BUILDING REFUSED

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21082, 8 April 1940, Page 11

BUILDING REFUSED

DANCE IN SCHOOL STAND BY HEADMASTER PUBLIC MEETING CALLED (By Telegraph.—Special to Times) ROTORUA, Sunday A dance in the Ngakuru School hall on the Friday 1 following the death of the late Prime Minister has been the cause of a considerable stir in the district involving the question of the control of the school. Several weeks before that: date arrangements had been made for the annual sports dance, catering orders had been placed involving considerable expense, and all preparations made, when it was announced that the school would be closed for two days. Acting on instructions from the Department of Education the headmaster closed the school and refused the key for the holding of the function. Application was then made to the chairman of the school committee, Mr E. Morey, who gave permission for the building to be used. Considerable discussion on the subject during the week was followed by the absence of at least half the pupils from the school in the following week. The chairman called a public meeting, inviting the Auckland Education Board to send a representative.

The attendance was the largest ever seen at Ngakuru. Mr A. N. Mackie represented the board, while the interests of the headmaster were watched by two representatives of the New Zealand Educational Association.

The outcome of the meeting will probably be considered by the Education Board in the near future, and a definite announcement of policy on the control of school buildings issued. During the meeting a motion expressing confidence in the committee and not in the teacher was put, but later an amendment omitted the reference to the teacher. It is understood that the headmaster’s objection to the use of the school buildings for dances is based on hygienic grounds, but, on the other hand, there is no public hall in the district, and it has been customary to make use of the school. One of the most discussed incidents of the affair was the action of lowering the flag, which was flying at half-mast as a mark of respect for Mr Savage. Attempts were made to give this action a political significance, but it was explained at the meeting that the flag was not lowered until after sunset, when it is customary to do so.