WELLINGTON COLLEGE

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 123, 25 May 1923, Page 8

WELLINGTON COLLEGE

W THB EDITOR,

( Sir, —A categorical letter from Mr. T. S. Ronaldson, dated 13th inst., appeared in your columns last week. The answer given by the Department to Mr. Ronaldson's questions, although in very general terms, should be sufficient to convince him and your readers that the implications contained in his letter are unfounded. It may, however, be desirable to more precisely clear up some of the questions raised by Mr. Ronaldson. 1. With regard to_ the preparatory department, it may be said that any deficit shown was caused by the very high rentals paid for temporary buildings. Such a charge as rental would not, of course, bts made against an institution owning its own buildings, and in this light the preparatory school was Belf-supporting. The question is, however, important, as the preparatory school is now carried on by means outside of college revenue. 2. Tho implication with regard to loss on hostel accommodation is unfair. The Girls' College had no hostel accommodation until the beginning of last year; previously it was left to private enterprise to provide boarding accommodation. Tho suggestion of a loss during tho last ten years of thousands of pounds is therefore ridiculous.

Regarding tho questions 3, 4, S, and 6, the Department's reply to the effect that about .£12,000 has been spent in providing a Girls' Hostel, while preparations are being made to spend £40,000 on accommodation for the boys, completely answers the questions raised. Although separate accounts are not kept, the suggestion that the Girls' College has profited financially from the Boys' cannot be supported by facts. The two institutions have about kept pace with one another in numbers, and their incidental grant has been about equal. It is true, I believe, that when accommodation for free-place holders was firEt provided the Boys'. College was granted in 1907 a sum of £10,000 and the Girls' College, four years later, less than half this sum.

With regard to Mr. Ronaldson's last question, respecting the condition of the Boys' College, I desire to say that no good purpose can. be served by setting the claims of the boys agninst those of tha girls, or vice versa. The Girls Parents' Association has never done so, and the only object in writing is to correct any misapprehension which may have been created by ,Mr. Ronaldson's letter. It is admitted that no secondary school in New Zealand is so oversrowded in both class room and eround space as the Wellington Cirls' College, and it is due to all parents who are. of course, parents of tho boys as well as the girls, to support any movement which "'ill improve present condition!!.—T am. etc

R. AY. SHALLCKASS, Hon. Secretary, Girh' College Parents' Association, 2*tU M*y.