A DESERVING INSTITUTION

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2990, 30 January 1917, Page 3

A DESERVING INSTITUTION

RICHMOND FREE KINDERGARIEN The work of the Richmond Free Kindergarten Union has hitherto been hampered in the central and poorest dis-' trict of Wellington by the unsuitability of the only premises that it has been possible to obtain. The committee has now bought a piece of land adjacent to Taranaki Street, and proposes to have erected thereon a building specially suited for kindergarten work: The land will cost £700, and has to be paid for within two months. Tho cost of the building has not yet beon estimated, but it probably will require from £1500 to £1800 to erect and furnish. Towards these sums tho committee has the sum of £250, and proposes to seek donations from the public. The Kindergarten Union is, within its limited means, carrying out in an excellent manner the preliminary training of children at their most impressionable ago, a work of the utmost importance as a preliminary to the instruction to bo subsequently given in tho infant departments of the State schools. It also is, in the course of such instruction, training, under a competent director, teachers for kindergarten' duties who are and will be available for further extensions, of this most desirable work—work which hitherto has been scarcely touched upon in the ordinary schools controlled through the Education Department: ■ The work done is quite non-sectarian, and ought, under a complete system of State education, to be undertaken entirely by the State; in the absence of such a complete system the Kinder--garten Union is partially iilling tho gap —largely by the aid of personal subscriptions from individuals interested in educational matters and in the_ welfare of the younger children resident in the more crowded districts of this City. Material assistance is also rendered by the capitation allowance granted by the Government and, by other donations. Although the Kindergarten Union is incorporated for educational purposes only, the committee recognise that there may be objections raised to a grant of the public funds towards the acquisition of a freehold estate, and if you are of opinion that Clause 39 of the Rules of the Incorporated Union frelating to winding up) insufficiently covers the position, it is suggested that such clause could be amended so as to provide that in the event of the cossation of the use of tho property for kindergarten purposes by the union it should become vested in the Crown for use for similar purposes. ' A copy of the registered rules is en-> closed, as,also a concise"summary of tho history and position of the movement. ' As it is felt that any appeal to the •subscribing pnblio will be more readily responded to if it can be asserted that subscriptions are to bo subsidised by the Government wo urge that a favourable and speedy answer may %.e accorded to our request. _ 1 We are, Sir,. Yours truly, G. SHIRTCLIFFE. WILLIAM FERGUSON. Members of the Advisory Finance Committee of the Richmond Free Kindergarten Union..