THE NEWTOWN SCHOOL

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4394, 27 June 1901, Page 6

THE NEWTOWN SCHOOL

DEFENCE OF THE El JCATION

BOARD. IMPROVEMENTS TO BE PROCEEDED WITH. The Education Board had the condi- ’ tion of the Newtown School, under consideration again yesterday. It appears that the chairman of the Board (Mr J. R. Blair) lost no time in replying to the letter from the Premier covering the statements of the Newtown Committee and residents and the report of Mr Campbell, the Government Architect. His communication in reply to the Right Hen R. J. Soddon was as follows : “ Wellington, Juno 12,1901. “ The Hon the Premier, —With reference to the statements made by the deputation from the Newtown School Committee and representative residents, I have to inform you that the charge of want of courtesy t° the committee and the non-receipt of replies to their communications is certainly not borne out by the representations of the Board’s secretary,who informs me that he makek a special point of promptly dealing v.th, all correspondence, as far as he is able to do so. “The condition of the school buildings fully calls for more expenditure, but th o funds at the Board’s disposal will not admit of effectually dealing with the many demands made upon it. “ On going over the expenditure for the past ten years on the city schools, I find that the Newtown district has received £4554 4s 9d, of which £1637 19s 7J was expended on the old school and £2816 5s 2d on the new property in Rintoul street, “Mount Cook Boys’ School received £477 3s 4d; Mount Cook Girls’, £3ll Is 4d ; Mount Cook Infants’, £213 13s 6d;, Clyde quay, £375 6s; Terrace, £4Bl 3s 7d. “ This does not show that the Newtown district has been neglected to the extent of the deputation’s representations. “The ground at Newtown certainly is low, but this has not the significance it would have if the building was occupied all the time instead of six hours only out of the twenty-four, and if the grounds are occasionally a quagmire in very wet weather it is because tihe gratings have been allowed to become neglected, and the outlet for the surface water cut off. The building stands on a knoll, and the floor is about a foot below the level of Riddiford street, but is well above the level of Mein street, which runs along the northern side, and, morever, it lies to the sun all day long. “ When the matter was before the Board last year, plans were prepared for practically rebuilding the older portion of the school, and for the reconstruction ef the eastern addition to remedy existing defects and provide for future extension. . This plan was shown to several members. of the committee and the head teacher, and met with unanimous approval, but the application made to the Education Department when th e building grant was being allocated in December last for special consideration toi admit of the work being put in hand met with the reply that th e Minister couid not see his way to make a special grant for rebuilding a portion of the Newtown School, and that the Board should make provision for such cases, as necessity arises, out of its share of the building votes. “Hie Board at its meeting in May ordered tenders to be called for the above works, trusting to the Govern- ~ ment to help in the cost. In the meantime improvements have been made in the ventilation of the school. The whole question is entirely one of finance, and the Board submits that it has never been partial in its administration.

“ The difficulty of finance has ever been one which has had to be contended with, and the fact that all the buildings are of wood makes the difficulty greater as .years go on. At the present- time, with a considerable overdraft at the bank, the Board is endeavouring to provide a central school for Levin, a new school for the Hutt, and considerable improvements to Newtown, while the state of the old buildings at Carterton urgently calls for attention quite beyond the means of the Board.”-—(Signed) J. B. Blair, chair* man.

A short debate followed on the reading of the letter. The chairman said steps had been taken to remedy the condition of the school from time to time, but definite action had been delayed pending reports on other sites which had, been said to be available, none of wfficß, however, had proved suitable. As a matter of fact, tbe Board had decided to pull down the central portion of the school before the Government Architect’s condemnatory report was.-receiv-ed. What he (Mr Blair) thought ought to b e done now was to take away the central- part of the present school, and convert it into a boys’ school, and provide a,site for a girls’ school elsewhere. The speaker took exception to the Colonial Architect’s remarks in regard to ventilation, and pointed out that while Mr Campbell condemned open-window ventilation, th e president of the Sanitary Association of England, in his last report, said that no more efficient method could be devised than, the openwindow method of ventilation. Mr Robertson said ho ■ noticed Mr Campbell had employed the word "criminal” in this connection. If window ventilation was criminal, then there was a great deal of criminality about the ventilation of many of our public buildings. Members of the Board also took exception to Mr Campbell’s remarks anent “basin traps” as exhibiting a profound ignorance of sanitary requirements.

The chairman said the location of the school -was absolutely healthy. It had the sun upon it for six hours of each fine day, winter and summer. Mr Buchanan said it was a Significant fact that the local committee had suggested no alternative site. On the motion of Mr Robertson, it was decided to make alterations to the school in accordance with plans already submitted, and to fill the playground.; with gravel up to the plinth. ,r.