OAONUI.

Opunake Times, Volume VIII, Issue 393, 17 June 1898, Page 2

OAONUI.

(Our Own Correspondent.) At a meeting of the School Committee the other evening it was decided to try and do a very necessary work, namely, the building of a children’s shelter shed. In order to raise thg funds a concert will be given at an early date in the school. It is gratifying and encouraging to find the settlers heartily endorsing the idea by ready offers to assist in carrying the thing to a successful issue. Such a shed would prove a boon to the children, and a great convenience on occasion of any gatherings for placing saddles and harness in for safety. There is sure to be a large attendance and a good “ scoop ” of the needful. On the Ngariki Eoad lately there has been quite an influx of settlers with large families, and the local school is quite over-packed. It is only a lean-to of about 24ft by 12£t, and is out of repair, so much so, in fact, as to render it hardly fit for its present use. It cannot be healthy for 28 children to be packed in such a room. Surely the Education Board will make a move in the matter soon and put up a decent school. Speaking of schools, I notice the School Inspector, Mr Spencer, has recommended the Education Board to instruct all teachers to mark as absent for the day any children who arrive at the school half-an-hour after time of opening. Whilst I agree that the late and irregular attendance is • deterrent to progress, yet I am positive that if the Board puts into force such a drastic measure in country districts they will soon find the schools decimated, Settlers, as a rule, do their best to get children to school early as possible, but what with home duties, long distances, the weather, ard bad roads, it it next to impossible' for children in scattered farming districts to reach school punctually to time. Country settlers should move to counteract this measure.