HOSTEL RENT

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19663, 24 August 1935, Page 9

HOSTEL RENT

HAMILTON HIGH SCHOOL.

BOARD OF GOVERNORS MEET. ENDOWMENT FUND QUESTION. The opinion that the rent for the Girls’ Hostel should be paid out of the board’s Endowment Fund was again expressed at a meeting of the Board of Governors of the Hamilton High School last evening, when the chairman, Mr G. L. Mac Diarmid, presided. Also present were Mrs A. M. Bisley, Dr. H’. Douglas, Messrs F. A. Snell, J. E‘. Tidd, S. B. Sims, J. Primrose, the secretary (Air B. English), and the principal (Air Eben Wilson). A letter was received from the Department of Education in reply to a letter from the board, refusing the board permission to pay the rent of the Girls’ Hostel out of the Endowment Fund. The letter pointed out that any surplus from the fund was used the following year for teachers’ salaries and the like, and if the department allowed the board to use that money for rent it would be like making a special grant, as a larger grant than usual would have to be voted to the fund for salaries next year.

“I think we should take this matter further,” commented the chairman. "You all know that for many years we have pressed the department l'or a grant for a Boys’ Hostel, and you know that, despite our (undoubtedly strong claims, we could not get the grant, while other schools which had not been in existence as long as we have have received grants for hostels. We eventually were promised the grant by both the department and the Cabinet, and plans had even been approved, but the grant was withdrawn when the depression came. This means that the department and Cabinet then recognised our claims." Tenders Had Been Called. The principal pointed out that the plans had been approved and tenders called before the grant was withdrawn. The chairman added that as the school was taking the responsibility of running a hostel that was available for both the High School and the Technical School girls the board should be able to use the Endowment Fund to pay the rent. He moved that the secretary should again write to the department l'or permission, and point out the facts he had mentioned. The resolution was carried. Air English added that the board had been granted permission to use the Endowment Fund for rent for the hostel on previous occasions. It was also decided to write the Alinister of Education and the member for Hamilton (Sir Alexander Young), pointing out the position to them, and asking for their support.

ACCOUNTANTS.

AND THE LAW. IN NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA. "The New Zealand Society of Accountants is intimately linked with the Law Society. The overhauling of statutes has engaged the attention of both societies,” remarked Mr G. W. Reid, of Dunedin, at a social function. Similar helpful co-operation has ■occurred in Australia. "Within Parliament we occasionally hear of the influence that a little leaven of accountancy has been exercising there,” ran a recent statement of Mr W. T. Macßride, president of the Common-, wealth Institute of Accountants. "In fact it lias been stated by a weekly journal that usually combines a sense of humour with a sense of pair play, that a certain Government was suffering from ‘an accountancy complex’— whatever that may mean. 1 do not know what the journalist had in mind, but in this instance, and In view of the beneficial changes effected by tiic said Government, I suggest that we should lake the phrase as a compliment to accountancy. 1 do not think that the term is sanctioned by the science of psychology, rather it is an invention of journalism. If I may be pardoned for a play on words, I affirm that ‘accountancy complex’ is a contradiction in terms. There is nothing complex about accountancy; on the contrary, in the realm of commerceflgures it is the unraveller of all that is complex, the solvent of all that is intricate and involved. It is a truthrevea.'er, and truth is never complex.

Making Rough Places Plain. “In business, accountancy is the science that rejoices in making the crooked straight and the rough places plain, and doubtless some of our clients could recommend its fuller use in the business of Parliament. Furthermore, in the words of Mr Hill, ‘Accountancy tends to correct undue optimism and dispel undue pessimism,’ which is another recommendation for its fuller use in Parliament. 1 would like to quote also from a book written by an English barrister, Mr Albert Grew, lie says of the professional accountant: ‘lie has a passion for exactitude and accuracy, and marshals figures into their proper places so that they speak the truth' —qualities, you will observe, that are very becoming also in Parliamentary Treasurers. "You will remember that on their visit to Australia a few years ago the members of the British Economic Mission, known as ‘The Big Four,’ in their report made a recommendation to the Government in these words: ‘That public accounts should be prepared in such a way as to make clear what is the exact financial position of each Government undertaking.’ since then, I believe, there lias been improvement in the setting out of some of the various Governments’ accounts in Australia: but there seems to lie room for greater clarity, and there is more room for I lie leaven of accountancy within the governmental departments."