GIRLS' COLLEGE

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 24, 27 July 1929, Page 15

GIRLS' COLLEGE

MINISTER'S VISIT

A visit was paid to the "Wellington Girls' College on Wednesday by the Hon. 11. Atmorc, Minister o£ Education, who was accompanied by Mr. C. H. Chapman, M.P. The visitors were welcomed by representatives o£ the Board oE Governors, the Parents' Association, and the principal of the school (Miss V. M. Greig). The stall' and school assembled in the Central Hall. Mrs. E. W. Kane, on behalf of the Board of Governors, pointed out the needs of tho school. Tho playing grounds, she said, were by no means adequate for tho number of sirls attending the college. The Board oi Governors was greatly indebted to the Parents' Association, which had already raised £400 —a substantial sum, though not nearly enough for the requirements. She referred also to the lack of seating accommodation in the hall. This, she said,-was evident to the Minister, for more than half the school was standing during the whole of the proceedings. In thanking the Minister for the great interest he was taking in education and for the work that he had already accomplished, Mrs. Kane said she was optimistic concerning the future, realising that, as soon as the money was available, Mr. Atmore would favourably consider the needs of this school. Miss Greig pointed out further needs of the school, also the difficulties under which the school was working. The hi|h schools were reaching out to meet the demands of modern life, and the Girls' College to-day had over 70 per cent, of its pupils taking one or other branch of handwork— needlework, cookery and housecraft, drawing, and practical science. The principal added that the staff and the pupils had done a great deal to raise money for a piano, a gramophone, a balopticon, pictures, library books, some typewriters, equipment for the art room, lantern slides, games material, etc., and •she hoped that when the Minister was considering the needs of the college he would encourage the staff aftd girls still further by making a liberal response. Mr. G-. W. Morgan, president of the Parents' Association, assured the Minister that the parents had the welfare of the school at heart and that they were particularly concerned in the grounds improvement scheme, for which they asked his practical sympathy. They would, continue to do all in their power for the Girls' College. Mr. Chapman said he had been struck by the able manner in which the needs of the school had been placed before the Minister and by the way in which some of the school's requirements had been met by the efforts -of the staff and pupils. He would do his best to "back up" the Minister in his efforts for the school,, and added that he had pleasure in being associated with the Hon. Mr. Atmore on his first visit to the school. My. Atmore said he had travelled much about the Dominion to see the various schools. He considered that as Minister of Education he should try and get a first-hand knowledge of the needs of education, but he had only a limited amount of money and he must consider carefully the best way in which to meet those needs. He contended that there should be unification of control of tech-1 uical and secondary education. Secondary schools, he said, were reaching out after technical work and technical schools after the subjects that heretofore had been taught. mainly by the secondary schools. He urged the girls to be loyal to their country and to cherish high ideals. He pointed out to them the horrors of war, which brought such disaster to the world, and said that it would be his aim to inculcate in the minds of the rising generation a hatred of war, the cost of which was so enormous, not only in the toll that it took of hinnan lives, but in the waste of energy and wealth which could be devoted to the education and uplift of the natiou. He exhorted the girls to live lives of service and to use their influence in bringing peace and happiness into the world.

Tlie head prefect called for three cheers for Mr. Atmox-c, and the school was granted, at the Minister's request, a whole holiday in honour of his visit.