HORSE PADDOCK FOR SOUTH SCHOOL

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXVI, Issue 7912, 8 October 1929, Page 2

HORSE PADDOCK FOR SOUTH SCHOOL

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT’S PARSIMONY AUCKLAND BOARD TO RESCUE For some time past efforts have been made by the Waihi Schools Committee to obtain a horse paddock for use by scholars of the Waihi South School. With the progress of farming on the plains and to the v/est of the town the number of scholars riding to school has increased, and a separate paddock for horses has become a necessity. < The committee therefore applied to the Education Department, through the Auckland Education Board, for the purchase of an acre section immediately opposite the school gates, the cost of which, including repairing the fences, would not exceed £25. While the Education Board supported the committee’s application the Education Department was prepared to provide only one half of the amount required, and then only on condition that the parents raised an equal amount by voluntary contributions. A reply to this effect came before the Auckland Education Board at its last meeting, when the injustice of the department’s attitude was adversely commented on. So strongly did the members feel upon the matter that they adopted the suggestion of the chairman (Mr A. Burns) that the total cost of the paddock be paid by the Auckland Education Board. Drawing the attention of the Minister of Education (Hon. H. Atmore) in Parliament to the attitude adopted by the Education Department to the request for the grant Mr A. M. Samuel, M.P. for Thames, pointed out that the sum of £12,000 per annum was provided for assisting children to proceed by rail to their educational studies, and the sum of £55,000 for subsidies in connection wtih road conveyance of children to school. Many children rode to school on horseback, and some accommodation was necessary adjacent to the school grounds for pasturing the horses while the children wore attending to their studies. Did the Minister propose to lay it down as an invariable rule that no direct grant was to be given to any school committee for this purpose. As a certain amount of money was saved by children riding their horses to school instead of taking the train or a bus, the request appeared to be a reasonable one. Most of these pupils were the children of men employed industrially and the provision of accommodation for the horses would throw a heavy burden upon the parents. That the Auckland'Education Board felt strongly in regard to this matter would be apparent to the Minister from the course adopted by that body in endorsing a suggestion by the chairman that “to show its' 1 distain the board should pay the amount itself.” He (Mr Samuel) trusted that the Minister would give the matter his further careful consideration.