THE PROPOSED SCHOOL IN CHAPEL STREET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8538, 11 April 1891, Page 6

THE PROPOSED SCHOOL IN CHA PEL STREET.

AN ERROR IN THE CONTRACT. A singular complication has occured in regard to the proposed school in Chapel-street. A letter was received by the Board of Education yesterday from the contractors, Messrs. Lovett and Payne, reporting that a mistake of £108 had been made in their contract by the bricklayer who gave them the price, and that this error had not been reported to them until the sureties had been signed. They reported that owing to this mistake they could not carry on the contract, and, returning the marked cheque, they asked the Board to undo the bond, and release the securities. The amount of the contract was £925, and the sureties were Messrs. O'Brien and McMillan. Mr. Lennox thought that it would be very hard if the Board enforced the contract, and he moved that one-half the deposit should be forfeited, and the sureties released. Mr. Cooper opposed the motion, urging that if bonds were to be returned in this way it was of no use having them at all. After some discussion, the motion was carried. It was announced that the second lowest tenderer would not take up the contract, but that the next lowest, Mr. J. J. Holland, £1077, was willing to go on with the work. Mr. Cooper opposed the accepting of any tender, and said he did not think that it was proper to build the school. He maintained that it' was not fair to the tendering public, having allowed tenderers at low figures to escape, to advance step by step through the list until they came to a man who was willing to take up the work. He moved, " That no tender be accepted." Mr. Muir seconded tne motion. He believed the establishment of a truant school tended to the formation of a semi-criminal class. They should exhaust every other means before they took this course. Mr. Lennox said the truant school had been established because children who were barefooted did not like to associate with well-dressed children, to be -pointed at and ridiculed. The present building in which the school was held was most inconvenient. There was no playground, and the building was not by any means suited for the purposes of a school. Mr. Moat said there was no reason why the school should be called a " truant school. Messrs. Lennox and Luke thought the Board had gone too far now to turn back. The Chairman considered the school absolutely necessary for the class of children they had there. The money for the custody of children of that class would have to.- come either from the Minister of Education or the Minister of Justice, and it was better that it should come from the Minister of Education than from the other.. The work done in the school was splendid. The teachers there were doing the best work done in the city, and if the Board went back now it would be a disgrace. He suggested that the new members visit the present school in Albert-street, and that in the meantime the consideration of the question be deferred for a week. This course was adopted. Mr. Cooper afterwards moved, " That for the future the provisions of any contract hereafter entered into with the Board be strictly enforced, and that a notification be added to any advertisement calling for tenders ; that the accepted tenderer or tenderers will not be allowed to withdraw from the contract entered into with the Board, nor will his or their sureties be relieved." The motion was seconded by Mr. Luke. Mr. Lennox opposed the motion, because he thought that every case should stand on its own merits. A poor man might make a mistake that would bring ruin to himself and his family, if the Board did not help him. The motion was carried.