OKAIAWA SCHOOL

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 2 September 1919, Page 4

OKAIAWA SCHOOL

Oi^NiiSG -CEREMOISi i

t (From Our Own Correspondent.; '. 1"Bre Wits a iaige gau iU mig in the jcnooi grounds on j-naay -iLernoon upon -uiie occasion of tne Opcuiu^ o i txie low scaooi. Ampng tiuwe present were ,ne members or the 'laraaaja Jidueatiou board, tne inemjbers ot tae OKaiawa, school Committee, and the head . teachers of several of tne sunoonam-- ; schools!. • -Air A. Lees, chairman of the school aommitae, in opening tne pruoeecungs, said tnat he. thought it was omy iittiuoseemg tnat peace nad just recently be"n signet!, that they should commence by ■ singing the National Anthem, and this ' was aoordingly done. Mr .Lees read apologies for unavoidable absence from Mesrs Dixon and Strack. Mr Lees re--, terred to the efforts made by the committee for years past to get a new school, as .the old building hadl been ! both insanitary and inadequate. The Wanganui Education Board, under whom they had been until 'the last three years, had been liberal in pro- ' mises, but it had been found that they '■ had! never even put in an application : tor a grant. Upon coming under the. laranaki Education Board that body at once realised the great necessity for n ; new schoool, and lost no time in gettmg to work. The result was the fine buildiTi- which they now had. During the-period.taken up by the erection of the school the scholars had been tauarht in the new Town Hall under somewhat adverse conditions, and great credit was due to the teachers for the manner in which they had carried on under those, conditions. He felt sure they would) appreciate the new school. In referring to the school committee, Mr Lees thought^that two of the -members, Messrs Chivers and Tiplady, were deserving of special mention. Both had been on the committee for the past twenty-one years, and had been good and consistent workers. Mr Tiplady if be£ n one pf best workers with whom he had come in contact, always willing to assist with any work which required to; be. done. Mr Lees ®ai,d he was not going to apologise for the state of the ground. They all knew .whatthe erection of1 new buildings meant, but they intended1 to make things shipshape as soon as possible, and he hoped that•■; Gkaiawa would soon regain the position ;which, she had held in past years in the. -matter of .the school gardens. . . Mr E. O. Chivers said it cave him much pleasure to be present that' after-1 noon, upon what might fittingly be described a 6 a great occasion. He. considered! it was a fortunate day for Okaiawa w : hen- : it came under the jurisdiction of the Taranaki Education Board and he congratulated the Board, the children,- the parents and th e teachers upon the fine buildins; -before, them, i ■ : Mr Eaves said he had not come pre pared to speak, but he could most heartily join in ;'congratulating the people of Okaiawa upon possessing such ian up-to-date school- .All; the credit was not due to the Board, but a good' deal of it to the energetic committee/ . Mr Masters/ chairman of the Board, thanked the Okaiawa School Committee for the honor it had done him in asking : him to perform the •bpening.:. ceremony. The Minister of Education Had been unable to come up, and^ in the absence of that gentleman, he would do his best to fill^ the breach. The old school which had just been replaced had been built in 1882. Grants had "been made at intervals for repairs and'additions, but his; board had at once realised that it would be better, in the .-interests of all concerned, to erect a new school than to go on-.patching-and adding-. He and ;Mr Wilkinson had put the; matter: before the Department.,, and had! sue-, ceeded in obtaining a grant for the erection of new buildings. The members of the Board had visited all the school;? in the; district, ario 1 had decided that Normanby had first claim to ,an©\r school. "When that school. was rerected. they hadmade. a promise; that,Okaiawa should be next, and that promise had been carri^dl but. Mr Masters eulogised the ; gchobl^^ committee,and especiallythe" chairman," ;for the.';, energetic; way^in which; they, had kept Qkaiawa?s:; hei«bs before th# Board. If those present only knew how many times he n^d had to answer the phone they would realise that in Mr Lees' they had a chairman whb'had the interests ;of.educaiipiii of the children; and of thej Hteacher^, at lieart. He desired also- to congratulate the parents in connection with the piirchase of additional • ground for the school. The old. horse paddock nad been sold for £200, and a Barker one adjoining the school groundsi had beeii purchased for £275: .The 'householders had put their hands: in their pocket* and miade up the balance;.' In oonclusioh,: Mr Masters1; oohgratulated- OkaiH awa upon possessing; -such a fine school; and trusted that Mr Iniiesj the head teacherj would soon be restored tb health. Mr Innes' health; hadi without doubt, been affected by the conditions under which he had been working. Mr Masters had much pleasure in: d©claring: the school officially opened j andi he hoped the boys and girls, attending it would: grow up to Toe good and worthy citizens. ; :. ■.■-.-'•■ ■.-....' \'.'.,- "':'■'■■'■,'

Those present then sat down to a most excellent afternoon tea provided by the ladies, after which^ Mr Lees proposed the toast of the Tarari^kj Edtica-; •tdon Board, coupled/with the name of Mr White, of New Plymouth. In doing so, Mr Lees paid a fitting tribute to the Board's overseer, Mr-\Moore i j All the buildings erected by the Boai-d had been supervised by Mr Moore, and they > had ample: evidence of his. ability in the schools erected at Normanby and Okai-, awa. •';■•; . •.•■ ■..:' ..;./■''..'' y.;.- '{■ ■■ .■ '■,•'"':

Mr White said he represented the ' northern end of the ; district., and when he told those present that, that dSs^ ttrict reached half way to;; Auckland they would realise: to some extent the task of the members of the Board- He had. ; with his fellow mmebers, visited Okaiawa and other centres in the southern end twice before, in order to make themselves conversant with the needfe of the district. , .'..'. Mr drivers proposed the toast of the ladies. It would not be right to close the proceedings without expressing their very great appreciation of the work accomplished by the ladies of Okaiawa upon that and other occasions. (Applause and cheers). Proceedings were enlivened by a- song from Miss. Joll. and a, pianoforte solo by Miss Doris Joll. * ' Included in the assembly were many ex-pupils, three of whom attended the school over thirty-five years ago. THE SOCIAL. ■In the evening there was a further gathering in the Town Hall, when a most enjoyable time was spent in dancing* games and musical items. The musical part of the programme was opened by a trio by Miss D. Joll (piano), Mr W. Sewel'l ('cello), and Mr Gr. Murdoch (violin). It was excellently played!, and so pleased the audience that a- recall was demanded. Songs were given by Messrs G. Bettg and N. Sewell, and the latter also played a 1 violin solo. A pianoforte duet was1 played by two of the school childi-en, Arthur and Alice Betts. The accompanim?nts^ were played by. Mesdames 771 Betts, G. Betts and Mies D. Joll. T>>«rPi wp~> several games.' which, were heartily entered into by all, and a com-,

™V i raCC f°r the tram'" «"** 43 eat amusement. j&cedlent dancemusic xyas supplied gratuitously by Mrs. SEE** 6***! The ladi^ iai celled themselves in the matter of supper. To cater for- two event* in. one day was no light task, but so liberal wa s the donations of. eatables that after the second' attack there w a s still a large' quntity left untouched, and 'this was.. sold and helped to augment the funds. Mr .Lees thanked those present for theirliberal, patronage. The proceeds from the social were to be devoted to improving the school grounds, and would carry a Government subsidy. He alsodesired to thank all the ladies who had given such valuable service, and Mrs.Betts for •supplying the music. MrLees moved a, hearty vote of thanks to these ladies; which was carried by acclamation,. A must successful and enjoyable gathering broke up at midnight, by the singing of "Auld Lang Syne'- r and the National Anthem. PHYSICAL CULTURE CLASS. 'A socil eyeing was given on Tuesdaylast by the members of the Ladies" Physical Culture Class, for the purpose-■ of raising funds for ornamenting the- , walls of'the new school: The members; of the class gave an exhibition of their- . skill, andHheie; were a few dances ancE_ musicaritems. The greater part of the> evening, however, was taken up by ; nuinerpus! compeititions, and these were- , most successful in relieving those pre— [ sent of their spare cash. The evening; result-ed in the satisfactory sum of aboute£ls being; collected.: