EAST CHRISTCHURCH SCHOOL.

Globe, Volume VII, Issue 745, 8 November 1876, Page 3

EAST CHRISTCHURCH SCHOOL.

The usual meeting of the committee was held yesterday evening, Present—Messrs G, L. Lee (chairman), Habeas, Veel, Rose, Kirk, Farr. A letter was read from Mr D, Craig, forwarding a cheque for £SO from the Associated Insurance Company towards the bath at the school. Rev W. J. Habens brought up the report of the deputation appointed to confer with the Government respecting the letter of the Minister of Education, as follows : “ The committee holds that all works applied for are necessary to the efficient administration of the affairs of the district, but that it is necessary to consider also the ability of the ratepayers to meet the claims which it is now proposed to make. Poverty often compels us to do without some things which in more fortunate circumstances we should naturally reckon necessary. The Minister’s reference in letter of 24th instant to country districts, which have more than once paid the extreme rate of Is without demur, admits of the reply that a poor man’s cottage in the country districts has a much lower value, and is let at a much lower rental than in the town, and that a rate of Is in the £ exacts a smaller sum from one than from the other. The committee would not have applied for all the works which have been asked for if they bad not supposed that what was iucluded in their estimates of December 10th, 1875, would come under the one sixth proviso. They would have taken the ground that some of these works, however necessary, were not within the means of the district. The deputation would like to ask whether it is possible for the Government to reduce the rate from lid to 6d, leaving the question of how much work the district can have done for the money to be discussed at leisure. This would be a reasonable concession to the present position of the committee, which maintains that some of the works reckoned at one-half can be shown to come under the one-sixth proviso, and that if this point be decided against them, the alternative remains of postponing certain important works to a more favorable time. In support of the view that a great part of the work should be reckoned at one-sixth it may be stated—(l) That in the estimate submitted to the Board for the session of Provincial Council, 1876, and amounting to £7900, some of the works now put down at one-half were already asked for, viz—Cottage at South belt, cottsge at Bingsland, and the master’s house at Gloucester street. (2) That these works were included in the detail estimates upon which the vote of £64,000 for buildings and works was taken in the Provincial Council in 1875, and that they appear in a memorandum obtained from the office, which shows that in the detailed estimates £6672 10s was the sum put down for Bast Christchurch. (3) That the master’s bouse was promised in effect by the sth August last, and literally promised before the 30th of September. (4) That permission has been frequently asked, both of the Board and of the Minister, to proceed with the erection of class rooms at Bingsland, which were put down at £7OO in the committee’s estimates for the session of 1875, and have been often mentioned both before and since. (5) That in the estimates for new sites and buildings sent in on the 10th December last, and amounting to £3600, it was expressly stated that the expenditure was required before March Blst, 1876, and that the committee declined to frame estimates for any period beyond that date. (6.) That if all these works had been undertaken as asked for, before the Slst March, they would have been nearly covered by the amount set down in the detail estimates as the district’s share of the vote of £5400 in the session of 1875. The proof of this statement will be given below. (7.) That the committee in the interval between December 10th, 1875, and March 31st, 1876, repeatedly applied for an answer to the requests made in the estimates and letter of Dec. 10th, and this statement is confirmed, not only by the memory of the chairman and secretary, but as to some instances by the minutes of the committee, which show that on March 2nd, and again on March 30th, the acting chairman was directed ‘ to urge the Minister for Education for permission to complete the master’s residence at Bingsland, and purchase additional sites at Gloucester street and Phillipstown.’ In substantiation of the statemeu'. in No 6 also, the following facts are submitted—An examination of the committee’s accounts and minutes, shows that up to March 31st, 1876, the sum of £19,305 had been spent on sites, buildings, furniture, and approaches. This sura cannot be accurately ascertained by the committee’s books, but the errors do not amount in the whole to £546, since the return made by the office to the same date shows £15,851, Of the £19,305, the portion belonging to works under contract March Slst, 1875, was £15,081, and the portion belonging to the next financial period is £4223. This sum of £4223 must be correct within £546, and probably within much narrower limits. The amount put upon the estimates for 1875 for the purposes for which £4223 was spent, was £6672 10s, so that there remained of that vote fin the part relating to this dis trict) about £2450, If then the works amounting to £3600 asked for in December had been done the vote would have been exceeded by £llsO only. The master’s house would be in addition to the £3600, but would be balanced by savings i 0 the £3600,

as, e.g., in the cases of Phillipstown and of Bingsland class rooms. Referring to the view that there were no funds in hand for such purposes at the latter end of the finan cial year, the deputation sees by the Gazette that of the vote of £54,000 only about £26,365 had been expended by the 31st March, To meet the supposition that the district had already had more than its share of public money, a comparison is here made between the district and the whole province. In March 1875, nearly one-seventh of the children in the schools of the province were in the schools of the district, whether the roll number or the average be made the basis of computation. More accurately, the proportion is two-fifteenths. Since then the proportion has been sometimes as low as one-eighth. The expenditure and estimates for school buildings (exclusive of the Normal school) are in round numbers as follows: £ Expenditure before October, 1873 27,000 Expenditure from October, 1873, to October, 1874 40,000 Expenditure half-year to March, 1875 20,000 Estimates for year ending March, 1876 54,000 Fay £140,000 One-eighth of this sum to accommodate oneeighth of the children is £17,500. Twofifteenths would be £18,666, The district has had up to March, 1876, £16,540, The sum actually expended to March, 1876, was not £140,000, but only about £112,500. Two-fifteenths even of this would be about £15,000. If this latter view be taken, it must still be remembered that sites in and around Christchurch are costly beyond comparison with the country districts, and that of the expenditure of £19,851 to March Slst, 1876, £4825 is for sites alone. Remembering the cost of sites, the committee thinks that it has done well to provide accommodation for 1000 children in one school, and for 250 and 190 in two others, that is for 1440, at a total outlay of £19,851, or at the rate of about £l3 15s per child. And these schools are full—except that at the south belt. There were 1003 in attendance at Gloucester street alone last week. If the Government wish to take up seriatim the arguments of the Minister’s letter of the 24th inst, the deputation is prepared to discuss them, though to a great extent they are met in this statement, With regard to the opinion that there is some discrepancy between the parts of the committee’s letter of December 10th, relative to the site for an infants’ school, the deputation thinks it reasonable to expect that the whole paragraph on that subject shall be read as one, which will make it plain that only the site was asked for, and that the committee expressly said that they were not asking for a building. No application has since been made for the infant school, nor was the cost of it included in the amount of £2600 claimed as being due from the district in the Minister’s letter of August last. The list supplied to the deputation from the public meeting shows what works the committee thinks must be postponed, if the Government adhere to the proposal to charge the disputed items at one-half. The following letters were also read—- “ October 30tn, 1876.

“ Sir, —I have the honor to inform you that the Government, having had under consideration the memorandum of the deputation, have directed the rate collector to collect a 6d instead of lid rate. “ I have, &c, “A. C. Knight, “ Minister for Education.” “ October Slst.

<i sir,—l am directed by Mr Wm. Rolleston to inform you that the collector for East Christchurch has been instructed to collect the rate of 6d in the £ instead of lid. “ Yours, &c, “ F. Main waring, “ Secretary for Education.” On the motion of Mr Habens, the report was adopted. A letter was read from Mr Loughrey, forwarding the usual weekly returns of the school, and suggesting that, as the average attendance was somewhat thin, the school should be closed for the remainder of the week. It was resolved to carry out Mr Loughrey’s suggestion, and a holiday was granted until Monday, November 13th. It was resolved—“ That the sub committee enquire into the practice of keeping the pupil teachers during the whole of the day at the main school, and to report upon the advisability of continuing the practice.” After some further routine business, the committee adjourned.