SCHOOL BUILDING GRANTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13845, 3 September 1908, Page 6

SCHOOL BUILDING GRANTS.

____— ' ■" - m — • ■ A DISGUSTED BOARD. DEPARTMENTAL CHEESE-PARING. The Auckland Board of Education and the Education Department in Wellington seem to be going to clash once more oh the question of grants for new schools, for the Board is getting tired of seeing its minimum estimates for new buildings cut down by the Department to a figure at which it is impossible to get the buildings erected. Yesterday a memorandum wasreceived by the Board from the Department, asking an explanation of the transfer of over £8000 from the Board's general account to the buildings account. . * The secretary (Mr. Y. Bice) said- the explanation was very easy. Grants made by the Department were invariably less than were applied for in the matter of new buildings, and gradually a great deficit grew on the 1 new > buildings account, but by rigid economy the Board managed to save on its maintenance account. Then a circular was received from the Department, one clause in which permitted the transfer of a balance on the maintenance account to the buildings account. The circular -was ; received in January, and the Board at once transferred the balance mentioned,; of over £8000. and not a day too soon, for on March 50 it received a circular stating that the clause in the former circular was a mistake, and had been cancelled. Mr. L: J. Bagnall said the position between the Board ' and the Department in this respect had never been satisfactory, as the Department continually cut down the building grants, and the- Board was forced to expend money oat of its ordinary grant. The "Board should show the Department plainly that when new ; buildings were reported as absolutely necessary by architects and inspectors, the Board expected to receive the full amount applied ■ for. Now that the Department was' going, ' to take up the legal aspect, and say that money should not be transferred to the buildings account; then the Board would ' have to say it could not go on; with the money available. They woulrj either have ; to stop building or say "to the Department, "You can do the work yourselves."1 Mr. G. J. Garland remarked that the ' Board had been starving its maintenance account in order to make up deficiencies on new buildings. Mr. J. D. Mackenzie referred to the great progress, of Auckland, saying, that the; number of schools now built was very small -. compared :• with the number that ! would be ' re-quired within a very short time. He had been in Wellington recently, and was shown by the Native Minister 'the amount of native land that would be coming into ; the market ; by-and-by, and when ; these lands and the "balance, of the Crown lands were opened up the number of schools required would be ten times greater than at present. Mr. p. C. Purdie- Going back to the ' time when the Board was granted a defi- ( nile sum yearly, I am : quite'satisfied thai it never overstepped the .bounds, except '. when' absolutely necessary. ■ Under the old conditions "the Board dealt with its funds as wisely and economically as it was , possible do, and the delays, which are now burdensome in the) extreme in the country . districts, never occurred when: the Board had control of the funds. _ (Hear,, heir.) ..-.;:I' know of one case I think the Board should have resisted. ~;; Two inspec- ■' 'tors," the chairman, and a. member of •: the Board and an architects 'recommended that a certain; grant-: should be made, but the matter was finally determined by -an officer of the Department ■/. who spent threequarters of an hour .'. in \ the district-, and a much lower grant was made; than was : ap- ; plied for. The delay in: some cases, has been greater than two years,, and that delay has arisen through the Department in- :. dulging in ,' what it is pleased: to: call - *" negotiations" with the Board. The Department takes • upon itself to : revise ©very ; grant applied for in respect of new build- ' ings by an important body like this, and always revises them on the"assumption that the Board asking too' much. It- is time the Department was told " the position pretty plainly. .- Mr. G* Edgeeuhibe said they had been told by the Department that in Taranaki schools were erected at less cost than in. Auckland. . "The inspectors* and architects' - reports on ; schools -we have taken oyer, from Taranaki," he added, "is that they are very shoddy buildings. If the Department it good policy to erect shoddy buildings it's a very foolish policy." The Chairman «Mr. C. J. Parr) said the discussion emphasised the fact > that the Board would no longer tolerate the position, and the Finance Committee should furnish' a report, so that the Board could place the position very clearly : before the Department. <; Of course, while'the Auckland Board always ; expended the money profitably and economically, there were boards in New Zealand that did not, and consequently the Department had been forced to make 'a' change in the system. The change pressed heavily : on -the Auckland Board, and he thought.: the Board had been a . little weak in ; giving the Department the benefit\ of so winch of the ordinary , grant for new schools. If strong representation did not succeed, the Board would have to send down the tenders, and say v it absolutely declined to go on with the buildings until ; the requisite grants were made. : It was decided to instruct the Finance Committee to consider the matter, and furnish an exhaustive • report for presentation to the Department. ;" Point was given to the discussion when the tenders for the Edendale v?chool were opened. The lowest tenders were: £ for a .wooden building, and ,£2896 for a j brick building, while the grant made ; by 1 the. Department was only £1788.: In the j .■ cast* of. Stanley Bay : ' school, the grant ; was £755, and; this was also smaller than the ! amount applied for. i For 1 Mount Albert, school the Board received; intimation that £530 had been granted. - • The Chairman: That's ; satisfactory, at anvraie- ... It is the amount:: applied for.'-.;'; '■'■•;' A Member: : Thefirst case, and the Minister lives in that district. The Chairman said £550 "f had been re- I ceived for/; the ■ additions to Mount Eden ■ '-. school, or: £50 less than was applied for. ;■' The Mount Eden; ;"School Committee protested against the , school being made any larger, but the committee was under a misapprehension, as it; was hot intended to! . provide ' for more pupils, but more room for the pupils now at the school. j . "It was resolved to apply for- an increase in the grant for Edendale school, and to call tenders for Mount: Eden additions and i Mount Albert school. , ~ "' _ '• -■•'•■■■•"•■• ■<■• -•':;. : .'(I