THE BOYS’ COLLEGE

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 70, 15 December 1921, Page 9

THE BOYS’ COLLEGE

BUILDING URGENTLY REQUIRED '

A SPECIAL LOAN SUGGESTED

ENDOWMENTS TO BE SECURITY

Proposals for the improvement of the accommodation at Wellington College were placed before the Minister of Education yesterday by a deputation representing the College Board of Governors. The members of the board suggested that they should be authorised to borrow a sum of about *£50,000 on the security of the college endowments, and proceed with the erection of a portion of the required new buildings. The Minister indicated his approval of the suggestion, and made some interesting remarks concerning the future development of secondary education.

Mr. AV. F. Ward, chairman of the Board of Governors, said that plans had been prepared for the erection of new college buildings at a cost of about £170,000. Tho Alinister had said that the Government could not provide this money at the present time, and the board recognised that the main scheme must be postponed until the financial position had improved. But certain parts of the existing building were in a very bad state, ami to spend money on the repair of those parts would bo to throw it away. The kitchen and the surrounding offices were in a hopeless condition. The Alinister (Hon. C. J. Parr): It has been hopeless for some years. You come to ine now when I am bankrupt. Mr. Ward: Wo did not want to make two bites at a cherry. Tho Minister: Aly point is that you should have bitten your cherry some years ago. , Air. Ward remarked that the Girls College had been making considerable demands, and tho board had postponed asking for the rebuilding of the, boys school. The board was not asking for a grant now. It had endowments which produced a pot annual revenue of about £6OOO. These endowments were situated in Wellington, Palmerston North, and various parts of the province. Tho sole 'liability against tjiis annual revenue was a mortgage of £1(3)0. , rhe board wished l to ask for authority to borrow a sum of, say, £50.000 on the security of the endowments. , AVith this money it could proceed with the erection of the hostel block,, including kitchen and dormitories. Existing dormitories would bo released for use as class-rooms. This rearrangement would provide accommodation for about 100 additional boys. The board was awar< that the Government could not find a large sum of money at the present time, and realised at tho same time that tho needs of tho Boys’ College was urgent. The present building was not in keeping with its surroundings, and not worthy of its purpose. The scheme that was being put forward would enable .the board to make a start with the erection of a building worthy of tho college. , , ~ . Air. AV. H. I’. Barber suggested that tho board oughl i:ot to bo blamed for having refrained from asking tho Government for money during tho last seven years; The Minister: You should have eomo along before seven years ago. Air. R. Darroeh mentioned that tho Old Boys’ Association held a sum of £’sooo collected for the erection of an assembly hall when the new building was undertaken. Would tho Government pay a subsidy on £1 for £1 on this sum? The estimated cost of tho hall was £lO,OOO. Air. Parr said he was not sure that a subsidy was payable in such a case. He would inquire. • THE MINISTER’S REPLY. Tho Minister, replying to the deputation, said that he was not going to discuss the question of who was to blame for the continued existence of the old building. It did seem to him, however, that the members of tho board had been asleep in past years, when the Government had more money than it had to-day. There was something in what had been said on the other side. The condition of the brick building left little to be desired', and the temporary class-rooms were hygienic. But the condition of the old buildings was depressing. Ho had not seen anything worse in any part of .the Dominion. He thought that the board could have done more with the paint-pot, inside and out. The inside 'of the building seemed tx' him to have been neglected. If he wore a master or a pupil he would not feel that his spirits were raised by tho miserable old pea-green paint, that grow duller and duller every year. Something could have befffi done and something should have been done in the improvement of the old buildings, which required a little more whitewash and cleaning. The Government, continued the Minister, could not find £170,000 for the new building at the present time. The ruinously high cost of building was worse in AVellington than in any other part of New Zealand. The Wellington Education Board’ had received grants totalling more than £250,000, but it could have done the same amount of work with half tho money six or seven years ago. Recently at Muritai he had scon two brick class-rooms that had cost no less than £4OOO. Across the road was the old school, erected in wood, which had four times the accommodation, ajid had cost only £lOOO. Do admitted' that when necessities were urgent tho Government must waste money in this way. A matter to be considered in connection with tho erection of new buildings for secondary instruction was the recasting of the syllabus. The old syllabus had got to go. No other country was continuing primary education to the fourteenth year and then sending the children to the secondary schools. No educational authority could be found to defend New Zoaland’s present system. Tho elementary course had to bo cut down so that the child could complete it, with a fourth standard equipment, at the nge of eleven or twelve years, and then the pupils must bo offered diversified courses in tho secondary schools. These changes, which would have to bo, made, so soon as the finances of the Government permitted, would affect tho requirements of the Dominion in the matter of secondary school accommodation. Tho hoadlnaster of the Wellington Collego was perfectly well aware that nearly 25 per cent, of the boys attending the school had no business to bo there at all. They required another sort of training. Mr. Ward: That has always been the case. The Alinister said there could bo no doubt that when the free-place system was first introduced in Now Zealand by the late Air. Seddon the country was not ready lor it. Tho Government had not studied out the problem of what was the best kind of post-primary education for tho peculiar needs of this country. Now Zealand ought not to follow any other country slavishly. A conference of educational authorities that would bo held after the holidays might bo able, to devise means of giving two forms of secondary instruction in one school, and in that ease there would bo justification for tho very large expenditure on one tchool proposed in the board’s

main scheme. If not the justification would not exist. But in any case the work of Wellington College could not be continued under present conditions much longer. Accommodation would have to bo provided for tho boys. Turning to the proposal made by the board to borrow £50,000 on the security of the endowments, the Minister said flint ho viewed tho proposal favourably. Ho was rather surprised, indel'd, that the proposal had not been made before. Ho would look into tho matter, and if the facts worn as represented ho saw no reason why ho should not recommend the Government to give authority for t’.io raising of tho suggested loan. Ho realised that the Government would really pay the interest on tho loan, in tho form' of increased capitation, and’ tho final decision would have to rest with Cabinet.