TECHNICAL CLASSES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 13934, 16 December 1905, Page 8

TECHNICAL CLASSES.

. The committee of the technical classes mot last evening; present— Messrs S. Hurst Seager (presiding), D. Lumsdeii, T. Gapes, W. James, J. Hight, W. Minson, B. P. Manhire, J. Hayes, C. Allison, G. B. Chick and H. 11. Rusbridge. The chairman reported that in tho matter of finance subscriptions had oome in steadily. The donation of tho Trades and Labour Council had been £lO, aud not £5 as previously reported. The total amount already promised was £SOO. Additional subscriptions promised were as follow: —-Garpeuteris and Joiners’ Union £2 2s, Tanners’ Union £1 Is, and Coachbuilders’, Timber Yards’ and Carriers’ Unions £1 each. The Painters’ Union had paid £5. , The Education Board forwarded a. letter from the Education Department stating that a grant of £3OOO would be made for buildings for technical classes in Christchurch, subject to the Association becoming fully constituted and to the approval of the plans by the Minister. The Department suggested that the plans in tho first instance should be Of the .nature of sketch rather than finished plans, also that the Department desired to be furnished with the names of the subjects of instruction for .whioh it was expected that special accommodation would be required. The Department also asked whether it was proposed to make use of rooms in the South Belt School building. The matter was referred to the various committees involved; In reply to requests for .subscriptions ■replies were received from the City Council agreeing to pay half-yearly, the first amount to be available early jn the new year; the Uoolston Borough Council promised to pay early; the Chamber of Commerce forwarded sub-' scription; the Avon Road Board declined to subscribe; and tho Employers’ Association agreed to consider the matter at "fits next meeting. , The Combined Class and Finance Committee recommended that a director should be advertised for at a salary of £450 per annum. The chairman explained that this was the salary at which the directors at Auckland and Wellington, had originally been paid. Ufa- Minson said that the director at Auckland, although receiving £450, was not taxing the classes to the extent of half that amount. He was employed by the Education Board, and was their examiner, besides doing other work for the Board. ; Mr Beagcr replied that the position in Auckland was different. There the classes were directly under tho control of the Board. He thought that the matter was of tho greatest importance. If a thoroughly reliable and practical man could be secured, a salary of £450 was not boo great. The director, too, would probably ‘be employed by the Board to conduct several of its classes. Mr Allison moved that a deputation should 1 wait upon the Board of Education and the Canterbury College Board of Governors, to ascertain if they would co-operate with the committee in the appointment of a director. The resolution was carried. The Finance Committee’s estimate of the financial position at the end of the year was as follows: —Receipts—Bank balance £lO6 Is 6d, December capitation £35, and December scholarship capitation (payable in March) £55. Proposed expenditure—Working expenses £25, office rent £5, advertising and printing (three months) £ls, damage to buildings' £25, -instructors’ salaries £l4O. Estimated deficit—£lo 18s 6d. It was recommended that the chairman bf the Board of Education should continue to sign cheques with the secretary-until the- clcse of the financial year; that subsequently the chairman of the Board of Managers and secretary should be authorised to operate on the bank account, as authorised by the Board; that authority should be given for the payment of monthly accounts for gas and electric light, caretaker, secretary’s salary and petty cash, the latter not exceeding £2 ; that the Industrial room should be rented as a class-room as formerly, and for the director, at £2O per annum from January 1, for-six months; that the same as hitherto should be continued regarding the secretary’s office, namely, the'Board to pay £lO per annum as part of rent charged by the Industrial Association, also half cost of telephone for six months.

Mr Garrard reported that owing to the fluctuation and change in tho number of classes aud students, it was difficult to form a correct estimate for 190 G, but froin tho experience of the past two and a half years, it had been found that tho receipts from fees and capitation covered the amount for instructors’ salaries. Omitting rents paid by - the Department, an approximate estimate of receipts and expenditure for the year lyould be:—Receipts —Subscriptions from contributing bodies £SOO, subsidy from department £soo—£looo.. Expenditure—Working expenses, £6O; gas and electric light, £SO; advertising and printing, etc., £120; secretary’s salary, twelve months, £184; director’s salary, say nine months, at £450, £337 10s; material, third cost, £2O; rent of Board room and office, £3o—£Bol 10s; credit balance, £l9B 10s. The Classes and Appointment Committee recommended that in future there should be three terms in a year, each of thirteen lessens, instead of four, each of ton lessons; that salaries of instructors and fees of paying students should be adjusted as follow:—ContinuationSalaries from £6 (5s to £B, fees from 3s 6d to ss. Commercial—Salaries from £7 10s to £lO, fees from 7s 6d to 10s. Practical—Salaries from £8 10s to £ll, fees from 10s to 12s 6d. That - each scholarship student should deposit tho sum of 5s when joining tho classes, tho amount to bo refunded when capitation should bo earned, with the alternative that, the parents or guardians should guarantee to make good any loss of capitation; that all classes at present in existence should be continued, and that carpentry aud joinery, wool-class-ing and tailoring should bo revived if sufficient entries should he received; and that the classes should bo continued in the Alexandra Hall, Industrial Room and Armagh Street, pending construction of new buildings. The reports were adopted.

The report of the Special Committee on standing orders was passed and adopted, with slight alterations.