SCHOOL COMMITTEES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16471, 6 July 1921, Page 8

SCHOOL COMMITTEES.

TEMPLETON,

The final meeting of tho Templeton School Committee was held in the school on Monday, Jn’y 4; present—Mr W. Hobbs (chairman ) Mrs Walford. and Messrs T. White, A. E. Vaeey and A. S. Lamb (secretary). Mr W C. Gilmour, head master, reported the number on tho roll to be 153, tho average for the quarter being 140. Mr Gilmour congratulated the committee on the improvements being carried out at the school and expressed the opinion that nothing better could have been devised lor the welfare of the children. A letter was received from the Education Board stating that a grant had been made for asphalting at the master's house. The hoard also tstate-d that the sum of £ls 153 hod been paid into the committee’s account for incidental allowances for the quarter ending Juno 30. Accounts amounting io £lll 11s Id were passed for payment.

Mr H. Guthrle-Smith, of Tutira, Hawke’s Bay, writing from Edinburgh on May 2 to a friend in Christchurch, stated that he intended to leave London on May -o to return to New Zealand, and hoped to continue his photographic work in the spring. As a result of the mining trouble at Home, coal for bunkering in England is not obtainable, and, as a consequence, the majority of the Home boats engaged in the overseas trade with New Zealand have to bunker at Rotterdam, before crossing the Atlantic. There is said to be a serious congestion of shipping at Rotterdam, where steamers of all nationalities congregate to replenish their bunkers. The coal obtained there is of an inferior steaming quality, and comes principally from the coalfields of Belgium and Germany. A proposal that New Zealand standard time be altered by beinp- put ahead of English time by twelve hours was brought before the Auckland Chamber of Commerce Council at its last meeting by Mr J. C. Allum, who stated that he had been asked to raise the matter in the interests of electricity supply concerns. At present, he said, a severe strain is put on electric powerhouses in winter time between 4.30 p.m. and 5 p.m. by the demand during that half-hour for light at the various business and industrial concerns. If the standard time wer<b altered as suggested, the present 4.30 p.m. would become 5 p.m., and work would cease in winter just as daylight failed, thus avoiding the strain now put on the powerhouses bv the demand during the half-hour mentioned for light. It was not a davlight-saving proposal, as it was intended to operate uniformly all the year round. It would also have the advantage of making easy the calculation of the difference between the English and the local time. The proposal had been put forward in 1917 bv the Wellington Philo- _ Bonhical Institute, and had much to ’ commend it. The matter was referred to a committee for a report.