TEMUKA

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20474, 20 July 1936, Page 4

TEMUKA

HON. PETER FRASER’S VISIT EDUCATION QUESTIONS DISCUSSED To hear representations from the Temuka District High School Committee and the -Board of Managers of the Temuka Technical Association, the Minister of Education (the Hon. P. Fraser) and the Director (Mr N. T. Lambourne) paid a flying visit to the Temuka School on their way north on Saturday morning. The visitors were met by the Mayor (Mr A. W. Buzan), Mr T. D. Burnett, M.P., Mr A. E. Smith, chairman of the School Committee, and Mr J. T. Smart, chairman of the Technical Board. The Mayor welcomed the visitors to the town and congratulated the Minister on his appointment to the portfolio of Education. He expressed pleasure that the Minister had seen fit to delay his journey by coming to hear the requirements of the Temuka district, and thanked Mr Burnett for arranging the visit. Mr Fraser said he was pleased to have the opportunity of meeting those who were working in the interests of education in the Temuka district. He was pleased to say that all parties in the House co-operated willingly in the matter of education. There were no party considerations where the interests of the young people were at stake, and as far as he was concerned it did not matter from what political section representations came, they would always receive his earnest consideration and support where it was possible. Agricultural Education Mr Smith thanked the Minister for visiting the school at short notice. The School Committee wished to bring before their visitors' notice the deletion of agriculture as a subject from the matriculation examination. Agriculture was compulsory in district high schools for Forms 111 and IV, but not in secondary schools. The Temuka District High School had developed the subject in all directions, in the laboratory, garden plots and on the farm, where practical observations were made. If agriculture was deleted from the matriculation examination it would necessitate the pupils taking another subject in its place in Form V. That, the committee considered, would be a retrograde step. The Minister said that he would take the matter up with the Senate of the New Zealand University, for he realised that the boys of rural schools would be considerably handicapped by the deletion of agriculture from the syllabus of the examination. The study of agriculture was important as having a direct bearing on the future welfare of the country. He would be pleased to take the matter up in an endeavour to see that the subject was not given a ‘back seat” in the schools of New Zealand. Mr Burnett said that the Pleasant Point Farm School Committee had also taken a serious view of the question, and would have brought representations before the Minister if it had been possible to arrange a meeting. The committee would be pleased to hear that the Minister was taking the matter up. Technical Board’s Claims Mr Burnett said that the Technical Board of Managers was concerned at the diminishing lack of support from the Government for its work. In a rural district like Temuka there was still a demand for tuition in subjects such as dairying, shearing, woolclassing and domestic science and, with more sympathetic Interest by the Government, the Board could still concentrate on such subjects to the benefit of the district. Mr Smart said that for some years technical education had been languishing in the district. At one time the Board had conducted 11 classes with a total roll of 240 pupils, the Association being controlled by a board of nine. Now there were five board members struggling to keep alive three classes which were supported by about 30 pupils. The entire revenue on which the board had to work was £9l, being made up of £3O in voluntary contributions from local bodies, £4O in class fees and only £2O from the Government. Out of £9l the board had to pay a director who received a little more than 15/- a week, and all the general expenses incurred in conducting the classes. He did not know whether the blame lay with the Departmental heads or the Government, but the position was most unsatisfactory. To Mr Lambourne, Mr Smart said that the reductions brought about had been a withdrawal of the subsidies on voluntary contributions and the substitution of pupil capitation by teacher capitation. The regulations had been tightened up a great deal, a fixed class fee having been instituted and a minimum attendance having been fixed. The board was becoming disheartened and was seriously considering whether It was worth while trying to carry on. The Minister said he felt that he was interpreting the feeling of the Government in saying that , every facility for adult education would be encouraged. There was indeed something lacking when the board’s classes were dwindling through lack of Government support. If the pupils had been dwindling away it would have been for the board to do something to improve the appeal of the subjects which it sought to provide. There had been a big demand for adult educational facilities and there were a whole number of organisations trying to bring the benefits of education to older people. It was up to the Department and the Minister to encourage such subjects, not to restrict them. The board would recognise that there had to be regulations, but there was no object in allowing organisations like the Temuka Technical Association to die out, and he would do all he could to support the board's representations. MAORI MEMBER’S VISIT Reference to the Government’s housing scheme and its application to the Maori people of the South Island was made by Mr E. T. Tirikatene, M.P. for Southern Maori, when he visited the Arowhenua Pa on Saturday evening to review the work of the Government since the election and to hear the

I opinions of local constituents in regard I to housing and other problems. Mr N. Waaka, chairman of the Arowhenua Runanga, presided, and there were also present Messrs M. F. Kennedy and J. H. Forrester, officers of the Temuka Labour Representation Committee. Dealing with the housing scheme, Mr Tirikatene said that it had been inaugurated in 1935, and that it was the intention of the Government to go more fully into the scheme, for its vital importance to the country was fully recognised. He was pleased to say that the Maori people of both the North and South Island would be given every consideration when the regulations and the Act were being improved. The problems of the Maori people were being investigated by the Government, and immediately after the vitally urgent needs of the community had been given attention, legislation would be brought down to deal with the native questions. In the meantime, the Maoris had not been forgotten. In reviewing recent legislation, Mr Tirikatene referred to the increase in unemployed rates of pay and the sustenance payments, both of them including Maoris on an equal footing with the pakeha. He urged on the Arowhenua natives the desirability of joining the Labour movement, he being the president of the South Island native branch of the party. By doing so they would be still further strengthening their claims to consideration of their problems. He indicated that as soon as he could the Native Minister would visit the principal native centres throughout the Dominion. Through Mr Tirikatene, an invitation to the Minister to visit Arowhenua was extended.

REPRESENTATIVE BASKETBALL Playing at Temuka on Saturday, the Otalo representative basketball team gained a win over the Temuka SubAssociation’s second grade representatives by 19 goals to 14. The first grade team to represent Temuka against Waiijate, at Waimate, on Saturday will be:—Forwards: S. Christie and C. Palmer (Pleasant Point), J. McLeod (Temuka Young Women); reserve, D. Deßenzy (Win-1 Chester). Centres: P. Palmer and K. Dore (Temuka Young Women), S. Chisholm (Pleasant Point); reserve, I. McPherson. (Pleasant Point). Defenders: J. Douglas (Temuka Young Women), J. Cameron (H.5.0.G.) and K. Trumper (Winchester); reserve, H. Manning (H.5.0.G.). STILL UNBEATEN Playing at Geraldine, the Temuka fourth grade football team, which has not yet met defeat, beat the home team in a hard fought game by 11 points to 4. For the winners tries were scored by K. Tarrant, G. Waters and R. Connolly, one of which was converted by G. Dwan. P. Callanan kicked a beautiful field goal to make Geraldine’s points. PERSONAL Miss P. Smith, Temuka, has returned from a holiday in the North Island. Misses L. and C. Hope, Fraser Street, returned yesterday from a visit to Morven as the guest of Mr and Mrs W. Stewart. RIVER RISES RAPIDLY The Opihi river rose rapidly on Saturday afternoon. About 3 o’clock the water level was abnormally low, but probably owing to the stormy weather experienced in the back country on Friday night, it was flowing at a high level two hours later. The water was discoloured and the river roaring.