NEW TRAINING COLLEGE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2519, 21 July 1915, Page 5

NEW TRAINING COLLEGE

FOR TEACHERS

TO.BE OPENED NEXT WEDNESDAY. The outstanding need in the world of education in New Zealand is efficient teachers. This was pointed out by Mr. A. Erskina in his animal address before;the New Zealand Educational Institute a week ago. In the course of that address Mr. Brskine gave emphatic expression to tli6 unsatisfactory state of things existing in' the country, where the teachers, in half of the schools, were not efficient, and could not therefore give the children of the backblocks the 6ame educational training as city-bred children receive.. Of late years the Iteacher has been gradually asserting himself as an important factory in our civilisation, and he is being assisted to attain that degree of culture that should bo possessed by men and women, who hava charge of children day after day, year after year, in the'most receptive period of their existence. ~ A training college for teachers has been in existence for some years in Wellington, and lias done notably good work. With the growing demand of the district it was decided over a yaar ago that a new and larger college was an urgent, necessity if the schools were to be adequately served with teachei's. A site was secured on Ivowhai Eoad, a sunny spot in Kelburn, overlooking the cool, green expanse of the Botanical Gardens. About a year ago 'a contract to erect the new college ivas signed by G. H. Meyer and Co., and to-day it is ready for work. , The Ne.w College. The new college, which cost approximately J37000, is to be formally openod by , the.Minister' of.Education at 11.15 a.m. on Wednesday next, on which occasion therewill'be an interesting gathering of educationists ' and- citizens. The new structure is designed'in the formal manner of, an English school, and 110 one could possibly mistake it for anything else. It has a'frontage to Kowhai Road of 98ft. by a depth (its greatest) of 30ft. Gin. It is erected iii red press brick, relieved with a bright cream, rough-cast section (taking in the ground and first-floor windows), and has a roof.of red Marseilles tiles, so that the new institute will be in happy accord with the many handsome villas which adorn the slopes of Kelbum. Ascending a central flight of concrete steps,.. one reached a-loggia or .portico, the roof of which is supported by concrete columns. The main entrance admits to a hall, which continued straight through divides the' lower floor.in tnro. At the back it junctions with- an arched corridor, which runs the full breadth of the building. On either side of the hall are spacious, rooms — for & museum and the other the principal' (Mr. Temiantfs) office; . Beyond these rooms are large apartments . (one being a chemical and tho cither a geographical laboratory), -extending ' from tho front 1 of- tho building -to the' transverse corridor. On the other side of the corridor are . large common rooms for . both aexes. Thq slant of the section providea for collar accommodation for a boiler and furnace for the licit-water heating apparatus, a large store room, aiid lavatories.

The First Floor. " On tho first .floor is a. very largo study (80ft. br'2sft.), which can be subdivided with folding doors, the,central section of which is'fitted for library purposes. In tho oentre of this flat is a lecture Toom, 34ft. by 25ft., ;and abreast of that again another lecture room, 34ft. by 25ft., which two rooms can also be made one by folding up; the partition. There is also'-a largo aud well-lighted art ; room, 37ft. by 25ft., at the back. .The buililim has been given an interior finish of whiite plaster, with wood-panelled ceilings Special at-, tention has been devoted to th« ventilation, and as it is imperative that itho wills should be , sound-proof, a composition of coke breeze and. pumico cement has'- been placed., jn ,the . walls", to , act .as >a; souu'd (le'adeiier. At the'ljack a- largo fino court has been provided for and a- caretaker's cottage is now being erected remoto from the main building. jJl'he new collego is lit throughout with eilectrio light. The architect .who is to be congratulated on. his careful planning of what should be a most-serviceable building, is ill - . W. Gray Young.'