HEATING OF SCHOOLS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 29, 4 February 1937, Page 14

HEATING OF SCHOOLS

CRITICISM BY ENGINEER

Adverse comment on the heating of schools was made by the engineer, Mr. N. G. McLeod, at a meeting of the Thames Valley Power Board on Tuesday, states a Te Aroha correspondent. He submitted a report on the possibility of substituting electrical heating for coal fires. ■ "Quite often in New Zealand schools are improperly or insufficiently heated, and the children are often very cold," stated the report. "Fortunately, most of them have the great recuperative capacity of youth and are not suffering permanent ill effects. It can do them no good, however, and the position should be remedied in quite a number of schools.

"The idea is to have all the windows open even on the coldest day in winter and a roaring fire in a corner of the room. What happens is that the cold air comes in through the windows, falls to the floor of the room, rushes over and chills the feet of the children, finally to disappear as waste heat up the flue of the stove. The children nearest the stove often have their faces dried up with the radiant heat from the red-hot stove and their feet are frozen, while those children furthest away often feel frozen all over.

"These may be harsh things to say, as they indicate a lack of knowledge of the elementary principles of heating, but they should be said in the interests of the children. In the newer schools, I understand, more scientific methods are being adopted. There is ■no reason why ample fresh air should not be given, but without discomfort to the children.

"It is quite possible that in many schools sufficient fuel is provided to give the required comfort if the heat were properly applied. With the apparatus at the disposal of these schools it is impossible to apply the heat properly, and they cannot hope to obtain satisfactory conditions without considerable capital expenditure."

The formation of miniature rifle clubs by students at German high schools has been approved by the Ministry of Education.

The new Japanese destroyer Umikaze. capable of a speed of 34 knots, was launched recently at th« naval dockyard at Maiztiru.