PORTABLE SCHOOLS

Evening Star, Issue 17765, 13 September 1921, Page 8

PORTABLE SCHOOLS

BETTER THAN FINE OLD BUILDINGS. Some interesting comments were made last week on the subject of portable schools by the superintendent of technical schools, Mr W. S. La Trobe, who is at present in Auckland. “Those who condemn portable schools are condemning something which may possibly bo the best solution of our difficulties,” he said, when expressing his personal opinion on the subject tea ‘Star’ representative. Mr La Trobe pointed out that there was a demand for manual training schools that could not be met at the present lime, and possibly some sort of movable temporary building might be necessary. What was.wanted was a type of building capable of being taken down and modified to suit changing conditions. The flexibility of the portable buildings was the important thing from the point of view of manual and technical colleges, in regard to which ideas advanced rapidly and improvements were constantly bemg sought. These portable buildings could be remodelled without anything being scrapped. Mr La Trobe said it was better to have a movable building that could bo quickly brought up to date ■ instead of a solid brick edifice, which was incapable of being modernised. Even London did not intend to put up permanent structures for chemical and other laboratories; all that was wanted was a good floor and a good roof, with plenty of light, the place, of course, being weatherproof. The immediate erection of a school of the movable type recently suggested by the Minister of Education has been approved by the' Auckland Education Board. The board’s architect reported that the movable schools would probably cost more than the orthodox wooden building of the same size, but they would possess the great advantage of being movable. It would be a good idea to erect one building at once, so that the board could determine the actual cost, which would probably ho rather higher than the department anticipated.