School Bus Service

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 June 1950, Page 2

School Bus Service

Sir, —I read with great interest that the school bus service has been suspended after two years of service for high school children from Kumava to Greymouth and back, and that the Railway Department has made , arrangements to issue free tickets for the children until the Education Board can get another bus on the road. Well that is very good indeed, for the children who were carried in the free school bus, but what about the Paroa children who were put off the bus after one week at the beginning of this year.. There are three girls from St Mary’s High School and about six or seven Technical High School pupils who have to go in and out on Kennedy’s bus and this costs 2/6 a week, When we asked the authorities for the fare refund, we were told, “No refunds” as the school bus was running for all high school children. It was the head teacher of the Technical High School who had these children put off the school bus as he said it was over-crowded. Well if the children are debarred from the free bus, why can’t we have the fare refunded, like we had when there was no school bus? Five miles is too far to expect any child to walk or cycle in West Coast rain. If we kept them home from school while under 15 years of age, which my child is, we would scon be fined. So let us hope we get a school bus for all and not the few, as has been the case this last six months, and at the same time refused the fare refund.—-Yours etc . A. BLANCHETT, Paroa, June 20.

The school authorities to whom the above letter was referred confirmed that it had been necessary to transfer the Paroa children to,a private bus service, owing to overcrowding to a severe extent on the Kumara school bus: They pointed out, however, that Paroa was outside the statutory limit for “own transport” to school and there was no question of a refund of the costs of transport on the private bus being refused, provided that the necessary application form was completed and forwarded to the Education Department. It was considered that there must have been a misunderstanding about a refusal of a refund, as there had never been a case of an application being declined in such circumstances as outlined by the correspondent, provided that the necessary form was completed and forwarded to the authorities.