WANGANUI TECHNICAL COLLEGE

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 12856, 12 December 1912, Page 6

WANGANUI TECHNICAL COLLEGE

PRMCffRAL'S AiNNUAL REPORT.

j Following is the annual report to be read by the Principal this afternoon: — Attendance.—The College opened-on Janiuary 29th of ttois year wtiibh 162 pupils for ail courses. We must consider thia a very good beginning. Unfortunately we have nob earned capitation on all these pupids. The transfer of some 21 pupils from the D.H.S. waa not neKJognaeed by the Department, and so up to the presetat time we have ibeeja unable to reioedve any ©apatotaon grant for them. This means a loss of about £250. Whem to this is added a further I loss of aibout £350 owing to our not receiving, as we exipected, all tibe Becondary pupils from the D.H.S., our total deficit is aibout £600. However, by the recentlyHpassed Eduoataon Aanendmeat Act all this should ibe remedied next year, (and financial .troubles wilfl, I trust, no loaiger harass us. We have oomipleted this year with 133 pupils on the roll. I thave mvee again to call attention to "the faofc that we have suffered financially as well as otherwise by irregular attendance during the year, and also by p-upiils leaving without completing even rfclhear first year. The Prospectus emibodies a school regulation iwhnSh tliait etudentta must join the school for one year sti .' least, and I am of opinion ibhiat piaremts j who withdraw their pup/ils before the I oompletaon of tHuat period should be oompellod to mia'ke uip to. us our loss in capitation, as this is our lonly source of revenue, seeing tihat practioaUy all our pupils Lave free tuition. The Staff. —There have been several changes in the staff during .the yeair. Mr Fraser Barton, 8.A., left ea-nly in the year and we -were tihue eniaibled to reoitganise the Secondary Department. We were extremely fortunaite in securing the services'of Mr C. A. iStefwtairt, M^A., of Thames High School, to take clrarge of thus department. Later dn'tho year we lost the services of Mr A. Varney and Miss Danidy, the former owing to his appoin,tnient (to an impoirtanit .position >in Wellington, and the Latter owiiiug to having *o relinquish the teaching of dressmaking. Mrs Taggart, of Wellington, was lapipoiin'ted in Miss Dandy's place; buit in <pilace of filling the vacancy claused1 flby Mr Varney's resigniatioa we propose to appoinft a typislte for the office, and Mr E. H. Clark to .the position of organiser. Miss J. Gordon, 8.A., and Miss I. Coipeiand are also leaving thds year. I desire to express my tha.nks to the members of the staff for the aMe assistance Ahey Have rendered in caiiryi.nig on the work of the schjool during the year. The Buildings and Grounds. —I-think tha;t anyone who'Jias' visited t-ho College l'eceoi'tly wM rcwogniee thiat maaiy am- I provements hia^e ibeen effected. on the buildings and grounds during th© year. Bicycle belters have been erected, eonsideraibde areas have been turfed, paiths aQphalted; oa* grav-elled, feiijces ereictted in the playing area, a crdeket ipitoh fortmed; in 'addiition to which, (rthanks to the success of tine Bazsaiar, 'by' wihdch we netted £360) we expect before mecxt year to lay down three asphalt tennis counts. We have to thank the Iboys of the engineeninig and agricultural courses for their assistlanc© on viaa'iioue occasions. Naw tbait we have been in the building itself for nearly a year, we are alblo to appreciate properly, the grearf; advantage of having a ibuiildin'g so well apand so beautifully lighted. True, we .may have discovered where the aiTangemenits of the rooms might be improved] tout as we cannot expeßt perfeicltiion, vvo'^ait'e thoroughly elatiefied with fhe pleasa.nt conditions under which-we aa-e workinig. .. . Athletics. —At the beginning of this year there were no organised sports 'elufbs. Now our lathletiics form a distinct -J>hase of school life. Dinting the first teiim w© had a most sucjoessfui Swimaning Tourniaimenib in our jowm bath. Our football team won the QXh Grade Comipeti'tdo.n under .the laoispices of the Wanganui Rugby Union. The Girls' Hockey Clulb came 2nd in the Ladies' Hockey Competition. iOur Criicket Oiu'b is in its iin£an»y >and. promises to uphold the 'honour of the 'College in tho Junior Grade Compet/Ltdon'. When the tennis courts are ojponed we expect the majority of our girls to Slay this fine game, and I have no ouibt they will derive immense ibemefit from th« exercise and social lintercoursG to'be derived from it. The Cadet Corps.—Our cadet conps has 'been recognised as a separatte unit by the Defence Department, and as. Mr Stewart volunteered to accepifc the position of oaiptadn, their© is every prospect of the corps doing us honour an the future. We hope coon to }>c uniformed and provided with nifles. While on the subject of cadets, I bannot omit to mention that one of our pupils.(J. G. MdNlaught) was selected to a position in the >N.Z. Cadet Contingent that onecentJLy itooired Canada and New Zealand. We are very pleased at being thus honoured and heartily congratulate McNtaiught on has seleicrfcion, and on the splendid reports we had of his conduct, and genei-al beai'ing J during the (bi'ip. "' ' Annual Inspection.—During fthe year the College was inspectedl Jby^ the liaspelcttor of Technioall Educatioin rwho furnished a splendiid report on the work and syllabus of the va-riious depiartmenJts. Tho Outlook. —'As mo^ of you are aware the following courses have ibeen in operation in the day school during the year:— (a) Secondary Course; (b) Comimeraiial Course; (c) Agricultural Course; (d) Engineerinig '.Oouflnse; (c) Art Oourse. In all those cou-rees very eu'acesaful work has boon carried out. What I consider the t<hree iimmedritarte requirements for the futuire (a.nd these depe ( nid largo upon the attendance) are:—• 1. A permanent assistent withscien.ee qualifications to have control of the Agriculturiai pupils. 2. A Domestio CourK-e to train girls in Home Science. This shooiild bo ono of the most successful counses of the College, and I trust iwe shall have a sufficiently large enrolmen/t next year to imlake thds ©ourse thoroughly 'successful 3. A hoarding establishment for the boys who come to us from the country districts. Suoh a (building iwould c-niahle us to exreise conitaioil over ■boardera after school hours and enfiuretho steady prosejeution >of their studies. Incidentally suoh ian e»taiblishmont would enable .girla of the Domestic Course to iget practice in tho .pjnact'ioal details of housekecj>in,g. Prizo Fund.—The College is deeply j indebted to all those who contributed ! towards our [prize fund. P!art<iiouLa<r reference is made elsewhere rto the various donors. Conclusion.—ln conclusion, I tr.ust it will ibe remembered that (this College its in its veriest infancy. We have no historic records, no long list of successes, scholastic -and ath.le.tiio, to /refer to wiih pride. Wo have as yet created no dfetmofyva school atmosphere, .anldi a/re without that historic.past which more than aught cfee creattes school tone. Wo have had to encounter ininumenafblo drifficuJibios; but the future is all ibefore ua, and if we have not a post to le&,n upon, at least we are untrammelled by custom and may well hope to iwork out our own destiny along the mostt progressive lines iby the adoption of the latest methods of eduGaJtaonial experts. W. A. ARMOUR, Principal.