PENINSULA SCHOOL BUILDINGS.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 87, 18 May 1877, Page 3

PENINSULA SCHOOL BUILDINGS.

Through pressure on our space we have been compelled to hold over a short notice of the various. school buildings recently erected by the late Provincial Government in this neighbourhood. The first we have to notice is the large and substantial addition to the Akaroa school; accommodation in the shape of a class-room erected at the back of the school-room. The new part of the building is 30ft by 20ft, and the internal height of the room is about 14ft. The whole of the interior is lined with remu, which has been slightly stained and varnished. The important matter of ventilation is secured by means of an airtight shaft, which communicates with an air flew in the chimney. The foul air escapes by means of perforation along the length of the ceiling, of a very pretty Grecian design, and the current of air can be regulated by a line by means of a sliding door and pullies, brought down into the room. The room is lighted by means of three large winddws, which look out into the boy's play-ground, toward Levaudstreet. The room when looked at. as a whole, has a good and pleasing effect. The only drawback being, that the erection of the building curtails the size of the play-ground, which is too small for the number of children attending the school. The present Committee have a fine opportunity to signalize their year of office, by representing this to the Government, and urging the removal of the police station to a more suitable part of the town, and having the old site annexed as a play-ground. The next building we will refer to is the Barry's Bay, which occupies a fine site, from which a beautiful view of the upper part of the harbour, and of the varied sky line towards the south-east, is obtained. _ The arrangement of the house is what is known as live-roomed—three on the ground floor, and two on the upper, having an entrance-hall 6 feet wide, with rooms right and left, 14 feet by 12 feet, and a.lean-to 18ft by 10 'feet. The upstair rooms are also 14 feet by 12 feet, and are accessable by a roomy staircase; the whole of the rooms are thoroughly lined and papered, fitted with cupboards and every convenience, the whole presenting a comfortable domestic appearance. The newly-erected masters' houses at French Farm and Wainui are generally of the same character and dimensions. The schoolroom at these two places are of the same area asthe addition to the Akaroa school we have just described, the principal of the ventilation being the same and the heating by means of an open fire place. The site of the Wainui school is a fine open, and healthy one, but is objected to by many of the residents in the district as being placed too far away from the homes of the great majority of the scholars. Preparations, we understand, are being made to proceed with the establishment of another schoolroom in*a more central site by private means. It is a great pity the Government did not see their way to meet the views of the settlers in regard to the question of site before proceeding with the buildings. The total cost to the Government has been about £1,900, without the school'furniture and sites. The sites were vested in the Superintendent, and now revert to the General Government. The whole of the designs for the buildings are by the late provincial architect, Mr. Cane. The contract prices for the various works were, Akaroa, additions, £365 ; Wainui, masters house and school, £584 ; master's house, Barry's Bay, £284. All the contracts were the works of Mr. Thomas J. Gee, builder, Christchurch, and were performed in a most creditable manner. We have almost forgotten the new schoolroom at Robinson's Bay, designed by Mr. Cane, and built by Mr. E. W. Morey, of this place, which is useful to the district, of the same dimensions as those mentioned, and a good example of Mr. Morey's workmanship. All round the harbour is now supplied with a series of public schools, and no child need travel any unreasonable distance for its education. We can only express a hope that we shall be as fortunate in the erection and maintenance of school buildings under the new regime of Government, as we, were under that of Provincialism.