BOARD OF EDUCATION.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 2978, 15 June 1899, Page 3

BOARD OF EDUCATION.

» — The ordinary monthly meeting of the Board of Education was held yesterday. Present— Mr Howell (chairman), Rev. Messrs Barclay and Comrie, Messrs Moore, Inwood, Talbot, Keith, Keddie. A TECHNICAL POINT. Before signing the minutes of the previous meeting the chairman made an explanation At that meeting a resolution was passed thanking the Revision Committee for their p.iat services, and dis- j charging the committee. It was, however, agreed that the committee should meet again to go through and schedule the applications for the post of assistant inspector. The committee was called together, when Mr Keith, one of the members, objected that the committee had been discharged, and had no instructions to perform that duty, there being 110 minute of it. He therefore declined to take any part m the business. He (t,he chairman; distinctly remembered that it was agreed to, on his suggestion. Technically, no doubt, Mr Keith was right ; but if everybody stuck up for technicalities the world would not get through its work. He regretted that the matter had occurred, and to put it right he would move that a minute be added "That the pereonell of the Revision Committee be asked to schedule the applications for the appointment of sub-inspector, etc." Mr Keith said the committee had been discharged and thanked for what they had done. To his surprise he received a notice, as a member of that sommittee, to attend a meeting to go through the applications. He attended out of courtesy, but asked whether the committee had been reinstated, and there being nothing m the minutes to that effect, he declined to take part m the business. He did not believe m one or two men undertaking to do work for the the Board without authority. Tt was as easy to do things right as wrong. Mr Barclay said he had a full recollection of the matter, and what the chairman said was strictly accurate. The chairman's motion was carried nem con, and the minutes were then signed. architect's report. The architect, Mr Turnbull, reported on various demands submitted and gave estimates. At Makikihi the plastered ceiling of the school was falling. It had been papered, but the plaster nevertheless falls. The ceiling should be matchlined. An estimate was given for this, and also of the cost of a shelter-shed. At Kakahu Bush the roof of the residence leaks badly, and the paper of the two front rooms and passage was deBtroyed by the leaks. Repairs to fencing were also required, and the buildings generally required a good deal of attention. He had visited Pleasant Point with the Inspector, to report on the room complained of. They found that it is old, with low ceiling, and badly lighted, through being shTJkofl from sunlight during winter, and exposed to N. W. winds m summer. He recommended putting m an additional window and painting the porch. It was resolved that tenders be called for the insertion of a window and painting porch at Pleasant Point, for repairs at Kakahu Bush, and for match-lining ceiling at Makikihi, the tenders to be received by the Building Committee, with power to net. A long discussion took place, on an applicat ion for a shelter shed at Makikihi. Mr Keddie moved that the Bo«d grant £10. Mr Inwood moved an amendment to the eflect that m the state of the Board's funds they could not entertain applications for shelter sheds. This was supported by Messrs Talbot and Moore, but was lost by four to three. Mr Keith moved a further amendment that the committee be granted £7 10s towards cost of a shed, to cost not less than £20. This was seconded by Mr Comrie, and was lost, no one else voting for it. Mr Keddie's motion was also lost. MiBarclay proposed to move that £7 bn granted towards a shed to cost £15, but Mr Keith objected that it could not be received, that the matter was closed, and Mr Barclay gave notice to move it at next meeting. Mr Comrie contended that the matter was not closed, nothing had been done yet; — but to save discussion on that point, Mr Barclay deferred the motion. Mr Inwood said the Board could not afford to build shelter sheds. Mr Keith said that the committee Were adding to the property of the BoarJ by their contributions. Mr Barclay said Mr Inwood'a amendment ti«>d their handß for the future. Mr falbot said it waa going outside the Board's functions. They were asked for necessiry improvements m school buildings that they could not supply, and yet w^re prepared to vote money m a hauhazard way for shelter sheds. It was not legitimate at all. Some members appeared, instead of looking to the interests of education throughout the whole district, to seek to get as much as they could for the schools m the part of the district they were supposed to represent. The thing was so unequal. It was said that many districts would go m for shelter sheds if they could get half the cost. But it wag only the districts where a few wealthy people did not mind putting their hands m their pockets for the school that would apply for them, while the poorer districts would not get them. The application should not be entertained, at all.

Mr Keddie said the committees who halped themselves should be helped. Mr Comrie disagreed with Mr Talbot. The Oiago Board had a standing rule giving £1 for £1 to committees for shelter sheds. He did not think that Mr Talbot should say that members tried to get what they could for their own districts. Neither he (Mr Comrie) nor Mr Keith lived near Makikibi. He disagreed with Mr Talbot on another point. In his experience it was not the wealthy people who put their hands into their pockets to help the schools ; it was the poorer districts that did the most m that way. Mr Moore said it was a question whether the Board's functions included the erection oi shelter sheds. At all events they couli not afford to build such sheds m the present condition of their funds, when other absolutely necessary works had to stand over. He referred to the painting of Geraldine school as ftn instance. The Board should maintain the buildings it has before ad iing shelter shed?. The chairman suggested that the need for shelter sheds might begot over by insisting that schools should be kept open on wet and bleak days, instead of lockingjtl.em up m the dinner hour. They were locked to provide for the ventilation of the rooms. As to Mr Comrio's reference to Otngo, Otago was a much wealthier district than this. In. reply to Mr Inwood the chairman said there were only four shelter sheds m the district. Mr Inwood feared that if they gave one they would have to give others. He did not say that this was not within their functions, but that it was beyond their means. Tenders were opened for repairing ceilings of Waimate School, alternatively by papering and battening the plaster to keep it up, or to take off the plaster and matchline the ceilings. The architect suggested that the whole need not be done at once but just tho rooms where itwas necessary. The tender of A. I'hilp was accepted by lot as against an equal one, for matchlining at £1 5s per square yard, the amount of work to be done to be decided by the chairman and architect, the convenience of the committee and of the school with regard to holidays to be consulted. TIMARU SOUTH. A deputation— Me<sr3 Sealey (chairman), Storrier and Dickenson— from the Timaru South School Committee. wailed on the Board to ask for an increase of the accommodation. Mr Sealey read extracts from the inspector's reports each year since the sU'.os of the school was raised, m which the overcrowded slate of the school was referred to, and, recent reports from the headmaster made the same complaint, and attributed much of the illness of pupils and teachers to that cause. They had been told that the Board's architect estimated the cost of an enlargement at £500, but. he had an estimate fro.n a builder that an extension, 30 x 2-V'ould be put on the north end of she miiuroom for £200 This, with n raovcable p irtition, would Rive a suitable increase of accommodation. The difficulty w.is the overcrowding of the infants and first and seconi standards into a room that gave them only five square feet each, the regulation allowance being 10ft, and the two standards had to be taught m theporohes — most unsuitable places m cold weather. The upper standards were not crowded but they could not exchange rooms, aa they could not be worked then. The deputation having pressed the need for accommodation on the Board, members stated the objections to acceding to the request— tint there is p'onty of school accommodation m Timaru, and that the bigger children could be sent on to the Main School. The deputation repeated that this would not meet the case, unless all the upper standards were sent; there would remain tho same difficulty of distributing the classes among the rooms. They could see nothing but adding to the accommodation, and enlargement of the main room seemed the best and cheapest way. Mr Barclay asked whether the householders would give any financial assistance. The deputation said that question had not been put before them. Mr Barclay said the fact that m the two schools together Tiraaru had an excess of school accommodation was made a point of at Wellington. The deputation having stated their case, and pressed for a favourable consideration, the Board adjourned for lunch. THE NEW OFFICER. The Boird went into committe to select an applicant for the post of assistant inspector and assistant secretary. There wore 18 applicants. Mr Barclay, for the Revision Committee, stated that they were all excellent applications, but the committee had recommended six as the most suitable. After some discussion it was agreed to accept the recommendation and to make the selection by successive ballots. The result of the ballot was a tie between Mr A. Bell, M.A. (Timaru South School), and Mr Garrow, M.A., of Dunedln, and the chairman, m accordance with the Board's rule, that other things being equal, a local man should be preferred, gave his casting vote for the local applicant. WAIAIATAITAI. The chairman reported that he hRd not yet been able to make satisfactory arrangements respecting the drainage of Waimataitai. He explained the position, aud was authorised to make a temporary arrangement to meet the complaint of. a neighbour. TENDERS. The tenders of M. Jaerach at £24, for waahhouae and painting oom at Waitohi Flat; and J. J. Cooper for painting, papering, and new cloaet at Milford, were accepted. The tenders received for work at Winchester were considered too high, and fresh tenders were ordered to be called. Mr Inwood urged that the £5 granted to Orari for washhouse aud boiler was very small compared with the sum granted to Waitohi ; the Committee thought so, and declined to take the money or to do anything.— He moved, aud it was carried, that as the Orari Committee find the grant of £5 for washhouse quite useless, the matter be referred to the building committee for consideration, IV POSSESSION. The Silverstream Committee wrote that they had a difficulty m getting the residence for the recently appointed master. It Was resolved—" That the chairman be authorised to take any necessary steps to o v )taia possession of tlie Silverslrpnni 3;?hoolhou3e, at present occupied by Mr Black." TKNGJAWAI SITIS, A letter from the Land Board stated that the Boxrd could not grant five acres on lot 53, Albury, selected aa a site for the Teng-twai school, as it would reduce the letting value of the lot, by taking all the available building cite, but would give 1* acres aa marked on plan. Mr Ccmvie said thh wag not the site sole cted by the Bo^rd, but on the other side of a fence, and it was incorrect that the five acres asked for would exhaust the building site on the lot. There was a more suitable site for a settler than that. Besides, it would be unfair to ask the Board to give up five acres m exchange for li acres. It was resolved that the chairman and Mr Comrie should wait upon the Crown Lands ranger, on whose report the Land Board had acted, and explain that some mistake had been made. SPECIAL MEETING. The Board rose at 3 p.m , and a3 the business was not concluded—committees' correspondence not being rpachod —it was resolved to hold a special meeting on the 28th inst.