TECHNICAL COLLEGE

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 2, 27 September 1921, Page 6

TECHNICAL COLLEGE

’ SERIOUS LACK OF FUNDS t COMPARISON BETWEEN WELLINGTON /' ' AND OTHER PLACES > The director of, the Technical College (Mr. J. H. Howell), in his report to the board last night, stated that as the money received and in sight, as a result of the recent? appeal to the 'public, was less than sufficient to meet the (board’s requirements, the chairman apd the director waited upon the Acting Prime Minister (Sir Francis Bell) and appealed for some assistance to meet present commitments. The Minister, while sympathetic, declined to provide any more money for the new building. Commenting on this the director said: "It seems, nevertheless, difficult to believe that the Government can still allow to persist the shocking conditions under which for years past technical education has had to bo carried on in Wellington. I doubt whether even the board are fully ’aware of the extent of the injustice done and of the handicap, as compared with other centres, from which the •qollege is suffering. Let me place some facts before you as fo grants that have been made within about the last two years to other technical buildings.. 1 ) Vor a cookery and woodwork centre -fttthe Lower Hutt, a grant of .£3430, together with..£3oo subsidy; (2) for a technical college .nt Westport (population WOO), £16,540; (3) for additional workshops to Auckland Technical College, £.0.000, (4.) to Christchurch College, a grant for tlrjee workshops, in addition to , the nine’lalvady erected. "If we compare our treatment with that meted out to other branches of education, the contrast is even greater. Victoria College has been_ granted for additions to its present buildings over £42.<M. Canterbury' College has fjeen P™™*"” £5(1.900, partly for extensions to its a - ready large and well-equipped School of Engineering, and partly for ft new boys high school. All that the Government has so far found to remedy the disgraceful conditions under which teehnica education is carried on in the cap, citv is £15,000 It must be noted that Canterbury College is on? of the mos 'wealthy educational institutions in J Zealand, the total value of its ments amounting to over of these the value of the/Rovs -Hi School endowment alone is X96.81W 1 am, informed that these generous /rant to Canterbury the period when Sir Francis n i Minister of Education, and if this isj it can be only recently that he has obligation. To ma Wellington is the handicap under which Welling suffering let me compare the cornu lu itat-<« ™s, t to ’“?■ h0 ”’ science and electrical engineering. ’ Home Science. "Home science conditions in l„. to” SKLfc”. impartial a small, science-is confined to cooKery n dilapidated, galvanised-iron shed The shed is far too small, badly lit ana naa R ventilated, and as it « siHated .at the rear of the City Council 8 motor yard 'it id" difficult to reach the door of an evening when the motor ve - re yarded. There is no provision for laundry work, while needlework, dressmaking and .millinery classes are carried on in the small dusty room at the top of the Cuba Street building- 1 1 » very unlikely that the Latour- Department would issue a permit forthe dressmaking classroom. -It is about on a par with a third-rate New York "sweatshop," such as is often described in American films. What-light there is comes from the roof, and the ventilation somehow filters ’through a ' v^ lte 'T[' n ? i hed partition from which several boards have been knocked , out.’ What are the conditions in Christchurch? (1) Two large, lofty, and well-lit rooms for instruction in cookery and laundry, with three coal ranges, five gas cookers, one electric range, on which a lunch for 70 persons is cooked daily, one electric cooker, -two gas boilers, etc. (The fine Technical College in Dunedin has even better equipment for this instruction.) (2> Two large, well-lit. and well-warmed rdoms for in- . gtruction in dressmaking, needlework and millinery. (3) A training hostel where about 9p girls each year receive a thoroughly practical course in housewifery. The hostel building cost about £4500, of which'about £lOOO was raised locally. . Housewifery and domestic hygiene are subjects which in "Wellington-can scarcely be touched upon. Electrical Engineering.

'"As for electrical engineering, in Wellington, we are so cramped for buildings that no special, rAoify can be devoted to this urgent work—the theoretical and laboratory instruction being»,taken in a room which *is also used, for physics and mechanics, and 'is situated over the N plumbers’ workshop, while the other practical work is carried out in the : crowded fitting shop. In Christchurch ; the provision is most generous, for the young after receiving his preliminary training at the Technical College, .which is well'equipped for this purpose, can proceed to Canterbury College School of Engineering, nnd can pursue the subject up to university honours standard. “Lt cannot bij laidto the charge of' Wellington ( city that it has given no recognition to the urgency of technical education, for the financial support that has been forthcoming here compares very favourably with that in other centres, as is shown by the following figures: — Auckland: 4)12,797 (including a grant of 4110.000 from the Auckland .Savings Bank) Christchurch: About 4:9800. Dunedin: From 1911 to 1920, 419700. Wellington: Over 417000, exclusive of the money now being raised for the neW buildings fund. The City Council has, in addition, made a grant of 4115,000 in return for land, which the council itself in the first instance donated to the college, and buildings which cost the Government only 413100; so that the gra,nt n/ay fairly be reckoned as equivalent to a donation of 4111,900. The city, therefore, that is doing most in support of technical education has received and is still receiving from the Government the worst treatment of any. ‘‘The situation that the board has to meet is a most difficult one, but I feel sure that it will bo met with determina- ,. tion. If the numerous associations that now find representation are made aware

of the facts,of the case, the board can • z rely upon a strong body of public opinion in support of every effort they may make to change the present lamentable conditions.”