King Country Chronicle. Friday, July 21, 1939. SCHOOL AND POST OFFICE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4813, 21 July 1939, Page 4

King Country Chronicle. Friday, July 21, 1939. SCHOOL AND POST OFFICE.

Are the Government going to be as long about the replacement of the burnt classrooms at the local school as they are being about the erection of a Post Office in Te Kuiti? It would almost appear so. Months have elapsed since the fire, and not one move has been made towards the erection of the necessary new classrooms. And they are necessary, vitally necessary, for the wellbeing of the children of the school. Is it fair that the children should be continued to be crowded into totally unsuitable and frightfully cold halls, with two classes in one chamber, while not a single move is made by the Government to provide proper accommodation? With about three tiny electric heaters to warm the chamber graced by the name of the Municipal Hall, is it any wonder that parents are not satisfied? That hall, as anyone who has attended day or night meetings there during the winter can testify, is a freezing chamber, and two or three tiny electric heaters are not going to make much difference. With this great disability, the lack of playing areas and conveniences, the tremendous disadvantages of having two classes in the one room, it is not fair that this should be tolerated for one day longer than is necessary. But this is not all. Somewhat the same conditions prevail in the Presbyterian Hall, where two classes are conducted. Certainly, there is a thin partition between the classrooms there, the playing fields are handier, and there is a fireplace in one of the rooms, but the amount of space available and the lack of proper facilities make it most desirable that these children should be shifted into proper quarters. Then what remains of the primary school is hopelessly overcrowded. The Technical School is given over to ordinary classes and the pupils are transported to Otorohanga for technical instruction. Proper accommodation for the teachers simply does not exit—the headmaster's study consists of a concrete-floored cocoa shed, and he works with the copper used for the heating of the cocoa close at his elbow. Surely the conditions at the Te Kuiti school make the building of the new classrooms one of the most necessary works of this nature before the notice of the Education Department. Probably throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand it is the most urgent case. Yet nothing is done. The School Committee protest about the matter, but from enquiries made it appears that no reply has been received. A weak excuse has been made that the alternative sites available have held the matter up, yet surely the Department must see that it would be against the interests of the school itself, as well as against the interests of the town, to consider the partition of the Domain. The circus paddock, already owned by the Crown, presents itself as an ideal site for the buildings that will be necessary. Surely, in a case like this, there will not be an interminable wrangle between Departments. As for the Post Office, the people of Te Kuiti have almost given it up. For years now we have been promised it, and for years the need has grown greater with the expansion of the Land Development staff. Apparently, however, those at the head of things think that the Land Development officers have by this time achieved the sardine complex, and do not mind digging each other in the ribs each time they reach for a piece of blotting paper; and are now trying to teach them a new complex by spreading them into every old building that can be found in the town. It must be admitted that things looked almost hopeful when a rough survey was made of the intended Post Office section, but apparently the powers that be, after the tremendous effort caused by the digging of one small hole and the placing of half a dozen pegs, are ready, willing and eager to continue to give the matter their earnest consideration. Will that take another three years? It seems not unlikely.