BOARD OF EDUCATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XII, Issue 4372, 17 November 1875, Page 1 (Supplement)

BOARD OF EDUCATION.

A special meeting of the Board was held yesterday, for the purpose of taking into consideration the requirements of the educational districts of the Province of Auck-' land in respect of school buildings, and to report the same to the Hon. Dr. Pollen' (Colonial Secretary and Premier), accom-, panied by a requisition that the;necessary mim should be provided by the General Go-. vernment for these purposes. Present: Messrs. Keader Wood, Dr. Campbell, . Lusk, Colonel Haultsin, K. O'Siifiivan (Inspector of Schools). On the motion of Colonel Haui/tain, ■ seconded by Mr. Keader Wood (Provincial Secretary and Treasurer), His Worship, F. "L." Prime,' Esq., "was called to the chair.' Colonel Haultain referred to the conver-i eation heldrby the deputation of the Beard' '■with Dr. Pollen the previous day. 'The. conversation, he said,-was fairly reported"in the Herald, which, if read, would represent correctly what passed. The SECREXABYread. the report, and further' stated-' that previously the Government, had requested them to state generally what were their requirements for the year. The reply, to. that waa that a;sum of £25,000 would be required for educational purposes. The answer given by the Colonial - Secretly to, the deputation, that waited upon J him was that: the Board 'should state ' what: sum would be necessary for school' buildings. He had requested the attend-; ance of the Inspector of Schools to 'go. through the list of requirements of the, various districts in the province, which was done, with the following result Estimate of requirements for districts at present-in existence, £19,660; for districts to be proclaimed, £500 : total, £20,160. There were i several districts in which all that might be required were not estimated: in some cases a teacher's house would be required under ordinary circumstances, but as the teacher was' a resident of the particular district, a -house for-him was not required at present. In some cases the schools were held in churches. <. . : Mr. Wood : A very good nse to put those buildings to during the week days. ' Colonel Haxjltain : How much do you estimate - would be necessary to supply the districts with all they want, not referring to any • defined period ? I .suppose you could make it up £50,000 very easy. The Secretary : I have made a strict comparison of what we require with what'is thought necessary • elsewhere, and I find that the cost for school buildings, &c., .amounts. to about' £4 a-head npon. the number of children. We have 9000 children, so that a sum of £36,000, or £40,000 at the outside, should be sufficient for every purpose. That would supply them with every kind of accommodation. I should also say that the sum we have put down is exceedingly small when compared with what ia thought necessary in other places. ' Colonel Haultain : The Colonial Secretary requested us to limit our estimate to what is ] necessary tmtil the next session of ■ the Assembly. It is upon that basis you have estimated the requirements at £20,160. • 1 Mr. Wood : I may say, with regard to the Old Supreme Court site, it is the intention of the Superintendent to call for tenders for £20,000 almost immediately. You will get Vialf of" that amount. The debentures will bear 7 per cent, interest. There ia plenty of rent to cover that now.

Colonel Haultain : Does that include the hospital endowments ? . ' Mr. Wood : The hospital endowments too—everything. . The Board will get. half of whatever is raised. If they raise £20,000, yon will get half of that, and if they raise only £1000 you will be entitled to half of that. There is also another valuable hospital endowment in Queen-street bringing in rent. There will be enough, as it appears to me, to .cover £30,000. There will be money accra'ing. : There is a further demand" for the allotments in Victoria-street, which, in the course of a month, will bring in something more. Colonel Hatjltaih.: I suppose those allotments ought to bring In £300 or £400. M*. Wood : I think you ought reasonably to expect getting £10,000. The loan would not, perhaps, be taken up instantly, and some little time would elapse; but I think you "would be justified in the expectation of receiving £4000 or £5000 in the course of a few months. ; ~.-,. Mr. O'Sullivan : The material thing is that we should have school buildings and teachera , houses as soon as possible. Mr. Ltjsk : Suppose we commenced to work at building these schools, how long would it be before we were called upon to pay the money? > The Chairman : I presume that as soon as you begin you will want Sftme money to go on with. Mr. Reader Wood has just told us that in four or five months we ought to erpendsome of this money. Colonel Hatjltain : Yes; but if we could get the money from the General Government, as Dr. Pollen said we could get some, we might proceed with some of these buildings atonce.'-'* . . 'v Mr. Wood : '■ The summer is coming,—the very best time in the year at which we could begin. ' Colonel HatotAlN : I think if we were to ask the General Government for £10,000, that would be a very moderate request. If the General Government had sot taken over

the educational system, we muit havebeen #ntenf to go {on ga 'werfr6fe, , f 7«Wdo,'«ie iesVwe could with" whaV might yd obtained' iro'm* theC old" Supreme"Conrtneite^-rWoiild 1 it not now be proper, ia compliance with the request made by the Colonial' Secretary, to inform him that we had.carefnUy.gone over the list of requirements 61 the different ttiei tricts, and that to carry, out the purposes referred to satisfactorily, we would require £20,000; representing at the same time that of this sum, we had no doubt we would be able to raise £10,0001 I think we wouldget it. I ehonld be prepared to move a .resolution to this effect. ''-I , presume weirould not necessarily have to expend this money, in detail according to this estimate. : Mr. Wood : I take it, it is an approximate estimate only. ' . : ■' The Secretary stated that the existing school 'buildings were insured for £3550, which was held to be the full value of them; , Mr. Lusk>: I -presume, in any resolution ,wemay adopt with;respect' to the special purpose for which we have met, we .will not be r expressing any • opinion as to the share,we are entitled to of that £60,000. ./ After some discussion as to the term» of the resolution to be adopted. - ■' ..Colonel .Hatjltain moved, ",That the Board having carefully, consideredVwhat school buildings should.; be erected during the present financial year to enable the eduj cationaTsystem of the province to. be satisfactorily carried on, are of opinion that a sum of £20,000 is necessary, and that the General Government bo.requested to. contribute, onehalf of that amount, the Board esjpeoting to obtain .the: balance from , the. sale of debentures secured 'oh' : the old Supreme Courthouse'site and other endowments." ... V .Mr. 'Reader Wood seconded the motion, whioh was carried nem. con. . . The Secretary was instructed, to forward » copy of the resolution to the Colonial Secretary, with a view to his information of -the- result of the inquiries made by the Board;" ' . .*■' ■':; •■'. '':'..''.': ';'. '■,'.:..'' .''. ■' This concluded ttie'special business of the meeting. :■: . ■■ ■■ > ' ■ ■■ -■ •'' -i