THE TECHNICAL SCHOOL.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4311, 21 March 1901, Page 5

THE TECHNICAL SCHOOL.

’ W \NTED —ROOM FOR ESTEN- ’ SION. TROUBLE ABOUT COOKERY • CLASSES. I . - ;i In a memorandum, accompanying his L annual report to the Wehington Education Board. Mr A. D. Edey. Director of . : Technical Education, makes some re. ; commendations for the increase of am coramodation at the Wellington. Yechmcal Sclkol, and also m regard to the cookery classes, which are wort hi ot sneoial consideration. Mr says : , x “ The necessity of extension is one or , urgency. The present class-rooms ar« wholly insufficient for the purpose of the school. In several cases outr «■ portion of the work can be undertaken, as. for instance, the machine construction. No workshop, is available for too application of principles. In the building construction section a larger room is au urgent matter. No room is ayaAahlo for the housing of the electric light class, nor the applied mechanics. Lb» office and library accommodation is totally inadequate, the present arrangement being most unsuitod to our requirements. It the work is to- progress satisfactorily, the following provision requires to be made: —Office- accommodation and library, mechanical wort, shops, electrical workshops, building construction class-room, carpenters fckpp? applied' mechanics class-room, casting and modelling room, arts nud_ crafts room, class lecture room. The office ana library requires to ho’separated, it being impossible to conduct the business of the institution satisfactorily i under the present conditions.. The library re. ; quires additional shelving and more table space. Tito’ present carpentry shop will have to he abolished to allow of the erection of the Town Hall, the only means of extension are;—(al iho aoceptahoe of a piece of land next to the present school, measuring 62ft by hlott, with two frontages, one. to. Mercer street, and the other to Victoria street; (b) the removal of the whole school to another site —Mount Oook or Kelburne Park. The former, upon consideration. I do not consider altogether advisable. The latter is too far from the centre of population and too - difficult, of access. “ Should the Board accept the assist, ance of the City Council it will necessi- ; tate the re-organisation of the govei-n----incr body of technical instruction. The Council by ’ its gift and. contributions would have the right of representation. The governing body would then require to come under section 4, clause 3of the , New Technical Instruction Act, and would he elected by the Board, the City Council and the Industrial Association, the body so*' elected! being wholly re. sponsible for the conduct of technical instruction. Should the Board not elect to accept the City Council site xt mil be necessary to return the £ISOO to the Wellington Industrial Assooiatiou or , accept a representative from that body, and) so become an Associated: Classes Committee without the City Councils . assistance; to be prepared to remain inactive as to further developments; or to remove the whole’school to some other site, and trust to the* Govern- , inent providing the necessary ■ funds for building and other purposes.” ;

In the interests of technical instruo. i tion, Mr Riley recommends—That the Technical Instruction Committee be brought under the Associated Classes clause and accept the City Council’s assistance towards further development. ; The land so granted would enable all the necessary extensions to be made, inasmuch' as the land. proposed to be set aside is valued by the City Valuer at £7680. This, in accord- , ance with the Goveroniont regulations, means that £15,000 would bo available for building the extensions, and would, further enable contributions to be received from that body towards technical education, for whick £ for £ would bo,

granted. , . , . v Should this recommendation be adopt-' ed, Mr Siloy would recommend that the cookery classes for primary schools be placed under the control of the Board’s inspectors, and that the Board contribute, 1 say, £550 or £6OO if country classes are included annually for the inspection of drawing and kindred subjects in its , . primary'schools, for the training of teachers, and for continued instruction to its primary drawing scholarship-hold- , > ers. By this, means the Board would ■ retain its present position as between technical and primary instruction, and would be contributing a definite sum for a definite purpose.. , t Country classes for teachers and for technical instruction to bo controlled - at the same time by tbe Technical Committee. It is for tbe committee to decide aa to how far the cookery classes in country centres may be continued. The town classes, owing to a grant of £SO from the Wellington Gas Company, which, with the Government subsidy, ccmes to £IOO, may safely be carried on for the present year. There will, however, be a serious deficiency with regard to 1 country classes, _ - Mr Riley’s recommendations will no doubt evoke an interesting discussion at the next meeting of tho Education Board. The proposal to abolish country cookery classes is sure to be strongly opposed in several quarters; also, the suggestion that the unremunerative, ) yet, nevertheless, highly important, sections of technical education should bo handed over to, and made the special

care of the Education Boards. The Technical Instruction Committee of the Board yesterday passed the following resolutions, which were subsequently ' adopted by the Board —(I) That the salary of Mr Barrett (instructor in carving work) be increased from £l5O to £2OO per annum, on the direct understanding that ho gives up private work entirely and devotes the whole of his time to the Technical School(2) that the salary of Mr Bastings be increased from 1 £l5O to £2OO. in consideration of his taking additional classes at the Wellington College and Girls’ High School, the additional amount to be contributed by the College Governors; (S') that a committee, consisting of Messrs J. R. Blair, A. W. Hogg, j. Robertson and J. Young, bo appointed to meet the committee appointed by the City Council -and Industrial Association, with a mew to the consideration of the establishment of a joint committee under the new Technical Instruction/Act for the control of technics! education in this district.