NO SCHOOL FOR MELVILLE.

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15273, 25 June 1923, Page 6

NO SCHOOL FOR MELVILLE.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —The decree has gone forth, that there is to be no school at Melville. This after every effort has been made by parents living in the district to persuade the Department to make reasonable provision for the education of their children. The Auckland Board were asked to state their requirements, and to mark those which, in their opinion, were most urgent; Melville was so marked second on the list. An infant side school to Hamilton West was all that was requested. This could be provided, with a minimum of expenditure. The reason for the request was well grounded, as Melville is situate on the Great South Road, which is the main stock route to Hamilton, and also, of necessity, carries a large amount of through motor traffic. Infant children, if they attend school at present have to wend their way along this road, a distance of two miles, to Hamilton West, or three and a-half miles, to Rukuhia. These distances are, of course, not severe on the, elder children, but as many of the parents occupy only small suburban sections, the children have not the opportunity of riding to school, and to expect little folks to dodge along this road without the benefit of either footpaths or cattle stops is simply an act of callousness on the part of the authorities. The money required to provide a school, such as suggested, is a mere ileablte to the amount of money made available in the larger centres. We hear of the concern caused the Government by the disproportionate increase of the city population, the housing difficulty, and so on; but this concern is all clap-trap and arrant humbug, as witness the various legislation and administration under which if people desire to enjoy any of the good things of our present civilisation they must live in the cities or go without, The load of taxation lies without the cities, the comforts of civilisation within. The incidence of taxation proves the insincerity of the Government; to mention one case, viz., the high tax on companies, lending on farm mortgages, and the lesser afnount charged them on moneys lent to local bodies, etc. It is high lime that we. the people of this Dominion, took a keener interest in our own Government. It is no good grumbling at what we have, as in the matter of »our representatives in Parliament we get, as a rule, just what we deserve. Until as a people we make up our minds to elect to office men who are prepared to, if necessary, sacrifice themselves in the interest of their country, men and women who are prepared to stand or fall on what they oonsider right, and who place the welfare of all sections of the community above self or party, interests, so long shall we suffer from the resuits of our indifference. — I am, etc., ■ EDW. CHAS. HOUCHE'N.-