NEW GIRLS' HIGH SCHOOL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14529, 21 May 1909, Page 6

NEW GIRLS' HIGH SCHOOL

DISCUSSION AS TO SITE.

PRESENT POSITION DECIDED

UPON,

The High School Board of Governors met yii-tonl.iy afternoon, the members ruesent. bcing-'l he Hon. .1. 1!. Sinclair (chairman), lion. '['. Fergus, Messrs .1. 1). Walker (Mayor). ». Stewart llSaklulhd), and J. M. Callaway.

A lutu-r was received from the Inspectorgeneral of Schools (Mr 0. Hogbcn). slating that Ihe Minister of Education had approved oi i,ln; plans for the Girls' High School, subject to some slight modifications and alteration.-*, in detail. The Jnepectcrgeneral offered to piovide plans of the proposed alterations, ami it was resolved to acknowledge t.he otter with thanks, and to refer the suggested modifications, to the architect.

Mr Stewart, in 'accordance with previous intimation, brought, up the question of silo, and moved that, this he reconsidered. He .said Iho reasons that had strengthened liini in bringing up the .subject for reconsideration were i.lutt- a good Iniiltlintj would be couqaratively buried from an architectural standpoint if erected on Iho present, site-it would not he seen until anyone came close to it; it. was not particularly healthy in ils surroundings or sanitary, and was 100 near Tito centre of the city for an educational institution of the kind. The pro-icm, site was, further, too valuable for tlio purpose, and if cut up into building allotments would bring in a revenue of between £500 and £600 per annum. The present site for lire school was two aercis and a-luilf, ami as the board had six or six ami a-lialf acres on the Hoys' High School site, he thought the (lirV High School might be built alongside of It. There was ample, land for the purpose between the. lioya' High School and tile Arthur Sheet. Schrol—-

The Chairman: Do you mean on the boys' cricket ground? Mr Stewart: Yes. Tim' boys have Hie Town Hell and level hind adjacent for cricket or recreation grounds. Arrangements, could no doubt be made for securing the portion of the licit he referred to for school recreation purposes. Portions of l.ho Doll, bad been taken for botanical gardens, |,ortion for a rifle range, .and portion for a cemetery, and there could be no strong objection lo granting a small portion for school recreation purposes. Considerable advantages would result from having both High Schools near each other. Olio janitor with an assistant would be sufficient for both schools; the, girls could have the. use of tho bovs' gymnasium when Ilia boys were- not using il'; the girls could also have the use of the swimming baths, as at present, without going a lung distance to them. The reasons ho gave were, lie thought, sufficient lo warrant him in bringing lira matter before tho board. If the position he suggested for the school was not approved there was ample land for the purpose en the northern site of tho Bovs' High School-namely, on tho site where th? rector's bouse, now stood. The rector's house was an old building, and cost a considerable sum for repairs and renovations, and arrangements could be mads, if it was pulled down, for reniiiwf a house elsewhere, or for creeling a rector's house on a new silo. If tho rector's house site was selected there was behind it n fine level piece of land on the Town Belt for a plavgiouml. Ho thought the site on which the Girls' High School now stood, lieing practically in the business centre of the city, would, as years went, on, increase, in value, ami that it would bring in a large revenue for oducalional purpose*. He suggested that a com mil-tee of tho board, be apointod to inspect the sites suggested. Mr .1. M. Callaway seconded the motion pro forma for the purpose of it tliscussed.

Mr I'CrgtLS .-aid ho was utterly opposed to the iiroposal. Tho suggestion that the hoard should take awav the boys' playground, where they nhvetl orickct and where the Ca.lcts were drilled, -,•<•,- , w ! ; : n! , Ihe kard lo do a yerv umvir/;'thing TF° sttggestion to build iKb school on the northern side, where the rector's-house stootl. was also inadvisable, as tb?rc was not sufficient land for th» buiklin,» ami playground. L'herc were many reasons wliv there sliould be a reasonable tlislimce between the school for girls and Ihe schow for |-ovs, and as to tlio proposal to alienate a 'portion of the Town Belt for school purpose-; he thought what had been said in its favour wa* argument, against, it. If portions bad been alicaalol for romctery purposes, for a. rtlle range, for botonical ga.rrlens, 'elc, th'it was a powerful reason why no'more siicild l» iihus alienated. Parliament w;iuld n-it_sairet.mii it, and ho was perlecMy cnrtain the citizens of Dunwlin would not permit it for a moment. Ono janitor eould nor. do the work for both schoo's and the suggestion for a common mni' nasium for both girls and boys woukf'not work. It was true that the girls of the HtSli School uswl the swimming baths at the Coy-,' School iluriii.g certain lioms, tint tltal. had been acoompli-ihed in tha face of strong opposition. He agieed with Mr .-•lewart that t.he rector's house was old and was costing a good deal for upkeep, but the. question of such excuse was notJiing in a matter of the kind. There were already enough schools in the vicinity of Ihe Boys High School without ailing another to the number. There wa.s a reserve belonging to the Education Board winch he tliotijtht al one time might do lor the site—the reserve in St.ua.rt street on which the education workshop now stoo.L-lnrt after looking at if, he concluded it was k-o small and too uneven for the niirpo:?. The pre,<«nt girls' school site was in a convenient, central pteition, was chve to a number of other educational «t(ibl!shments for girls, and boimr it was, an exlensioti of the primary"'school, it had an a<lvau!age in being only a short <lMlance from the Jtailwav Station and the mam thoroughfares. To'alter the site lo Stuart . .street or elsewhere would c.utso delay, and in the case of Stuart street would require legislative action. Delay under Ihe circumstances would ke dangcrous, tiinl to (Jiaitje. tho site at Ihis kio stage would be mosj unwise. He therefore urged that the board should go on with tho present site.

Mr Gallnvay .said that, while h,ecould no, 1 , support ots motion, lie was sure the board were very grateful to Mr Stewart f ur bring, ing ihe siibjecl up and thus making if op°n for diseus-iioii.

._ Mi- Walker -aid he did no t think Mr •Stewart intended Uiftt any of the Town Melt, should ho alienated.

Mr Hiowii.it; Xo, onlv thai a small portion should be reserved as a playground [luring school hours, and after that it could bo open to the public as usual. Mr Wiilkiu' leontinuing) said while he agreed h ilii Mr Stewart that there would w a certain amount of economy in baviny both schools together, ihoio were also disadvantagos. ]!o favoui-ed tin present site. The Chairman said ho was also opposed jo Mr .Stewart's motion, which he should have brought up before if he intended to do so. The lioard had boon promised HovermiKMii liinincial ats-isfanoc on the understanding that the building was to be erected on lh-.' present site. The Minister had approved of the site, and to alter it, now would be to altor the whole conditions, If ihey did aiiylhiii;,' 10 get revenue from the present site and placing the building somew'hore 01-e, the Government might with, draw hnaiicial as.sistamv-and (hat would cut the ground from under the hoard's feel, The present site was an ideal one, and hid been .-elected fro iany others that were available He was surprised that any monitor ol the beard should make aWgeslion to lake away the High School Low' cricket puch-a proposal with which 'he had not the slightest svmpathy. Mr Stewart, in explanation,* said he had only been a member of the board for two or throe meetings, and coidd not bring his proposal ui) Wore. He brought the motion up because he thought the best site should he secured for the school. After the exprossion of opinion given by members be did not intend to push the motion. Mr Fergus: I think it is a pity it was brought up at all; it will just set people, talking.

Mr .Stewart then withdrew his motion, and 1 lie matter ilrop]y;<l.

THE SrCOKSSFI'I. DESIGN'

The I'hairnian said as tin; board had rewived I ho .Minister's approval for the di>---it'll ami plans approved by the boar<l. it would be necessary to take so.no action. Kctoft; owning the envelope tonkiininjr the dt'<: K iior's Mimic and address, which was iliiito unknown to any member of llio lward.it would lv> nee-.wa rv that the comimitees recommendation*, which had al-o kvii approved by the Minister, should bo earned mio oiled. The committee had iWomniemUl (hat (lie siutcseful design must not exceed a toial expenditure of more than £lo.eOo. and a pnseni expenditure of £90.0. of 10 per w »!. mo, th.W sums, lie, iheivlvr.'. sti-gosted that th« followinc iesolution !v adopt:d b>fon- ill--, envelope ua-, i.|iJHOJ: —" 'ihat ll:.> cmel„po ( ~„t:iiii-1111; 1111; lii-.' motto 'Master' l ; e opened, and thai th,; d-.-'igner „f ,1 K - l.uildiiu; l w a to prepare for approval of the' board (a) s|ieeifiyarioii for the erection of (he entire

building designed l.y liim. as minlifiVd l,v the suggestion* made by the board and tho Kduoaiioti Department after such modificaiions have been reduced to writing: |h) specification for th« work now proposed to lw tarried out. which is sucii pun ion of the proposed l.uildiier estimated l<> com £9509 as is outlined in ilio designer's specifications which aceempank'd his d'-si<,M, such sum Id include hot-water I:'.-• 1 illj_ r : that, when such spceilicr.tioiis shall !>> upproved, alternative lendeis be calh-.l for la) and (l>): that mild offers lie iweiv.-d fov such alternative work showing thai it can lie done within the estimates given by the do.si.gner, tho Iward does nut accept" any design. Further, ihat the hoard does nut undertake to acccpl any oiler thai may lie made for either fa) or (i>)."

.Mr Fergus moved, and Mr .Stewart seconded, the motion as stiggc-iod, which was carried unaimously.

The .secretary tiMi opened lhe envelope witli the mono " -Magist-er." the approved design, ami it. was found t-lsal t.he designer is Mr Kdnmud Auscombo, arcbiteel, Dunedin, and general satisfaction was expressed thai a Duik.tliii architect had secured liie, first-place design among 21 compel iters from many placet*.

The first pme for the accepted design, it was explained, is £100; for the second, £75; and for the third, £50. It was also explained that if thu first design cannot, be completed for the stipulated amount.;, file board would have to fall back upon the second. Under these conditions ihe second and third design envelopes were allowed io remain unopened tinlil after (he conditions in regard lo No. 1 have l>een complied with.

'Ihe Mayor mentioned ilial. the successful designer was horn in Dnnedin.

A small amount of routine business was aftorwards transacted, and tho hoard adjourned.