ORAKEI SCHOOL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23542, 4 July 1938, Page 10

ORAKEI SCHOOL

OPENED BY MR SAVAGE LARGE ATTENDANCE AT CEREMONY "MONEY WELL SPENT" (Per United Press Association) AUCKLAND, July 3. With a gold key the Prime Minister (Mr M. J. Savage) opened the new school at Orakei in the presence of about 3000 cheering spectators on Saturday afternoon. Mr Savage said that the school had cost about £13,000, but it was money well spent and he expressed the hope that it would serve the children of the district for many generations to come. The ceremony was held out of doors and Mr Savage and his Government associates were given a demonstrative reception. The official party included the Mayor (Sir Ernest Davis), the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr W. E. Parry), the Attorney-general (Mr H. G. R. Mason), the Under-secretary in Charge of Housing (Mr J. A. Lee), and other members of Parliament.

Mr Parry said the Orakei State Settlement and school would stand as a living monument to Mr Savage as Prime Minister, who had thus fulfilled the wish of a lifetime. He hoped it would be his own duty to assist in developing the physical ana mental constitution of the children at every school through the organisation that it was proposed to establish in New Zealand. The best legacy the Government could leave, the Minister added, was a sound physical generation of children, and there would then be no worry about the future of the country. More Houses Needed

With the opening of the school on a site unparalleled in New Zealand, the Government’s housing scheme was well on its way to proving its own success, said Mr J. A. Lee. The Prime Minister's only concern was that 10 times as many houses had not been provided. The Minister of Finance said he would find the money and it was hoped eventually to reproduce Orakei in many places throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand.

A presentation to the school of 15 native trees to represent the Prime Minister, the High Commissioner, and the }3 Cabinet Ministers, was made on behalf of the Tamaki branch of the Labour Party. On rising to open the main door, the Prime Minister was greeted with cheers and the singing of “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.” In his address, Mr Savage emphasised the necessity for the extension of education facilities in New Zealand, and referred to the inability of the Government to find men to do the work requiring attention. He referred to the transformation in Orakei in the past two years, and said the settlement scheme had been referred to as a wild dream: but it had come true. In his own wildest dreams he had never imagined being there in the heart of an ideal residential suburb opening a magnificent school on one of the finest sites it was possible to find. Shortage of Labour “ We have a lot to do before we have done justice to the people, but we are well on the way,” continued Mr Savage. “We are £17,000,000 in arrears in New Zealand in the matter of public buildings, and I want to say that it is not the whole of the Government’s responsibility. There is a shortage of men to provide the facilities we are prepared to give. We want the men to come forward and work. We will supply the money and ask nobody questions regarding where it will come from. We want 330 more houses like those now at Orakei, but no Government can do it without the assistance of the men who do the work.”