SCHOOL SITES FOR NEWTOWN

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 222, 14 June 1920, Page 6

SCHOOL SITES FOR NEWTOWN

MR.-T. FORSYTH'S VIEWS

TWO TOWN BELT SECTIONS

SAID TO BE BEST

Some monthi ago tho Hon. C. J. Parr (Minister of-Education) visited the Newtown district'in company.'with the chair-

man of tho Wellington Education Board (Mn-J.-Forsyth) for the purposo of ihoepecting possible school sites in view of the proposal to provide adequate and up-to-date schools and grounds forwhat is a

very congested "portion of tho city. Mr. Forsyth then suggested that the site\pf tho -present 'Newtown School- was quite unsuitable for a hew school as tho land was "very restricted in area, was below the level of contiguous streets, and was on the' lino of tho trams and other

traffic. In view of-thoso facts and the growth of population in the immediate vicinity, it was suggested that the educational needs of Newtown njight bo better met by erecting two schools in localities pointed out to the Minister.

. Mr, Forsyth, in conversation with a Dominion representative?" explained that Ws idea' was to exchange the present site- of the Newtown School with the City Council for two, sites on tho Town Belt—p'aTts of the Belt which up to the .present had never been used for any purpose other than "the grazing of \t\ few horses and the propagation "of noxious weeds." ' •

One of tho sites was a block of land at tho head of Seddon Terrace (off; CoTomandel Street),-and immediately'to the north of'tho Newtown lawn tennis courts. This section, at present mostly a barren natch, with outcrops of bare clayey soil, was situated on a sunny slope; it was conveniently placed for use as the educational centre of Newtown East; .arid-further, it was beneficially remote from traffic. The other section' was on; the Belt close to John Street on the other side of Newtown/ so that it would cater for the children of western.Newtown'and for the big increase which might be expected in settlement in-that locality (lower Vogeltown. etc.) Mr., Forsyth pointed-out that all thai was.realty needed from the City Council, was the actual land to be covered 'by the .school buildings, as the areas needed for 'playgrounds came within the terms of the. gift- of the Belt to the city by the founders of Wellington. He also claimed that' the city would bo the gainer by the pro- 1 /posed ''exchange, as it. would, in tnkinß the present sito of tho Newtown School' for a reserve and Test park, be acquiring an area worth'muoh more than the two Town Belt sections in question. Further, he" made it clear that when he asleep the council to agrooto this proposal— *s he intended to do at tho next meeting of tha council—the' final- opportunity of acquiring the Newtown'School site for th« pur* pose suggested j would be given. In th« : event of thp, council rejecting the proposal.the site would be disposed of in order to secure funds to purchase other Rites' than those on the Town Belt. The Education Board did not wish to do that as_ it would mean acquiring areas now being: utilised for residential purposes, and'the board did not wish to be placed in tho position of so acting while the housinp Droblem was so very acute.'

,'. The Education Department apparently. • sees eye to eye with the Education Board intb'te matter. In the course of a letter Dr; W. J. Anderson has said:—

"Tho proposal seenis to me so reasonable a,one that it should he pressed with all the'influence th» hoard can bring to bear on the matter, upon the notice of the Cifv Council, within view to-arriving at 60me.equitablo, arrangement which would avoid on the one hand the expensive pur. chase of a set of properties already oc-' cupipd by.residences for the purpose of a 'new site, and would on the other g : ve thecity an additional breathing space in a congested centre at the cost of an inappreciable sacrifice. It is recognised, of course, that the board has a right to expect an exchanjro of property equal in value to that which it proposes mit to, 'dispose of, but I assume that if the board's requirements with regard to both projected new sites were satisfied the precise monetary equivalent would wot ,-do' regarded by -the. board as an ObBtaole:'? .:' ■.:.'..-