WANTED, A NEW GIRLS' HIGH SCHOOL—AND A NEW HIGH SCHOOLS BOARD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12396, 4 July 1902, Page 8

WANTED, A NEW GIRLS' HIGH SCHOOL—AND A NEW HIGH SCHOOLS BOARD.

TO TIIE EDITOR. Sir,—l am encouraged to read jwr lead; ing articles on the High Schools, because it

is only by exciting some public interest in mearis'for their continued success that one

can hope for any good. ■ You refer to my proposals regarding the I erection of a. new Girls' High School, and yob are not surprised that the breaths of the members were to some extent taken away bv the magnitude of my scheme, which you say was aptly described by the Mayor as "colossal." Now, a scheme is.»ot condemned by the- word " colossal.", which is purely a relative term, and may indicate'shortncss of vision as well as vastness of object. The members of the board were not asked'to swallow my proposals wholesale, but to submit: tile alternative proposals to a committee for investigation. You give an outline of. my proposal, and on the'strength of remarks made by one or two members before Investigation yon Are dubious of any sound-' tiess in tlio financial basis of my scheme. We|l, I submit, it was worth investigation at least. The careful and detailed estimates of a city architect may be of at least equal' value' to ii.mayor's condemnation, expressed previous to investigation. Now, I want to point out what you have omitted to note, arid that is tliat I quoted good precedent for my scheme. I showed, that the Auckland \lsoard had obtained powers (a) to borrow £10,000 to erect a new school, and (b), to borrow £6000,f0r the purpose of building houses for letting on their city lands. Moreover, Ii showed ■ that, on the motion ofr Sir Maurice O'Rorke, the board had borrowed £314-7 at 4| per cent., with which it had ejected buildings on a useler-3 city site, from whioli the, board is now deriving the NET,

profit of £250, over 8 per cent, on the out-1 lay. •, Now', I ask. why cannot this board do ' the. same? I had no intention of borrowing the full amount at once, but to\iroceed by degrees, with the result that, on the larger scheme, between £2000 and £3000 per annum • would beadde'd to the board's revenue, ' white the Hijli Schools Board wOuldhave piit the 1 Education- Board in ■ possession of £5000 .for its' Stuart street site to be spent on site. arid building? for the Technical School. Well.i if this is too "brilliant," as you say (and it was submitted merely as ' an alternative), there was a second proposal' to build a terrace of IS houses on • Rattray .street,'on land, mark you, totally utcjess for any other purposes, and without cncyoifehing unduly on the present High School' site. Now, this wau'ld pay not only on the buildings, but also for a new school. Further; even if we did not get money under the Loans, to,' Local Bodies Act, it would r still, pay the board and build a new school i besides.' The very thing you question asfeasible is done .by Auckland, whose experience, boars '.out exactly the estimates I have of the revenue from a 'city architect to be' derived from buildings in Rattray street. * I | .submit,, therefore, my proposal is worthy of unbiassed consideration. At the same time, ' I obtained . fin estimate of the possible reyenub to : be derived from leasing the land for building sites, and find that tlio amdunt of land the .board could lease would be . totally inadequate for the object in view. I 'It is; plain, however; that proposals of such a nature will not receive any reasonable consideration from the High Schools Board if ; the ' board is not convinced—am? . solidly convinced—of the necessity of a new ! school. I thought I might have taken this i for granted, arid as. you report I said, " He ilia, not need Ho point out the unsuitability of "the school to the Board of Governors, and .was surd it was only want of funds that : hitherto had;'prevented them from faking stops to erect a; new building." Much to, my surprise, however, this very previous qiiestlo.il.was debated, and Mr Sinclair .'declared' that " this was really the first question, without endeavouring to follow*the figures in,the meimtiipe." Accordingly this, too, Ij agreed to refer to the board in committee to'renort on, as, plainly, it was idle to dis- , cuss borrowing proposals if the board was not convinced; of the unsuitability of the present .bjiildings. Since .then the board has met in committee,- I will liot refer to its proceedings, but I; think I may without prejudice simply ■ say that a .mption of mine expressing the • Opinion, that' the buildings are unsuitable ; for the purpose? for which they exist, and that the board consider ways and means of erecting new- buildings or improving the old, was rejected by a majority as to the first clause, and the last clauso was carried ns. an' afnendment. The Hoard has thus reversed the oriler of procedure it had determined on, which was to consider first whether any or what buildings or improvements are absolutely,necessary. ' An aca.deniic discussion on ways and means without havingi agreed on a common object is the [ work rather of ri. debating .society, and ' | think it useless to waste'time in discussion of the kind. For I am convinced that the board, as'constituted by its tenure of office find mode of election, is impotent for any good. We are only earetakers without- a| caretaker's .tenure of office, and mombers are' ■ really,not, in .a position to give their ener-'j giee to do what they would. A careful study of the question has forced the conclusion on my 'mind that the first immediate necessity is a new High Schools Board. _. I am convinced that the reason why tilings have drifted so long, and why ; the board is impotent to'really tackle the j vital interests of the school, is the' tenure , of office and mode of election of members. ' Such a board' as at present elected would never loofc-iseriously at proposals for erecting a now'SOllool or any other similar project. The reason is not in the personnel of the board, but, as I have said, in their tenure of office and mode of election. There has-been no change iu the Boards Act since 1877, though everybody and everything else have changed. The board consists of seven members, elected as follows:—One, the Mayor of Diinedin for the time being; two elected by, the Otago Education Board, two ! by the Otago University Council, and two nominated by the Government. Here is the, absolutely fatal clause to any good: ."No member shall, hold office longer than' a. year," though lie may be re-elected. Now,what call a man or a board undertake on a year's tenure,,of office? Mark you,'the whole board is liable to, be swept clean out ' every yUav. I. do not know any more capable or valuable members on such a I board than the Mayors of Dunedin, but j they come in in the middle of one .year and go out in the middle of the next. What real influence. couW one in these circumstances exert?, Then the other members hold almost equally precarious seats, for, though they may be returned, it is by no means certain; and thoir services, on the board may count for nothing in their reelection, for. the simple reason that those most directly interested have not a particle of power. How long are the narcnts of the children attending the High Schools to be denied a voice, in their management? They pay over £2000 per annum in fees, and have not the power of a small country committee, though there might be 600 or 700 boys arid girls in the schools. They are treated like Uitlanders. Their money is taketfT but they are absolutely excluded from all direct control of the schools they support. By the present t nomination system the board has got plenty of ballast: what it wants is steam; and this needful force, will be supplied by passing most of the members through the purgatory of popular election • and ■ giving tho parents direct representation oil tile board. We are a long way ahead of tho year 1877. and the provinco may now bo trusted to cleft a High Schools Board. I suggest, therefore, as a first essential a three years' term of office, and that the mombers be elected as follows:—Two by tlio. parents of the boys and girls attending tho schools, two bv the city school committees, two by the Education Board,, two by: the Otago members of both Houses of Parliament, and one by tho Dunedin City Council. To show that I am not making an proposal, let me here quote tho constitution of—(1) The Auckland High School Board: Three elected by the Education Board, tlireo by the Auckland members of-the Upper and Lower Houses, three by the University Senate, and the Mayor .of Auckland—nine members,—holding office for three wars. (2) Of Wellington: The Mayor of Wellington, the chairman of tho Education Board, three elected by the parents of fhe children attending the school,, three nominated by Government—eight mombers.—holding office for five years, excepting in the case of the Mayor and chairman of the Education Board. Now, I think, this reform only needs to be pointed out to draw public,, and especially parental, attention to this matter. It is the first, reform needed in connection with the schools.. It is hopeless to attempt anything with the board as at present elected. I am not- finding fault with tho personnel of the board: you could have no more competent or worthy chairman than Dr Brown, who would head the poll on a oopular election,' aed who alone of innumerable medical men gives his services to public ob'ects. It is id 1 ? to talk of filling t>o Girls' High School with the Seventh Standard pupils while the

r.'ikbng b in its present state. It is morn than I can hope for to see the present board do any real good. With a year's tenure of office it cnn.onlv drift, and adopt from vear to year nil)- time-serving patch. "Things will do our dav; they have done the past; aftw us the deluge," I appeal therefore to you, Sir. to bring this clamant reform before the public. I appeal to everyono interested

in secondary education. I appeal first and' foremost to the parents, who contribute over £2000 per annum to tlio schools and aro as Uitlandcrs, to assert their undoubted rights and secure before- Parliament rises a voice in the management ol their schools. I think I shall not appeal ill vain,—l am, etc., * . ' P. B. FRASBB. ■ Lovoll's Plat, July 2.