GREETINGS.

Northern Advocate, 18 June 1923, Page 7

GREETINGS.

HOP A HOB A SCHOOL STAFF. iWuENTH' SOCIAL ASSEMBLY. All the seating accommodation and .some of the standing room, in the Church of England Mission Hall, ArmStrong Avenue, on Friday night, by parents and others resident in the new Hora Hora school disrict who assembled at the invitation of the School Committee to welcome the headmaster, Mr A. L. Slieppard, and the following five new members of the teaching staff —Miss M. Camphell( infant mistress), Mr Allowav (pupil teacher), and Misses Robinson and Lovatt and Mr Galpin (probationers). Besides Mr A. Price (Hora Hora School Com- | mittee chairman), who presided, the j attendance included the Mayor and Mayoress of Whangarei (Mr and Mrs D. A. McLean), Mr -T. D. McKen/ie (member of the Auckland Education I Board), Mr A. H Curtis (chairm.ui J Whangarei School Committee). Mr C. iF. Collins (headmaster Whangarei School) and Mr F. Higginson (oxheadmaster Hora Hora School). The social functionaries of the Hora Hora School Committee had made very successful endeavour to connate the details of seating provision, bunting, decorations and musical programme. The major portion of the last named occupied the pleased attention of the audience for half tin hour or so. the balance of the items being interspersed at later stages. It was excelle.it entertainment and nothing wa« allowed to pass without an encore. The following comprised the listed pieces:—Song Miss Nichol; vocal duet, Mavi- Lentherby and Winnie two H');'i Hora scholars, whose nicely blended voices particularly charmed their auditors; recitation, Mrs W. MoTvinnon; song, Mr Calder; cornet s.olo. Mr Dennis; song, Mr Taylor; soan. Mr Redwood. Mr C. F. Collins <lv-» efficient part of pianoforte accompanist. The chairman's brief introductory remarks had included a request for informal sociability, and th ■ general fraternising of those preset! showed that the spirit of the appeal was not ' .I^.l

CORDIAL SEXTIMKXTS. { Mr Price voiced apologies for the 4 unavoidable non-attendanc ■ of Mrs _ Higginson, Mr ami Mrs .Tones and Mr j ( C. East (chairman of the Whangarei ' Parents and Teachers' Association), j and then asked the Mayor to say a few words. , Mr McLean expressed gratification » 1 at the opportunity afforde 1 him of j , welcoming Mr Sheppard and tho other j ( members of the tutorial staff named, j on bohalf of the burgesses of Whangarei generally He assure Mr Sheppard that the Hora Hora district was the "Remuera" of \Vha.ngarei despite claims to that distinction made by residents at the "other end" of tho borough. Possibly the "West End"' had not advanced ■•!> rapidly as the other portion referred to '' because there were no land agents here.-' (Mv j Curtis appeared to appreciate ilie i point, amid the ensuing laughter). The Mayor deplored the unwisdom of the Education Department i:i nnt building schools up to advance requirements in centres where is was infallible that the population must increThe Department had certainly re 1 acted fairly or even reasonably by Hora Horn, where the school congestion had been very pronounced for a long time aad must inevitably grow wor-e. Ci. Brake and he had done and would do all in their power in co-:'.:K'eW>n wit.li the site acquired at Hera Hora for a new or reconstructed building. (Applause V Mr Curtis congratulat Hora Hora upon obtaining a separate school district and felt certain that better results would follow the jurisdiction. E,n pas^aa 1 . he paid tril)ute to the capacity ef Mr Price m his position as chairm >a the new committee. Mr Curtis advi-ed his hearers that the way which to secure their belter school objective was not to take "No" for a*' answer from the Department. i:'.*taa:*ing as a result of "hammering the n^w school p aJ' Whan Whau. to the opening of which this afternoon ' \t ended a hearty invitation to a',' pre.-e.a!. Mr .T. D. McKenzie o: f'.ie I with an admoniti"n to Hera He", ant to ask fur nmre than was urgently needed for school purposes. as t' l ■ I > mki r? ni-'iit kept a restrictive hn;>-' :ei finances owing to the general >'-;ageacy. lie I regretted, further, the granting of special favours to individual Parliamentarians to the detriment of national requirements, and pr'est ed \igain>t any otlu-r than const.it •jti'inal nro *e !- ure per medium of Ed.'ie-i.'■ion Hoards. These bodies were. h.>v;".\-r, regrettably enough, tied dov. by the dictates of the Department aad could not ' expand their financial pn-'.lcy until the departmental restriction v. as lifted. Notwithstanding, lie wonM he pleased to do what he could in furtherance of

:iriy re:ison;il>lc request. Augmentation of Mi:.' weVome to 11io new headmaster and -I:ift" members was supplied by .\l> Price, mi behalf of tli o School Commit he.\ parents an < I householders, us ;i whole of Hie I for:! Hora district, who wviv prepared to co-operate heartily wiHi the whole teaching ytr>fl" in (!>." :■<!vaiiceiuent of education. His request |h:it lite welfome be accorded by acclamation met

with a prompt and enthusiastic response. Acknowledgement was briefly made bv Mr Slieppard, who asked for the continued support of the parents and stated his readiness to confcr with them individually at any time on materst affecting the welfare of fh-iir J children. j STATIONERY SCHEME. Called upon to explain the jreheme of s:;Uio!ierv purchase in vogue at the Whangarei School, Mr Collins said I hat after a year's operation the success of the plan could be confidently a.-'sert;'d, as all wants had been met out of the revenue, and ihero was a sum remaining to credit. Pr.rents paid <it the rate of sixpence per month for each pupil and found the method more economical than haphazard buying. The levy, which amounted to : -fs (id per head annually (nine months' i school period) was sufficient for all a pupil's school requisites except text books. It was entirely optional whether parents participated in the scheme. Some preferred individual purchasing, but the majority favoured the svstem. Teachers were responsible for collection of the levy in their respective classes, and though a little extra clerical work was entailed this was quite worth while in view of the all-round advantage. He advised collecting the dues early in the month ro avoid any confusion as to which month the payment was made for.

Mr G. Clarke interposed that, in his opinion, all school books should be provided by the State, at no cost to the parents, and that representations to that effect should be made. Mr Price moved, Mr Pooley seconding, that the plan be given a trial for six months at the Hora Hora School, and the motion wos carried by the meeting unanimously. ANOTHER URGENT APPEAL. Following upon a request made by the chairman, Mr F. Mogford, secretary to the Hora Hora School Committee, read the following communication Which it Was proposed to send to the Auckland Education Board,, and a copy of the same to the Minister of Education, the Hon. C. «T. Parr.—

"In further reply to yours of 29th May, mv Committee wish to bring the following facts under your notice. —

It must be agreed by all concerned that the situation of the Hoi-a Hora School is unsuitable. The purchase of

a new site some five or six years ago goes to prove this fully. You state that your Board is. unwilling to embarrass the Education Department with a request for a grant to carry out this urgent and necessary work of flioving and remodelling the school. The main difficulty is, therefore, a financial one. My Comimittee feels that if the full facts of the case were laid before the Department they must admrit the claim to be a reasonable and just one. Owing to the recent rapid development in this district the site and grounds of the school have become valuable. Given by the early

settlers, at no cost to the Education Department, the present approximate value of site and grounds is about £li(>0. This would go a long way in removing the school to the new site, the timber of the building being still quite sound. As already stated, this district is developing rapidly and there is a corresponding increase of population. At the present time there arc

upwards of eighteen new dwellings in the course of erection in close proximitv to the school. This will mean a further large accession of children to the school during the next few months. It has been pointed out to your Board in former correspondence that two classrooms are already grossly overcrowded. The other rooms are up to and over the limit, and mv Committee feels that unless the matter is taken ia hand at once there will be « state of affairs that will not only be a menace to the health of the teachers and children, but to the whole community. My Committee wo\ild therefore respectfully urge the Board to again go fully into the ma\tter, and

would also like to make you aware of the insistent demand amongst the parents and householders of this district that immediate steps be taken to remedy the present unsatisfactory conditions. ''

Commenting, in the words of the letter, that the appeal was "fair and reasonable,'.' Mr Price asked Mr .T. J). McKenzie if lie were not prepared to admit tliat expression as justified, Mr McKriizii; replying that n" matler how reasonable the request might be the Board could not assent to the terms of the letter unless the Department's authorisation were first secured. His sympathy was more with those in the backblocks, where more serious educaiional disabilities obtained than wis the ease with larger schools not handicapped to the same extent and able to carry on fairly well. Mr Price moved that the text of (he letter be endorsed by the parents and that a copy be sent each to the Auckland Education Board and the Minister of Education. In seco'uling the motion. Mr Higginsom said that the overcrowding evil

at Hora Ifora School was increasing rapidly to a most disquieting extent. He stated that one of the class rooms, originally intended to accommodate 40 nupils on the regulation floor-space oasis, wins now packed with no tewer than NO nnpils, and obviously the conditions were deplorably unhealthy and i neon venient. The following average attendance figures F'ir Horn Hora School, as sup-

plied by Mr Hopewell, were quoted ] in corroboration of the rate at which ( the o\ercrowding abuse was said to be t growing. AVERAGE ATTENDANCE. 1908 ; ]52 1912 179 191'5 108 1920 207 2(55 Mr Curtis continented with emphasis that the situation had gone well beyo.id flio "request" and should be) represented in the form of a demand for prompt rectification. On being put to the meeting the motion was endorsed neni con with a vociferous ''Aye!**' that could have been heard chains aw:.v. Refreshments provided by the ladies were handed round at a midway interval. Votes of thanks to the Christ CTiureh Vestry for free use of the 'Mission Hall, to the catering ladies, the musical contributors and the chairman were passed, the singing of I the Notional Anthem terminating .an occasion that had been entirely pleasurable and fully concordant.