo the next winter is upon us and thus enable more classes to escape from its present miserable Environment. When the front has been completed the next work should be to rescue the Home Science Department from the old tin, shed where it has been housed for so many years. It is a great tribute to Miss Ronnie's energy and capacity that even here she has-been able to produce such good results; but it is a grave, injustice, to teacher and students alike that these conditions have been allowed to persist so long 1., We have had a great health effort in Wellington lately, but while the community shows no more respect for the claims of housewifery than by providing a derelict old shed for the training of the girls for this important work, can we expect much progress to be made? The community must realise that the home is the foundation of national life, and that, under modern conditions, when vso few girls remain at home to receive training from their mothers, adequate public provision for the training is more" than ever necessary. In Wellington, the capital, this provision, is far worse than in' any other town, large ox small in New, Zealand. ' ■■ : . /