EDUCATIONAL MATTERS.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume IX, Issue 50, 12 February 1919, Page 5

EDUCATIONAL MATTERS.

HAWKE’S BAY DEPUTATIONS TO HON. A. J. HANAN. The Hon. A. J. Hanau, Minister for Education, arrived in Napier by mail train last evening and received deputations at the Education Board’s offices as stated hereunder: NAPIER MAIN SCHOOL. Mr. J. Vigor Brown, M.P., said there had been much irritation in connection with the Napier Main School site question. They had no definite information at to its settlement. The Hon. Sir James .Allen had not actually committed himself when visiting here. He (Mr Brown) wished to know if it was settled f The Minister said the site had been definitely settled a,nd a Gazette notice would shortly appear making the necessary proclamation. No one was more pleased than himself that this long standing difficulty was settled. He was tempted to say much in this connection to certain comments made on the Department’s delay but some day the people of Napier would learn of the difficulties he had experienced, in connection with the site. When this information they wotfla acquit both himself and the Department of blame. The Colenso Hill site had been adopted. SCHOOL REQUISITES. Mr. Brown asked if the question of establishing a central depot for the selling of school books and requisites which had been favourably supported in the House recently had been gone into. The Minister replied he believed that this proposal would greatly reduce the price of school books,, also •' the price of material for educational offices etc. Parents had been complaining about the expense of purchasing books, and their number, also condemning the continual changing of books. He was anxious to help in every way, and he hoped the power would be. given him to effect .the necessary reform. He was of opinion that the time was not far distant when there would be a universal set of Dominion school books. Parents also complained about the books in secondary schools. For his part he did not believe in text books and when he saw a teacher instructing a class thereby he was disposed to consider him not a good teacher. An amount had been placed on the Estimates for the book supnly proposal and if approved by the Government it would mean a great saving. Tn fact hp hoped the time would come when the State would print some of these books. It was not generally known that, the Board had a fund for the subsidy of text books to children coming from another district and who had to get a new set. Neither the Department nor >he State was responsible if this was not done. He did not kndwrru-. practice of the district. CLIVE GRANGE RESIDENTS APPEAL FOR A SCHOOL. A deputation comprised of . five residents urged upon the Minister the necessity for a school at Clive Grange. Mr D. Mills said for many, years they had had great difficulty in getting- their children to school. Soin<of them had to come three or four miles to catch the bus and then travel a couple of miles to. school. One child of nervous disposition who was nine years of age, was unable to travel in this way and could not go to school at all. Another boy had to travel fully eight miles to get to school. The *4B children were now being conveyed in two trips a distance of four miles in an ordinary 5-seater car to school. Some of them had to sit on the hood and some day there would be a serious accident. The residents had petitioned the Board to get them a school. The Board had advised them to get a suitable building, pay for alterations etc., and rental for 6 months after the war. . This was agreed to if the Education Department would provide a teacher. It was costing £5 a week for the transport, and it was only a week-to-week business. In lieu of this they asked for a teacher and they would get the building ready. There were now 90 children in the. Grange, and in addition to the 48, six others were ready to go. The Act says no school shall (be established where there is one within four miles. In Hastings there .were several schools and within easy distance of one another, and they .also had good roads there. He asked the Minister to delete the clause and let them have a school. They wanted a teacher—really no more. Mr. AV. McKeown felt confidentthat within a short time they must establish a school there as the district was expanding. The children got th#ir cl othes cut when travelling tn school. •Another member said that as the result of the subdivision of an 400acre orchard, 14 more families would settle in the district, thus increasing considerably the number of children.

In reply, the Minister said he was anxious to provide educational facilities where needed and on the bess linos. All over the world there was a desire to get a higher standard of educational efficiency., but this could not be obtained by increasing the number of small schools. Consolidation was necessary. In a. small improperly equipped school, the standard of education was not to be got. Every parent should be anxious to send his child to where the standard of education was higher. In the United States etc., consolidation was being widely carried out. The clause in "the Act had been inserted to discourage establishment of small schools. Their increase was not desirable. This subject in question was not a new one as it had been reported on by several inspectors who saw- no justification in recommending a small school. Figures A,-.wed that Ciive school was not fully utilised by its 157 pupils. It was not desirable to undermine the standard of a good school Air. G. F. Roach, chairman of the Rnni'd, felt that in snitc of the inspectors’ recommendations this school should be granted.

Cont.Quing, the Minister said arrangements were being made for a proper system of transport throughout, the schools. He would discuss the matter with the inspectors, and see if it were possible to accede to the request. Frankly speaking, however, then' were some weaknesses in the case. TARADALE SITE. DIFFICULTY SOLVED. Messrs J. E. Hill (chairman of the Taradale School Committee) and J. P. Wiliamson (headmaster), waited on the Minister in connection with the site for the Taradale s de school. Mr. Hill said three \ears ago v.. Board had started correspondence in this connection. The side school was overcrowded and the chiidrt n rwri had to cross a little bridge to get over to the playground, A suitable site at a reasonable figure had been •ffered by Mr. Harnson,, but the Department had d;;iied-dadied m making the grant, and now the uff-.-r had been withdrawn. It had since been sold at <£!>>• l higher than the offer to the Board. There -were now. h.iwever other sites with similar t il/i’ic- under offer. One was on A '-r 300 yards away from the present site. The committee wanted to know why the site had not been accepted. A grant had eventually been made rot about half the site. Mr. Hill also stressed the necessity for improve ments at the headmaster’s residence. Mr. J. P. Williamson said it was imperative that some proper provision should be made for the children. The school roll had more than doubled what it was eleven years ago. He also (stressed the lack of conveniences at the residence. The Hon. Hanan said he wished to remove the impression that he had been responsible for the_ delay in purchasing the site. In Xovem her, 1917 they approved of the aonlication and made a grant or £549 for the site. This was based on the Government valuation at thi time. Nothing had been brought before him since, this was the first he had learnt of the position. If that amount had not been sufficient advice should have been sent to the Department. There was no further communication, but they should have been advised. The speaker himself was very sorry the property had been let. However, when an application came before him he would give the matter consideration. “I thought the section was ours,” said the Minister. As to the residence. The question of residences had given him cause fot serious consideration. It was a difficult subject to deal with, and he was very annoyed to find th. shocking condition some or the houses had been allowed to get into. Some of the single teachers had no respect for private property. Many of the residences he visited were found empty because the teachers preferred to live in town and travel by train etc. In come places the building of teachers residences wasn’t a satisfactory proposition. He had cited an instance where he had seen an enamel bath in one house full of coal. The whole question was under con sideration and he hoped to bring proper proposals under Cabinet’s consideration. In this case, as in the site question, when an application was made by the Board «.«. gether with the Inspector’s ieports e would be pleased to expedite matters. He said the position, even now, did not alter the fact that the grant had been made. Mr. Roach said he had been disappointed over the delay in the Taradale matter, but when the board saw that the price w/s £7sv and the grant £390, the two were so far apart that they didn’t think it worth while chasing. Mr. Grant said if the Department wasn’t to blame, who was? The Minister said if be was to accept the valuation of the Department’s inspectors and outsiders for some buildings he would have approved of about £9,000 in excess of what he afterwards, through negotiations obtained the property for. He had made enough in this way by not acceeding to valuations. He wouldn’t take all ths blame? “I’ll see if we can’t remedy the matter and get to work.

TECHNICAL COLLEGE. INADEQUATE ACCOMMODATION. The members of the Napier Technical College Board of Governors, waited on the Minister in connection with the inadequate accommodation at their college. The day roll was now 265 and it is expected that 25 more will enrol this month. The roll had rapidly increased from a little over 80 in 1908 to 265 to-day. The classes were so big now that if they were made the standard size there would be no room for the pupils. It was now necessary to use the practical class rooms for class purposes and in order to keep pupils employed they had to be given an undue amount of practical work. The college was well equipped for 150 public but it was built on a quarter acre section without a sixteenth available for playground. Physical training was out of the question. The present conditions only meant decreased efficiency as nothing could be done on the site and it was cheating the pupils of proper education. There wag a scheme proposed for disposal of the building. It would make an excellent manual training centre. Mr Beattie here asked if the college was to participate in the Howarl (Tikokino) endowment. They had 25 agricultural pupils and* 12 returned soldiers in training. They were anxious to know what codld be done. They wanted to do all in their power to help the returned soldiers but they were handicapped for want of accommodation. In reply to the Minister, Mr. Beattie said yes. they proposed erecting a new building, as they could do nothing on the present site. They would like the new one within easy access to the tramway route and with an area for agricultural experimental purposes. They want ed an area of four or five acres. The school roll itself speaks well for the success of the school. The Minister said it was no. necessary to emphasise the cast He hoped they were not conveying to the public that he was respou sible for toe erection of the college on this area which did not allow ol> expansion. Technical education was then in its infancy and tnerc was a prejudice against it —now r was recognised as a most valuable education. In Mr. Massey’s electorate, also in Feilding and Hauen seven .acres had been provided fret for this purpose. Tais showed how keen the people were in tee matter. Invercargill was in a similar posi tion to Napier., An attempt ha.l been made by 'a responsible officer of the Department to place him in an invidious light with .what had taken place at Invercargill, to the effect that too much money was being spent there. The allegation was untrue. Statements such as these placed the Minister in a

wrong position. £300,000 increase for school buildings had been placed on the estimates but applications for schools had so increased that this money wouldn’t go far. If the building prices continue to go up, it will be difficult to accede to th" requests. They could only cut according to their cloth and according to the money they had. A fourroomed wooden building now cost £725. He wanted to help them. Something should be done, but how were they to proceed. He was «orrv thi« building had to be vacated. The trainins of returned -oldicro would be considered and mul’d help their application. He would do all he could to expedite s satisfactory decision. He was t.’n-ed to see that the people here .iu>eni«ed the necessity for developing education. He also favoured their continuation class -ihepi'. He would give earnest consideration to the representations. NAPIER SOUTH SCHOOL. Messrs G. Cook and H. McKenzie urged on the Minister the necessity of extending the present Napier South School site by the acquiring of two adjaqent sites. The Minister said the matter had already been considered unfavourably by the Cabinet. He would, however, reconsider the matter on his return to Wellington. MANUAL INSTRUCTION. Mr. J. Clark Thomson brought forward the matter of manual and technical instruction. He referred to the disabilities suffered by about 400 children in Napier for the fast two vears. They had been told by the department that nothing could be done until the new school was built. The Minister .at this point, said he recognised the great need for such a school as Mr. Thompson had described. The question of the site having been settled, the matter of the manual school would receive his earnest and immediate attention and consideration. i Mr. Thompson said he hoped no rbrther time would be lost. TEACHERS’ SALARIES. Mr. G. F. Roach raised the question of the inadequate salaries paid to secondary school teachers. Until a better standard of payment was introduced, they would have many high schools languishing because of insufficient support. Certain private institutions were able to offer better salaries than the State schools, and so secure the best brains in the Dominion. Mr. Hanan said he was yet to bo convinced that the private secondary schools were more efficient than the State secondary schools. He did not think the question of salaries wag so serious as Mr Roach had said. He was anxious to find a way to bridge the gap between the primary and the secondary school. The matter brought up by Mr. Roach would be considered when the educational programme for next session was drawn up. He would go into the matter with the Director of Education. Mr. Roach thanked the Minister on behalf of the Education Board for the time he had so kindly placed at their disposal.