OLD SCHOOL OR NEW?

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 2644, 12 May 1923, Page 4

OLD SCHOOL OR NEW?

PATCHWORK BUILDING FOR HOKOWhiTU. ALLEC4ED use op ancient CENTRAL. CK. JACKSON AGAIN ON WARPATH, According to information received by Cr. Fred Jackson, the reslidcnts o l ' Hokowhitu are to have a patchwork school rebuilt from such soimd timber and iron as may be fomid—after thirty years’ use—in the old Campbell Street School. Air Jackson, in the following letter to the editor, lays the facts before the public: Sir, —I desire through your columns to ask the local members of the Wanganui Education Board, if it is a fact, that the Education Department propose to utilise the ancient iron and timber from the old Campbell Street School for the construction of the "new” school at Hokowhitu. If there is any truth in this rumour, then, the strongest possible protest should be raised by the whole of the people of Palmerston North without delay, as this school will be owned by the State.

Sir, I stoutly maintain, as a resident of Palmerston North, and one who takes a keen interest in our growing town, that any Government Department which would suggest the use of material which has already done service for over thirty years in the “new” school at Hokowhitu, should he given to understand that Palmerston North does not stamd for that kind of business, and will have none of It in connection with our public buildings.

The amount granted (£G,000) is ample for a good new school of the type required, and the Department’s cheese paring policy should be denounced. If the Department is desirous of practising economy in the matter of this old timber and iron, I would suggest that every foot of it could be used to advantage in erecting the much-needed shelter and bicycle sheds for the schools in Palmerston North without spoiling a new structure by their use.

I also wish to draw the Depart-* meat's notice to the fact that the people of Palmerston North have handed over to them land to the value of £2,000 on which to build the new school, and we were led to believe that we were to have that school built of brick. Now, sir, surely after we have carried out our part of the; deal we are entitled to expect and receive at least decent treatment from the Education Department. But, No! The “heads” say that the Wanganui Board are expected to save 20 per cent, of that £6,000 by using secondhand timber and iron.

Ye gods! What a harvest for the plumbers soldering the holes in that old iron.—l am, etc., FRED JACKSON.