KOPANE'S COMPLAINT.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 2777, 19 October 1923, Page 2

KOPANE'S COMPLAINT.

REQUEST FOR A SCHOOL. TURNED DOWN BY DEPARTMENT For some considerable timo now, Kopano's need for a school has been increasingly felt, and application' for this was made to the Education Department, but the Department replied thaf as only 12 children were affected there was room for them in the neighbouring' schools. When the Wanganui Education Board met on Wednesday night, the following letter was read from the secretary of the Kopane School Committee, on behalf of the reI'uniCd soldiers of the district: —• "It is all very well far the Department's gilded nabobs 'o sit in comfortable majesty in Wellington and dictate to us while little kiddies travol two and a-half to four miles the busiest roads in the district, and which, during the bmay seasons of the year carry innumerable of cattle. Our request is a very reasonable one. Wc will be pleased if you, the medium between the parents and the Education Department will convey to the Department; o.ur very greatest displeasure at the unsatisfactory nature of the reply, and to state to them that wo have a right to bo provided with a school, and expect to be provided with one. There is nothing unreasonable in the request. We have the children and there are more coming of school age, and the need of a school is imperative." The need of a school at Kopane was strongly urged by Mr H Mclntyre (Feilding), who said that local schools were a feature of New Zealand settlement, ami the common rallying place for the people of any particular community. He moved, that the Board should strongly protest against the Department's action, and that a copy of the letter should be sent on to it. Mr Aitken questioned whether the sending of a letter would improve the matter. Mr Mclntyre said it was a straigMCfoiward letter, and one that should appeal lo the Department. The Chairman (Mr W. A. Collins) considered am exception should be mado by the Department in the case of a soldiers' settlement, as such a policy, if continued, would ostracise them. Mr Fraser said they were up against a stone wall.

The mulion was carried, and the Department's reply will, therefore be awaited with interest.