WANDERINGS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 248, 19 October 1908, Page 5

WANDERINGS.

(By Weary Willie.) "Ho that spareth the rod hateth his own son; but he that loveth him chasteneth- him betimes.

The Swimming Baths. Committee want another £100 before they can get any "forrader" with the erection of the baths. The Borough Council have a certain duty m the matter. What about it? Will they wake up to the opportunity for a .bargain which the "old clo' man" would jump at? Fined down to bedrock, the position seems to me to be this: The Committee cannot borrow the necessary £100 (or, what is the same thing, they cannot offer security for the raising of the loan), because the site belongs to the Council, and anything erected on the land necessarily will belong to the soil on which it is erected. This is where the ■ Council come m—or should come in if they are not asleep.. Our Fathers which are at the Council table could easily borrow the £100 on mortgage of the bath site ijSelf. At 6 per cent, the baths should pay the interest and leave a little over for sinking fund and maintenance; it it doesn't the people of Blenheim ,don t want any baths at all. The chairmanof the Committee, who is also a member of the Council, said the Council were not very benevolent. There is no need for benevolence at all. The Committee have roughly about £300 to give, and the Council are asked to supply £100 for something worth £400. There would be no nee,d.,f.or the Council to pay out one brass farthing from their depleted treasury. The institution would pay the £100 itself, and prove a revenue-earning in vestment besides. Wherein lies the difficulty? I am told the Council are too cautious; I say they-are too slow. They are offered a good bargain, with the benefit all on their side, and if they are "too cautious" to take the opportunity offered them, it is time they made room for those who would at least make an effort to' be progressive. The Council have- two alternatives- To allow the Baths Committee the use of the titles to the land for the purposes of raising the necessary money, the land and baths to become the property of the Council until such time as the loan is paid off; or to take over the control of' the undertaking themselves, along with the money already raised, and borrow the £100 themselves. If the baths are not gone on with at once, it will bo the Borough Council who will be, responsible foi? the delay. Surely there is an up-to-date councillor in the Council who could bring the matter up before that august body and show them their duty m the matter. Councillor MoKinley is the chairman of the Baths Committee, and has enough eloquence to plead the cause .which he evidently has at heart. The discussion would at all events show who are the progressive mcii "sitting at the Council table.

There is. not so decided in antipathy amongst the townspeople against amalgamation at tho Borough School as Mr Penny would wish us to believe. The issue has all'the time been clouded by those who should have the courage- to speak out. What is the objection to amalgamation? It cannot be on moral grounds. That bogey was laid long- ago,. What Ms it then? I will advance a.theory, and endeavour to get at the back of the. minds of the School Committee. The girls' standard of results is very much higher than the boys', and it is feared that by amalgamation the. boys will benefit at the expense of the girls. In other words, at the present time the teaching staff on the girls' side obtain better results from their work than do the staff on the boy*' side. The! Committee think that fjjhe attention given to the girls will nibjfc be so great if the amalgamation' syl^teni is introduced ; that the girls' wduld lose what the boys would gain. Well, suppose they do? It is the boys who will be called to support the girls in after life, and this fact should not be lost sight of. There is something wrong somewhere, which in the interests, of _oiir boys''should be set aright; and it is the duty of the Committee tc do the proper thing in the proper way. If the boys' and girls' standard were equal would the Committee favor separation? I think not. In my opinion, and lam far; from being alone, in the best interests of the school and <rf the scholars the amalgamated system should be reverted to, ■ and the other matter would, soon right itself. In common justice to the boys have it done. * * # * * * * ■ The contest for the Wairau Slakes has fined down to two entrants. Neither of them has sho#n; any form yet to speak of in public, but in these days of private "tracks one never knows the "dark" horses. There is nothing to chronicle this week in the way of training notes, the horses being exercised too far away from the centre for touting purposes.