Girls' School and Hostel

Northern Advocate, 26 July 1938, Page 4

Girls' School and Hostel

IT IS a. matter for regret that the Minister of Education should have suggested that the delay which has taken place in regard to the erection of a new school and hostel for girls at the Whangarei High School is the fault of the people of the town, or, more particularly, of the members of the Hoard of Governors of the High School. Such a suggestion is not worthy of the Minister, and we hope that he will take an early opportunity of repudiating the only interpretation which is to be put upon the words attributed to him by a Wellington paper. As extracts from minutes of meetings held by the Board of Governors of tiie High School, which we publish in another column, show beyond possibility of misunderstanding, the board has done everything it possibly could to induce the Minister to redeem his promise to replace the girls’ school and hostel. It has consistently maintained pressure, and responsibility for continuance of a state of affairs which is no credit to the Department of Education cannot be placed upon the shoulders of the board. When the Minister of Education visited the High School in June, 1937, he and the Director-General of Education made a very close examination of the girls’ hostel—the sleeping quarters, the living quarters, the kitchen, the laundry, the corridors, the bathrooms, etc. “This will not do,” said the Minister, “we must provide something better than this.” This statement was followed by a promise that, as far as lay in the power of his department, he would accede to requests by the Board of Governors in the following order: Girls’ hostel, girls’ school, headmaster’s residence. VV Now, according to the “New Zealand Truth,” of the 20th inst., the Minister repeated that “he was amazed that the people of Whangarei had tolerated for so long a school building that was so grossly inadequate in every way,” and that “it is unfortunate for Whangarei that there are so many others that have need of rebuilding, but it would be difficult to imagine that any of them could l)e iii a worse state.” That being the ease, the department’s failure to produce even sketch plans until a strong agitation was raised at a public meeting calls for an explanation which lias not yet been given. The effort to shoulder the blame on to the people of Whangarei will not bear scrutiny. We commend to our readers the article (appearing elsewhere) which deals with the whole question, and we feel that the Board of Governors of the High School may confidently assume what the opinion of readers will lie.