DRIVE FOR FUNDS

Te Ao Hou, June 1961, Page 54

DRIVE FOR FUNDS Old students of Te Aute College and Hukarere Girls' School are to be approached for donations as part of a drive for funds to relieve difficulties being experienced by both schools. The appeal has been launched by a commitee of four old boys of Te Aute—Mr T. T. Ropiha, Mr H. M. Tatere, Mr A. T. Carroll and Mr W. T. Ngata—with Mr L. R. Lewis, a member of the Te Aute Trust Board. The target is £15,000. Committee members have recently made an extensive tour of the area from Rotorua to Hastings to organise fund-raising drives. For many years, the Te Aute Trust Board, which administers both Te Aute and Hukarere, has had difficulties in meeting financial commitments for the two schools. An endowment of about 7,000 acres has produced a reasonable income, but long-standing setbacks such as the fire at Te Aute and the damage both schools sustained in the 1931 earthquake have proved too big a hurdle for the Trust to surmount. It is estimated that an expenditure of £20,000 is required to bring the two schools up to the standard of schools administered by the State. An approach has been made to the Maori Purposes Fund Board and the Board has agreed to subsidise the results of the appeal on a pound for pound basis up to a maximum of £5,000. The organisers of the appeal and the Bishop of Waiapu believe it is essential that £5,000 be raised within the next few months so that, with the Maori Purposes Fund Board's subsidy, £10,000 will be available for an immediate start on the project.