TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14688, 24 May 1911, Page 8

TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

AN APPEAL FOR AID.

WILL THE CITIZENS HELP.

PROPOSED CITY LOAN.

" I want to make an appeal to the public of this city on behalf of the Technical .College," said Mr. C. J. Parr, in his address yesterday, before retiring from the position of chairman of the Auckland Board of Education. "This is my farewell request to the public of the province." Mr. Parr said that the building in which the work of technical instruction in Auckland was being carried on, sorely required the addition of at least one, and of probably two storeys, involving an expenditure of from £10,(XX) to £20,000. Ho desired to suggest to the benevolent mind of tho community that no worthier object for its benefactions could bo found, than the completion of the college, so that it might be sufficient for the importance of its work, and an architectural ornament to the city. He greatly regretted that the trustees of the Auckland Savings Bank had been unable to make a further grant for the assistance of the college, for such a grant as' they had proposed would, with the State subsidy, have been sufficient to provide a building that would have stood for all time as a memorial of their public-spirited generosity. Tho deposits in the bank were largely those of working people, and no wort-heir use could be found for its- profits than the assistance of the education of the sons of the "working people. In Auckland there were morn benefactors of the public good than in any other city in New Zealand, and he appealed to them to do something for the college. At the present time nearly 1500 youths were being trained in practical professions, and in many of tho arts, and the work which the college was doing had a most intimate bearing upon the future life of the community. It must not be forgotten that every pound of generosity would be doubled by tho State's contribution.

"My great regret," said Mr. Parr, "is that 1 am leaving the Board while tho college is incomplete, but I hope that this appeal will not fall upon deaf ears'. I commend it. also to the attention of the Board, and of the local bodies of the district. Something may yet bo done to make the college worthy of the great work which it is doing, and of the greater work which it must do as tho population of the city grows and expands." Subsequently a proposal was made by Mr. H. J. Greenslado that a direct appeal should be mado to the citizens of Auckland. He proposed that the City Council should be asked to add to its loan proposals a proposal that a sum of not less than £10,000 should be provided for the completion of the college, and that it. should be explained to the Council that if the loan was sanctioned by the ratepayers it would be subsidised by the Government at the rate of £1 - for £1.

The proposal was supported by Messrs. W. G. Murray and G. Edgecumbe, and having been seconded by Mr. G. J. Garland was carried unanimously.