HIGH SCHOOL BOARD

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20066, 25 March 1935, Page 9

HIGH SCHOOL BOARD

REVISION OF CONSTITUTION Revision of the constitution of the Timaru High School Board in the light of conditions which have come into existence since the statutes of 1882 and 1889, which established the board in its present form, is to be effected by the Education Law Amendment Bill, introduced and read a first time in the House of Representatives on Friday. These statutes provided for a board consisting of 10 members. Subsequently, general education legislation required the addition of three members as representatives of the Education Board of the district and the parents of the high school pupils. The proposed legislation adjusts the several representations to the original number, including for the first time a representative of the Levels County Council, and omitting a representative of the Waimate Borough Council, where a school now exists providing secondary education. Under the old statutes representatives of the several local bodies were appointed or elected annually, the borough council representatives being elected by the burgesses at the same time as the annual mayoral election. When the mayoral elections were made biennial, a system of rotation made an annual election necessary in the case of the Timaru Borough Council representatives. The proposed substitution of triennial appointments in the case of all local body representatives will bring the general position into conformity with the present law relating to the frequency of local body elections, and in particular the appointment of representatives of the Timaru Borough Council by that body, instead of their direct election by the voters of the borough, will relieve the Timaru High School Board of the cost of holding an annual election. The usual machinery clauses include provision for means of validating formal irregularities in any appointment or election under the act. The present constitution of the Board is as follows: Timaru Borough, 4 representatives, Waimate Borough 1, Mackenzie County 1, Waimate County 1, Geraldine County 2, appointed by the Governor-General 1, appointed by Canterbury Education Board 1, Parents’ representatives 2. The proposed changes involve the reduction of the Timaru Borough’s representatives from four to two and the Geraldine County's representation from two to one, and the elimination of the Waimate Borough’s representative and the inclusion of a representative of the Levels County. This will mean that the three counties will each have equal representation on the Board.