The Star. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1900. THE SOUTH BELT SCHOOL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6934, 25 October 1900, Page 2

The Star. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1900. THE SOUTH BELT SCHOOL.

The householders in tife fiasi Christchurch school district wad are endeavouring to i have the. South Belt School re-bpened' have, so far, failed in their efforts, fhey sent a deputation to the Board of Education yesterday 'to urge on the Beard the necessity of re-opening the building, and received ai polite but firm refusal. The Board expressed its regret at being unable to accede to the wishes of the deputation^ but declined to consider the matter further. We cannob help thinking that the application deserved a better fate. The householders ad> vanced a number of excellent reasons why the school should be re-opened, and the Board might have given them greater consideration than it did. The arguments employed bysthe deputation Were two-fold. Firstly, they explained that the accommodation furnished by the East dhristchurch School was not sufficient for the increased population of the district, and, secondly* they pointed out that, under the present arrangements, many young* cnildreri are compelled to travel fairly long distances along dangerously-crowded thoroughfares in order" to attend school.. Both these arguments seem to us reasonable enough. The question of the accommodation in the East dhristchurch School is A debatable one, and therefore we shall not enter into it h<ire ; but the question of distance admits of no discussion. It is all very well io say, as one member of the' Board said, that in the country children travel long distances to school, far longer, fact, than that covered by any child in the city or suburbs. That is correct, buii it is. not an answer to the question' nevertheless. As a matter of fact, the" two cases admit of ho comparison. Thef parents of the country child generally possess a; vehicle of some kind, in which they* send I it to school, and the few who d6' not own one manage to> have their children driven in somebody else's conveyance. The' city parent enjoys no such facilities. His children must either travel to school by omnibus or tram, and when these means of} transit are not - available they are obliged to walk. A walk of a mile is 6#en sufficient to prevent a young child from attending school, and dangerous crossings or a crowded street present insuperable obstacles to the attendance of a very little crie. We are inclined to think that these 1 facts escaped the attention of the Board.,