SCHOOL BUILDINGS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 8903, 20 September 1889, Page 5

SCHOOL BUILDINGS.

THE NORTH CANTERBURY BOARD’S GRIEVANCE. The Napier Education Board is not singular in hiving troubles with the Government in respect of building grant#* Our own Board of North Canterbury ha# had to fight its battles with the Department in Wellington in the same cause* and bae good reason to complain of unfair treatment. In order to ascertain how matters stood, one of onr reporters watted on Mr J. Colborne-Veel, the Secretary ta the Board, and obtained from him the following information ;—" Grants received tor school buildings,” saidMrYeel, ” are on a different footing from grant# for ordinary purposes of education. The latter grants are defrayed out of the capitation allowance, at the rate of AS 15a per head on the average attendance. The amount the Board receives under the capitation arrangementisno more than sufficient for the maintenance of school work and incidental grants to Committees. Small repairs, such as would require the expenditure of only *Bl or £2 can be provided for out of this fund, but nothing of any greater extent. Then for the new buildings, enlargement of buildings, and for any considerable repairs, we are dependent on the grant made from year to year. What ha# put ns at present rather in difficulty is the action of the Government in withholding part of the grant made last year. That is the great grievance we have against the Government. In the session previon# to that just concluded, Parliament voted *BBO,OOO for school buildings. The Government distributed *824,000 among the various Education Boards by instalments,, and we expected our share of the balance in due course. We wrote to the Government several times about the matter, pressing that the balance of the grant ehonld be given, without getting any reply. At last we found the Government’s intention was not to distribute the balance of the grant at all. Parliament met and Government took credit to themselves for the saving they had effected! The whole amount of the grant to Canterbury was but small, and the loss of this part of it was a serious matter, and throws ns behind-hand. The Board now has overdrawn its building account by about *BISOO. We are writing to Government in much the same way as the Napier people, asking for the money now voted as soon as possible, because we are getting embarrassed for want of funds. PRESSING REQUIREMENTS. - “ There are several pressing matters, such as the Sydenham case and the overcrowding at New Brighton. Sydenham has been a difficult matter to deal with some time in consequence of increasing attendance. We have enlarged the school and made it as big as a school ought to be —in fact bigger. Still, that was not enough, and we rented St Saviour’s schoolroom. Now a new building is required, and it must be a large one, at least capable of accommodating a couple of hundred children. This will be a large item in the expenditure of school buildings. Then we have the New Brighton people to deal with. We have at present a very successful school carried on in the Wesleyan Chapel there. There are about fifty children in attendance, and the building is so over-crowded that the master does not know how the school can be carried on in the hotter weather. Some of the children are already fainting on account of the close atmosphere. The building required here will be another expensive item. In two or three outlying districts there is a great need of accommodation, especially at Winohnxore.” OTHER FACTS. It is a fact that a great many of the wooden buildings need frequent expenditures for repairs. The list Mr Saunders read in the House of Representatives shows how these things had been going on, but most of the cases he ref erred to had been attended to since. The Board was at present really without funds, and had authorised expends ure up to *BISOO, which amount would have to be financed till the grant came to hand. This was a very unpleasant position, and one in which the Board would not have been placed if the balance of last year’s grant had been distributed instead of being “ saved.” The amount the Bo«d expected from the Government ww not large, and if a proper buUdmg was erected at Sydenham .that would absorb the major portion of it. There was an erroneous impression which Mr Yeei wished to correct, viz., that the country districts were unfairly treated in thedistrlbution of the money expended for buildings. This matter, the Secretary said, he had carefully gone into, and found that such was not the case. There were in all 16,000 children in the district, of whom about 5000 were in Christchurch and Sydenham, and the expendßuira had not been undulyin favuur<^]be^oaid.