PONSONBY'S NEED MET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18211, 3 October 1922, Page 9

PONSONBY'S NEED MET.

DURBAN STREET INSTITUTION.

THE OFFICIAL OPENING.

The opening ceremony of the new C'nrran Street school, in the Ponsonby school*' district, was performed yesterday afternoon by the Minister for Education, the Hon. C. J. Parr, in the presence of several hundred parents and pupils of the new school, and children from the Pon-

sonby, Richmond Road and Bayfield schools. The building contains 12 rooms, providing 6963 square feet of floor space, and there is accommodation for 650 children. The staff consists of the headmaster, Mr. W. Hill, and 10 assistants.

In his opening remarks the ch. !rman of the Ponsonby Schools' Committee, Mr. W. J. Campbell, referred to the growing responsibilities of the district in matters educational. Besides the new school they tvere opening, playing areas had recently been acquired at the Bayfield and -Rich mond Road schools. Before Curfan Street school had been opened the district i-cnools had a roll number of 2360, but this total •had now grown to over 2500. The nev? school was the first to be staffed unde* the Dominion grading system, and teachers had been drawn from all over New Zealand, instead of from one district as formerly. Mr. Campbell paid a tribute to the consideration shown tiy the Minister in meeting the educational needs of Ponsonby, and to the Education Board's architect, Mr. J. Farrell, for the splen did example of Bchool architecture (he bad conceived for the district.

In declaring the school open, Mr. Parr recalled the tact that his early life had been lived in the district, and his publi" life inaugurated as a member of the Ponsonby School Committor in 1898. The new building was, he said, one of the finej.t examples of school architecture in the world to-day. Some people clamoured for open-air schools, but that was what, in reality, the Curran Street school was By the system of cross-ventilation the air in the building was as fresh as that out side, and the lighting was so arranged that in every case it entered over the pupil's left shoulder, an ideal condition for preventing eyestrain and preserving sight. Another feature was that it was an associated school, attached to th*» teachers' training college, and would bo used as a normal school. Addresses were also given by tli* Director of Education, Mr. J. Caueh'ey. the acting-chainnan of the Education Board, Mr. A- Burns, Messrs. Farrell and Hill. The last-named appealed for. th* rapport of parents in the matter of attendance, and also in completing the recreational equipment of the school Mr. Parr was presented with a gold key by the school committee as a souvenir of the opening ceremony. Afterward* both parents and children were entertained at afternoon tea.

EXPENDITUEE IN AUCKLAND.

NECESSITY, NOT FAVOURITISM.

A repudiation of the charge that Auckland was favoured in the matter of expenditure on education was uttered by the Minister for Education, the Hon. C. J. Parr, at the opening of the Curran Street School yesterday. He characterised the charge as a slander, and said that in no other centre had the over-crowding of schools been so bad as in Auckland. He had been ashamed of the way in which children had been herded together in Auckland schools. Tho reason for this pressing local problem was to be found in the fact thab Auckland's population had increased by 45,000 souls in 10 yearn. No other city in tho Dominion could show such a rate of increase and, therefore, of increased dimand for school accommodation. The opening of two new schools that day would relieve the overcrowding in two large school districts. When a new school had been provided at Archhill he thought the worst cases in Auckland would have been dealt with and the inefficiency of larg« classes to an extent done away with.