OTEKAIKE HOME

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16642, 14 March 1916, Page 8

OTEKAIKE HOME

HON. MR PAUL'S ALLEGATIONS. DEPARTMENTAL REPLY. (Fbom Odb Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, March 13. An interview was published in the Otago Daily Times in Which the Hon. J. T. Paul alleged gross mucdlemient and waste in building the new school home for mentally defective children at Otekaiko. I have made inquiries of all tho Ministerial heads interested, and the only point on which all seem to bo agreed is that things have not gone well at Otekaiko. There i 3 no agreement as to who is to blame The Public Works Department has done its work, but for tho waste and delay the Minister of Public Works is inclined to blame tho Education Department, which, he declares, undertook the work without a clear enough idea of what it wanted. The carrying <out of the work presented extras ordinary difliculties. Tho present Minister of Education (Mr Hanan) is not concerned with the attacks made on the administration, because he has had no share in the responsibility for Otekaiko. Mr Allen, formerly Minister of Education, said when discussing the subject:—"l shall be very pleased to see an investigation made into the wholo thing. There has been interminable delay owing to the 'fact that the place is remote. It has been very difficult to get the work through."

Tho Director of Education is now in tho south, and will visit the place and report to tho Minister. His statement should bo authoritative, and, if available, interesting. There has been a certain interruption in policy regarding tho institution. The intention was to provide for both eexes at Otekaike, but the final decision was. reserved pending inquiries to be made by Mr Allen on his trip Home during 1913. In the meantime the work was to go ahead in such a way as to be serviceable in any event. Mr Allen decided on his return to separate tho eejees, and the department took over a building at Richmond, the -property of tho Education Department, but on loan to tho Mental Hospitals Department for this purpose, the Mental Hospitals Department having no furthfcr need for it. The adaptation 6f this building is not an extravagant or costly work. The shortage of money, due to tho war, has led to the reopening of the question, and tho present Minister is oonsidering_ whether on tho grounds of economy girls should not, for the present at all events, be taken at Otekaike.

The department decided to use the pine trees on ihe ground for timber after careful consideration. It was estimated that this timber would cost 10s, and' the cost of bringing other timber on,the ground would have been 25s per 100 feet. The contractor for tho supply of timber became in\ solvent, and the sawmilling had to be taken over by the Public Works Department under great difficulties. The statement that the timber cost £2 per 100 feet is challenged' in the meantime by the Education Department. An extension oi the water supply was necessary, because the existing system for a private house was insufficient for an institution containing as many as 70 ■ ■ inmates. It was extended first to furnish a small supply, and then re-extend to supply the enlarged institution now being built. \ The lighting plans were altered because the discovery was made that the water was available to drive a dynamo. Previously the plans had provided for petrol gaslight—a very efficient light which has been used with satisfaction in other educational institutions. This change involved a little avoidable extra cost. The plans regarding the septic tank were entered upon with a full knowledge of the work entailed, and the reason was that no other 6ite was possible for a septio tank. The general charges of extravagance are repudiated by tho department, but the repudiation is not endorsed by those who have been on tho w-jrks.