OMAKAU OR OPHIR?

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21053, 16 June 1930, Page 12

OMAKAU OR OPHIR?

TO THE EDITOR. fl^~^ notber . P air of correspondents fe» thajf tC r^ Ue of the lathing no less than the chairman and secretary nf itW how 18 l u ?^ e e of your eoumhs. But they have only themselves to blame The Education Act states expressly that "at the commftV mee^ g i* of Sive a full account "; l?* Proceedings for the year ending a - *fe? e ?eeutive officers who tailed 60 signally i n their duty •to the householders should become to theS 611 i? S«?L * r t gret T er y much indeed that it falls to. me to write in this wav aftrr ft' be , ea 5° Ion S a .party in the sakei of peace, but silence has been has Cd U oL a n 8 lf onße * nt ' and ««%li"irmS Wwt^ Ugh of thou B h t may nor be ouft„ B enSUrable y et A it may leadta serious consequences. And in this case it lhil-vt£ y f dl & 80 --L Ti ? the iu&L°Jj h % m &* tion ' -».»PPBiw that iL'jP" 4 ? f the committee Was bo £?"■♦? ? y^n fH^J 011 in favour of Omanfc&^S! 6 J> trt h»gHt of over 4i) Ophir chridren .(those at scW are not aU the children m Ophir) was to be taken from llt m ?Z a i c 0 .?" 1 of four persons, and the school that had been at their door tarv 6o^" 8 JF to ? e - C L°. Sed - ThTsecr* ' '¥ ton ™ hu W confession: .The possibility of a central school at Ophir to anybody at that r une -. A- - "oture, if you can, a committee .sitting at their meeting in the ODhir Us the secretary says), agreeing to close that school—the largest in the districtin favour of a new school about a mile awav, and with no of the claims t JtTSI? old eth ?° li r P° ul « there be a much better example of thoughtlessness? «£. J!? c £ etaty 1S a . intelligent man, and he knowa quite, well that ac ¥iid may have quite a number of birthrights. necessary for him to define that I understood the term birthright to mean the 'proposed changed site' of a C A en *r al As for the chairman, it would be an interminable business to follow him in his ramblings. But three of his statements mil serve to show the extraordinary prejudice which leads! him" to. write at large: ■(a)- Mr, Don makes many inaccurate statements concerning the Ophir School f,T nd °tu three « a o?u res -" M/sentence in tull ran thus: "The reserve at present contains three acres, which may easily be doubled, and made into excellent playing nelds/ . Those are three assertions,' all correct, yet they, become "many inaccurate statements."

(k). “A large pciriion of this (three acres) lies at .the rear of ;the "school on a steep slope. The 'reserve is -140 yards ui. length, had the average slope for that front fence to rear fence, is from.eight to 1 ten feet. Only one corner, containing /about .half a square- chain, or about one-juttteth of the whole ■ area, rises to about This little corner is tns so-called large portion on a‘steep ® lo P e - Very steep indeed—not the slope, out-the • deecriptioh. (c) " The- miserable cramped- space lying between the front of the school-and the street. I sadly fear -this would provide little more than standing room for the ,100 future children." school lies 55 yards from the street, and the frontage is 70 yards—giving 340 square feet (nearly 20 feet, square) for each of the unfortunates to etand upon! The rear area is certainly largely " old gold diggings” But,old mining tailings are easily, levelled, and they make one the very best surfaces fpr playing on. . After all that,, the chairman’s description of the "glorious, airy, sunny site” at Omakau is very refreshing. I daresay that all this discussion must be considered by your readers generally as much ; ado about little. -But dl -is -a . sample ,of the sort of - thing that people with little" to do (including, myself); and • with. strong prejudices sometimes take on, I have, not asserted that Ophir is superior to. Oinakau; J.- have, merely 1 made comparisons and given facts that should he taken into account. — I am. etc., A. Don. Ophir, June 14. ,