SCHOOL MAINTENANCE WORK TO BE REDUCED TO A MINIMUM NOW

Wanganui Chronicle, 21 November 1950, Page 6

SCHOOL MAINTENANCE WORK TO BE REDUCED TO A MINIMUM NOW

Only very urgent maintenance works will be undertaken by the [ Wanganui Education Board during the next four months. This was the decision made by the board yesterday when it received a letter from the Educa ion Board notifying that the first special grant of £6OOO for main-1 tenance works deferred for 10 years or more had been granted. The money was to be made available in individual grants and a list was to be submitted of prepared works in order of preference. A list | was also required of works requiring! further grants before they could be! completed. The secretary, Mr. G. N. Boulton, I said that the assistant director of education had been in Wanganui recently and the letter was discussed. Old maintenance wprks could be charged against the grant. The board | had a total of £3693 which could be I so charged. “Without being able to recoup itself the board will be £4164 ‘in the red’ in its maintenance account by January 31,” said Mr. Boulton. “The board will have to cut to an absolute minimum all maintenance work. Only urgent works can be done.” He added that the board would have to regroup itself on its over-expendi-ture within the next four months. It was grossly unfair if the Wanganui Board were to get only £6OOO when some other boards were so much more in debt, said Mr. L. Bromiley (Waverley). Wanganui, with the proposed adjustment, would have only about £2OOO left for deferred maintenance. Mr. E. R. Hodge, Wanganui: One or two of the larger urgen jobs could easily absorb that amount alone. Mr. W. H. Brown (Palmerston North) said an application should be made to the department for further grants on the grounds that the board had kept more within the limits than other boards. “If the board is getting into the red it should get into the red properly and be treated the same as other boards. Mr. Bromiley said that board members were better able to judge what was required in the district than were departmental officers in Wellington. Mr. Hodgt>: If we can get an extra grant by peaceful methods we should do so.

The chairman, Mr. W. B. Tennent M.P., said that the board was recognised as the most efficient in the Dominion. He would not like it to lose that name. He would sooner see the board short of maintenance than get into tlfe red. “We cannot do new works and maintenance too,” said Mr. Boulton. Mr. Bromiley moved that an application should be made for a further grant on the grounds that the board had kept more within its limits than other boards.