GORE BOROUGH COUNCIL

Southland Times, Issue 23310, 21 September 1937, Page 4

GORE BOROUGH COUNCIL

LAST NIGHT’S MEETING At last night’s meeting of rhe Gore Borough Council, the Mayor (Mr A. T. Newman), presided over Councillors J. A. Wright, W. K. Hamilton, J. A. Baldey, N. Robson, T. Sim, F. S. Graham, A. McLachlan, J. A. S. Aitken, G. C. Hamilton and J. C. Ray. Before the beginning of the business the Mayor referred to the loss sustained by an ex-Mayor (Mr D. McDougall, M.P.), in the recent death of his son. A motion of sympathy was carried, the councillors standing in silence as a mark of respect. Mr E. Tee was granted permission to transfer his taxi driver’s licence and position on the Gold Band taxi stand to Mr John Rae, of Gore, subject to everything being in order. The Gore-Eastern Southland Christian Endeavour Union was granted permission to hold an open air meeting in Main street on October 23 and also to use the East Gore domain the same afternoon. HIGH SCHOOL BOARD At the monthly meeting of the Gore High School Board of Governors yesterday there were present: Messrs S. Rice (chairman), Hugh Smith, Henry Smith, H. C. Mac Gibbon, and J. Clark. The Director of Education advised that a grant of £BO 3/7 had been approved for the purchase of equipment for classes in electricity at the school. The secretary (Mr F. Young), reported that he had interviewed the station master about the late arrival of the morning train on the Waimea line. The latter had admitted that there was room for complaint.* Since the Balfour Lime Works had been opened a delay of half to three-quarters of an hour sometimes occurred at Kingston Crossing. However, the department had appointed a porter to travel with the train from Lumsden to attend, to the shunting opeiations down the line, and it was hoped that the train would run more to schedule. Mr Young was thanked for his report. The rector’s report stated: The roll now stands at 222, a fall of seven for the month. Thirty pupils have now left during the year and the fall in the roll compares favourably with that usually experienced in other schools. Unfortunately pupils still leave school without completing one year of secondary school work. The hostel opened after the holidays with a very satisfactory enrolment. “On August 25 and 26 a most interesting series of competitions in music, elocution and drama was held. The demonstration concert, when most of the pupils who had won their sections repeated their items, was most successful. There was a very large attendance of parents and the general public, and the concert had been the subject of many complimentary remarks. Financially, too, the effort was most gratifying, resulting in a net profit of approximately £25. “All arrangements have been finalized for the initial meeting of the Parents’ Association to be held tonight. A short programme including items by the pupils of the school has been arranged and the women teachers have kindly undertaken the supervision of the supper arrangements. I am particularly anxious that a strong association should be formed as I feel that it can be a tremendous help in furthering the interests of the school. “Teams from South Otago will visit Gore tomorrow and games will be played with the school teams in the afternoon. Arrangements have been made to hold the annual cross-country run on Wednesday of next week and after that it is hoped to make a start on the summer games.

“All pupils who wish to secure positions have been asked to supply the rector with their names and preferences so that the school can be the medium for placing them in suitable work. The school has unique opportunities for studying the characteristics of its pupils and hence should as part of its job endeavour to 'place pupils in suitable positions. Too often a boy decides to leave school first and then scans the ‘wanted’ columns of the newspaper and takes any positions that chances to be offering at that time and too often finds out later that ha has made a mistake and he has entered a form of employment for which he is unsuited or which leads nowhere. To me the most satisfactory method is for employers wanting boys or girls to apply to the school for them and then for the school to select from the candidates offering the most suitable and send them to the employer for an interview and at the same time give the employer a confidential report as shown by the school’s record of the candidate’s ability. “The staff of the school was asked to comment on various points about the reorganization of education. In addition to doing this a recommendation on the following lines was sent forward: ‘The present regulations about free places should be done away with. All pupils -passing through - Standard 6 (Form 2) or reaching the age of 13 should pass on automatically to some form of post primary education—the type to be undertaken to be determined by the pupils’ abilities and natural bents. There should be no division into junior or senior free place pupils, and a pupil should remain at school until he is absorbed in industry or until he reaches the age of 19 years. The present bar—senior free jJlace examination—often compels pupils to take up blind-alley occupations. Those who fail this test are often just those who are in most need of further educational advantages’.” The report was adopted.

RIVERTON GOLF CLUB The finals for the senior and junior championships resulted as follows:— Senior.—J. J. Banks beat Father Sexton. Junior.—J. A. C. Mackenzie beat J. A. McKinnon. Both matches were won convincingly. The result of the Birch Cup competition is as follows:— E. A. McPhail 61-70-68—199 J, A. C. Mackenzie 72-67-71—210 R. K. McNeil 70-70-73—213 Father Sexton 78-65-72—215 W. McKay 72-70-77—219 The draw for a stableford bogey match to be played this week is as follows:— Tomorrow.—Father Sexton v. W. McKay; H. McDougall v. R. K. McNeil; J. F. Fitzpatrick v. Father Fenelon; J. A. McKinnon v. J. J. Banks; P. Eccleton a bye . Saturday.—C. W. Carmody v. G. W. Finlayson; C. B. Matthewson v. A. D. Angus; H. J. Henderson a bye