TARAMAKI EDUCATION BOARD

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXII, 26 October 1916, Page 5

TARAMAKI EDUCATION BOARD

At the meeting of this Board in New j-lymouth yesterday there were present: Messrs It. Masters (chairman), H. Trimble, E. Bixon, C. A, Wilkinson, M.P., S. G. Smith, and the l{ev. A. B. Chapoell

CHAIRMAN'S REPORT. + The chairman reported- tliat fts had duvmg the month visited a numter of schools throughout the district, including several in the area recently taken over from the Wanganui. Board He had been impressed with- the urn-cut need for attending to th* repairs' 9$ the school buildings,, especially the outbuildings,, and recommended.; (1) That the Board call tenders for thus erection at any new buildings within, the next six isjonths>;.. (£> that the overseer be instructed, to iseeo his staff s4tendin°to maintenance work alone; $) that if the averseer thinks it advisable he be allowed to call tenders for repair work; (4> that ths- schools be ta&en in a face and; ba put in a good stivte of repair irrespective ©f any application having been- made' by tiie committee or not; (5) that- in< view of the heavy calls likely to be made on the Bosad's funds for repair^ duaiMg the comiJEbg year, the committees.^ foe circular^«cl asking them to* em-tssiL, ■as much as possible, their requests £or grants In moving the- adojdjion of ..the report, the chairman saad it appearedl to him to be a wise course if, instead! of waiting for each ootnmittee to mak» application for repailisi, the Boardi should have a scheme^ skxsh as he hadE suggested, whereby i£ vpftauld have to bear the responsibility- off seeing that the buildings were kepi; in proper repair

Mr Wilkinson seconded' the motion He said he was especially in favor c the suggestion for the > staff to' atten* to the schools in groups-, syster of asking each committee to send ii recommendations regarding repairs wa absolutely out of date, and* liad >. in hi district at any rate, caused a grea deal of dissatisfaction. The' schools a the southern end were possibly in ; worse state, than those in th« . Ne\ Plymouth district, for in some eases i appeared to have been a hopeless jol trying to get anything done] and so i the Taranaki BoaVd could do this i would cause a great deal of satisfac tibn. The report was adopted. TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION. In accordance with instructions, M: A: Gray, Director of Technical Instsruc tion, presented proposals for the 1 work ing of the enlarged district. Haw era —At this centre, I think (saic the instructor) there is every prospec: of good work being done in connectioi with, day classes, and I recommend thai day dasses b.e established on similai lines to those conducted at New .'Ply mouth. ~ . It would b e necessary t< advertise for a commercial instructor capable of teaching book-keeping, shorthand, typing and ordinary commercia subjects. . . I am aware that tht adootio'n of this proposal would mean s considerable outlay on the part of thi Board, but I have every confidence thai there will b.e a fine centre at Hawera The peopleaacr c keen, and the town it surrounded by a fine district with vei*s good roads. In addition to these points, I have suggested, to the Technical Committee at Hawera that the townspeople should be asked, to guarantee a sum of £200 per annum for twc years; and I am advised that there will be no difficulty about this.

Eltham—At. this centre I think, for tihe present, we shall have-to continue, somewhat fon the ; same lines as hitherto. Next year, however, I shall arrange for ah instructor from the college here to take engineering work at Eltham. It ought also to be possible

to have a good building construction class at this centre. If the class warrants it, I can provide an instructor" in this subject: I recommend that Mr Lightbourne, who has had charge of the classes up to now, be offered the position of supervisor. I have not yet had time to visit other parts of the district, but hope to be able to report on Mariaia.. Kaponga, and other peaces next meeting. / „ 'Manual Classes—-The woodwork and cookery work of'Hawera and Normanbj would be taken by Mr Jackson and Miss Holford, as at present. Country Classes—The most importani move we have to face in.the development of manual work is that, affecting the country districts. As things are ai present, a community situated thres miles from a centre, and off the rail way line, is worse off educationally than a town thirty miles away, and or the railway line. In order to do some; | thing to remedy this state of affairs as -far as woodwork instruction is concerned, I propose to^ attempt the inauguration of a circuit to be worked by ar itinerant instructor. The circuit woulc extend round the mountain, finishing uj at .Eltham. The instructor would hay( to travel by motor cycle, and one kii of "tools would probably be sufficient The tools would b e carried in a side-car l etc. Mangatoki—l visited Mangatoki am found the committee there very keei about manual and technical work. The^ particularly want woodwork and dress making. With regard to the dressmak ;ing, a class has been arranged, and hai heen in progress for some two or thre< weeks. The roll'number is 13; the in structress, Miss Simsoh, travels fron New Plymouth. The question of wood work will receive attention when thi "round the mountain" scheme is beinj gone into, and in the meantime M: Morton, the chief inspector, has sane tioned the substitution of woodwork fo: j cardboard work, the instruction bein; taken by Mr Curteis, headmaster, have arranged for the loan of som< spare tools from Eltham. This arrange ment is, of course, only a temporar; one. . The report ,was adopted. ADJUSTMENT WITH WANGANUI The committee set up to confer wit] the Wanganui Board on the adjust ment of the Board's accounts presentei its report. The principal matter fo adjiistment was the Wanganui Board' liability for the reinstatement of th old and worn-out buildings, which wa estimated by ths Taranaki Board' overseer to amount to £4100. It wa finally agreed by the conference to re commend the two boards to confiri the Taranaki Board's acceptance c £2000 in full payment of the clam The sum of £1000 would be paid on year after peace was declared, and th second £1000 a year later.

The Wanganui Board telegraphed that it had adopted the,, recommendation of its representatives in terms of the basis agreed upon at • the conference.

The chairman (Mr R. Masters) explained the circumstances which had actuated the committee in agreeing to the compromise arrived at. and.moved that the report be adopted. .

Mr Wilkinson seconded the motion for the adoption of the report, and Mr Dixon suonorted. Mr Trimble said he was sorry he could not compliment the sub-commit-tee on. the arrangement they had made. It appeared to him that Wanganui had got the best of the deal. Mr Chappell said that although he appreciated the spirit of compromise that had actuated the committee he agreed in part with Mr Trimble.

•After further discussion, the motion was put and carried, Messrs Smith and JLnmble dissenting. Mr Chappell then moved: "That the Department be asked to furnish us with a .statement of the AVanganui -Boards liabilities for the re-building ol schools taken over by this Board " Mr Smith seconded, and it was earned without dissent. GENERAL.

A letter from the Hawera Technical feehool, asking for the transfer of the scholars of the secondary department of the Hawera District High School i rom the Technical School t£ the District High fechool, on the South Road was referred to the chairman, with power to. act.

JThe Board's- sonertors forwarded their| opraon that the Board was quite within its. rfghte m appointing a teacher by transfer from one school to *nother_sehoal of/the same grade or of -♦higher grade, without inviting apEweations by advertisement The overseer's report, dealing with lepairs to various schook, was adopted Jhe overseer was instructed to prepaid plans Mr the Normanby school for the approval of the Board n™J?A ter &Om' c Ha^«-a School •uomaattee, re repairs, was referred to tlie cifeief mspSGtor to report on Ac«snnts amounting to £430f were passed for payment. ™S%? frf "S 01" -^' Tec^eaT Education made tbe following rectanmendations -— Haweya—Mr JstEson to- Be paicl £9nt> per anoa'm for instmction of day classes, afte evemiig dass and one teachers' class, if necessary, to S et-her 1K £'5- s^perrision. The amount t6 be paitf from technical manual and 'teachers' fwmds, onsbasis to 6* feetf. Miss Holfcjs^ to be' jsid" £loff per an3mm for day classes,. .and:t?w6 evening ofasses and one '.teachers 1 class per week if necessary,- th e salaiy to Be paid from technical, mairaar and" iJeacfiers r funds Commercial instructor to be advertfsecf for at £200 per annum. " Eftham^Mr Lightb'onrne, £20 pe«-an-flum for supex^sion, to^ be paid out •f technical funds: