EAST TOWN--SEDGEBROOK SCHOOL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XLIX, Issue 12548, 11 July 1905, Page 7

EAST TOWN--SEDGEBROOK SCHOOL

ENTHUSIASTIC MEETING OF

RESIDENTS

GOVERNMENT TO BE DEPUTA-

TIONISED

Thau tho patience of the Eastown and Sodgebrook residents is exhausted so far as waiting for the fuliilraent of the Government's promise to erect a school in that vicinity, was demonstrated unmistakeably last evening, when a meetinn; to consider the matter was held in the Road Board office at Eastown. The hall was comfortably filled, a good proportion of tho audience being ladies. Mr. C. E. Mackey was voted to the chair. After tho Chairman had explained tho object of the meeting, he called, upon Mr. Robert Neilson, who said he had recently been gathering information on the subject. Ho had interviewed the Wanganui Education Board, and had received the following communication : "Dear Sir,—With reference to your inquiry of the 3rd instant, I have to inform you that on the Ist July, 1903, the Board applied to tho Department for a grant sufficient to erect a school to .accommodate 250 children, and that tho application. Avas declined. The Board thereupon applied for permission to establish a side school, in connection with Aramoho, for children up to and including Standard 11., and the Department undertook to provide the rent, £15 per annum, of the building at present used for school purposes. On tho 30th March last, tho Board applied for a sum sufficient to cover the cost of tho site and to erect a building with accommodation for 60 children. The Department replied, stating that the building at present in use provides suitable accommodation for tho youngei children, and it is not necessary to mako i>rovision for any others. In reply to this, it was stated on the 18th May, that the present building is not suitable. No reply has been received to this letter. From tho above statement you will see that the Board has done all in its power to obtain a grant for tho erection of a'building. Sedgebrook an r! Eastown are both, 1 think, in the Aramoho School District. I send you herewith a copy of the boundaries of tho Aramoho School District.—l am, etc., W. Carson, secretary." Mr. Neilson then went on to speak of the disadvantages under which the district laboured with regard to a school. At tho present timo the side school at Sedgebrook was filled. There were 21 little children going from the Eastown side of the river to tho Aramoho school. Ho dwelt upon, the danger which the children ran in crossing the bridge, and said that there was no accommodation for them at Sedgebrook. The Education Board had recognised the necessity fot a school in the district, but the Education Department had refused to establish one. The time had now come when tho people of the district should demand a school as their just right. He therefore moved: "That the establishment of a school is urgently required in Eastown and Sedgebrook, and that tin Government, be urged to provide tho necessary funds applied for by the Wanganui Education Board, in the Board's letter M^thfe Department of Ist July( 1903.f^i-'tl:, > Mi. J. Anders6n seconded the motion, and after Messrs. iJ. T. Hogan and Maekay had spoken in support, it was put and carried unanimously. .It was then resolved, on the motion of Mi. Neilson, seconded by Mr. Martin, "That a committee consisting of Messrs. Mackay, Neilson, and Borlase b);appointed to proceed to Wellington to interview the Minister ■of Education in support of tho foreging resolution." Some discussion took place on an amdiriment by Mr. J. Anderson, that the matter should be left in the hands of Mr. Wiliis. several contending that if a claim were.shown to be fair tho Government should not bo run after.

M;. A. D. Willis, M.H.R., was in attendance, and spoke strongly in favour of the establishment of a school in tho Eastown-Sedgebrook district. He saul ho would do all in his power to assist tha deputation. The meeting concluded with votes of thanks to tho Chairman and Mr Willis. "