HOSTEL EXPENDITURE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 532, 8 December 1928, Page 7

HOSTEL EXPENDITURE

EDUCATION DEPT. CRITICISM NEW BUILDING FOR HAMILTON (From Our Otcn Correspondent) HAMILTON, Friday. Criticism of the expenditure on the maintenance of the girls’ hostel by the Education Department was made in a letter received by the Board of Governors of the Hamilton High School today. The letter stated that the loss on the hostel during the past year had been £llß. Over the ten years in which it had been in operation there had been a working loss of £Bl6. Expenditure on the supply of provisions was also criticised, and a comparison made between the prices paid for meat and bread at the hostel with the amount paid for the same commodities at the Child Welfare Home in Hamilton. A report prepared by the headmaster, Mr. E. Wilson, replying to this criticism, was read. It was stated that a considerable rent was being paid for the hostel, and that there were other heavy expenses not incurred by most of the hostels in New Zealand. The working loss of £Bl6 included a sum spent on furniture and renovations. The basis of the deparement’s criticism, said Mr. Wilson, was unfair. It was conparing a home where parents paid to have their children well kept j with an institution where economy was an essential. It was decided to defer replying to the letter until the end of the year, when more figures would be available on the running of the hostel. The lease of the present buildings will expire at the end of the coming year, and a proposal to secure a grant for the erection of a new hostel will be considered. Advice was received that the Educa-

tion Department did not approve of the appointment of the board’s architect for the purpose of submitting plans and specifications for the new hostel. The letter stated that the Public Works Department was preparing preliminary plans and asked that a report be prepared in February, giving the number of boys boarding in Hamilton who attended the school. Regret was expressed that the department did not approve of the appointment of the board’s architect, but the information that the construction of the hostel would be proceeded with was regarded as satisfactory. It was decided that the site of the proposed building should be selected by a full committee.