HOUSEHOLDERS' MEETINGS.

Hutt News, Volume 2, Issue 47, 1 May 1930, Page 8

HOUSEHOLDERS' MEETINGS.

HtJTT CENTRAL SCHOOL.

Mr. J. Forsytih presided over a good attendance of householders at the Huttt Central Sctaool on Monday evening.

Sponking to the suggestion of the J2du^;.':;«ni Board contained, in the report the" meeting was unanimous in prat<'Ming .against the suggestion to reduce ;.hiv-caretaker's wage from £3/10/----per week to £2. It was pointed out <t&at it would be bad policy to employ inferior cleaning as it would endanger the health of the children. On the motion of Mr. West it was agreed unaiihivjusly that the meeting endorse the neti or, of the committee in refusing ;to iedu-i' t?ic caretaker's wage and recoininMids that his wage be increased

per week.

The chairman explained that tJie connv:ittee did not object to raising

for sports, picnics, etc,, but maintained that it should not be expected to provide money for the essentials of schools. He paid a tribute -to .the work of the school staff and said that the school work was'second' to none. On the motion of Mr. West it wtas agreed "that this meeting tender to 'the headmaster and staff its best thanks fox the work done."

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Mrs Spencer, in an eloquent appeal, urged the necessity of providing cocoa for the children during the winter months, also that a room be provided in which, the scholars might enjoy their lunch, and expressed her high, appreciation of Mr. Miller's action in keeping the children indoors divring bad weather

Mi Miller promised to make arrangements for the cocoa to be provided.

On the motion of Mr. Cairns it was resolved "that tMs meeting strongly •protests against the size of the classes and the number of teachers allotted to the classes." .

The Principal stated that the average was 51 pupils to each, teacher.

On the motion of Mr. Cairns it was resolved "That in tfre opinion of the meeting the amount of capitation for primary schools is inadequate and that it be increased to at least 20/-

A hearty vote of thanks was voted to the outgoing committee.

The annual report presented was as

follows: —

Staff. —The efficiency of the teaching staff has been well maintained and the results obtained in the school examinations at the end of the, year 1929, reflect very creditably on the management of tihe school. The high standard Teaoaed by the school is effectively shown by the results of essay competitions open to schools in the Wellington area in which our scholars obtained a

number of prizes,

Buildings.—The general state of repair is good. The roof, which had been giving trouble for sonic years was, during the last Christmas holiiays, partly stripped. of tiles, which w ere replaced, by galvanised iron. Leakages are not now so common, but the position, will not be entirely satisfactory until the whole of the tiles have been replaced. The-bicycle shed was recently damaged by lire, and the committee is of opinion that the outbreak was the result-of incendiarisin on the part of larrikins unknown. Parents are reqoeeted to report to the headmaster any suspicious movement on the part of larrikins, etc. The school was re<c«ntly painted, and windows have been repaired. fljpipTifia.—-The grounds are in excellent condition. During the last few months, splendid assistance was given by senior scholars in preparing a portion of the pleying *uea for grass sowing. The Education Board authorised a pound-f ox-pound subsidy, and as a result of the co-operation of the scholars (thanks to Mr. Millar and the caretaker), the school now 'has a very pleasing appearance externally. Picnic.-r—Late in February a most delightful day was spent at the Trentham Basecoux»e, over 450 children and a good ; number of parents and friends being presents. The programme was carried out without a hitch,. fchaiiks to to© co-ioperation between the staff and the committee. Unfortunately, the committee was not able to provide f oodabatta as has been the practice in the past. •■'••' • The reduced capitation grant necessitated the use of funds for school* pttrpOM% Which might otherwise have beexu devoted to the picnic; and as" a Te«ult* the committee was compelled to xely on th»' parents' edßseriptions. The position ws»'«ftTefußy explained to the children and they were asked' to voice

an : opinion as to whether a picnic should be held under those conditions, The verdict was almost unanimous. The committee prpvided free transport, drinks, tea, milk, sugar and fruit.

Capitation G-rant.—ln view of t»he decreased capitation, no moneys were made available to the school from efforts by the committee. You will no doubt appreciate that the committee did not feel disposed to use funds raised for social purposes for meeting the ■expenses of school requisites. Last year, the amount of capitation Teceiv-. Ed was approximately £16 per month. T»his amcKnt has now been reduced by the Education Board to £13/16/8. The caretaker's wages amount to £14 per month (4 weeks), so that the committee is faced with a debit balance of 3/4 per month before providing for any other items such as coal (approximately £30 per annum), firewood, chalk, paper, disinfectant, soap, brooms, polish, etc. It is impossible to keep the school as hygienieally clean as it should be unless an appropriate salary is paid to the •cleaner. Medical opinion has declared "that the failure to provide proper sanitary conditions in s&hools is a factor in the persistence and frequent severity of school epidemics.

The Board recently pointed out to the committee —vat the amount paid to the cleaner (£3/10/- per week) was too much; and suggested.that we should reduce this amount. The amount paid to the cleaners in Wellington schools is approximately £2 per week . My committee does not feel disposed to reduce the present cleaner's wages, and apart from, reduced capitation, this is one Of the reasons prompting them not to seek

re-election. Mr. Thomsen; the present caretaker, has given excellent service, In addition to cleaning,- Mr. Thomfeen is required to maintain approximately 600 feet of garden border and a rockery, and to keep lawns cut covering an area of about two-<t>hirds of an acre. >.A1-

•together, the cleaner puts ■in on- /an average six hours per day. For the information of the householders, few ;of the Wellington schools 'have lawns and gardens to be attended to, and in ; instances where this is the case, the work is carried out by persons other than the cleaner. The committee would like an expression of opinion from the 'householders on their action in declining to reduce the caretaker's wage's to a mere pittance of approximately £2 per week. ■ ■ I This report would not be complete without referring to the excellent re- ! lationsarip which has existed ; between the staff and the committee and we take this opportunity of thanking Mr. Millar for his assistance throughout the year. WAIWHETTX SCHOOL. The meeting of (householders at Waiwhetu' was well attended/Mr. B. Peglar presiding.' A motion was carried unanimously protesting against the reduction of the I capitation-grant.Ten nominations were received fot the committee/the following were elected:—Mr. B. Pegler chairman (re-elected), Mrs. . Joyce secretary (re-elected), Messrs F. Orchard, Welsh, Wiiifeman, E. Smith, T. Jones, H. Ashton, and Staples* The annual report t was as follows :— ■ In presenting its annual report the committee feels that the [past year has been a most successful one, especially in regard to the improvements effected

in the playing areas and the surroundings of the school. A glance at the ■grands to-day leaves a somewhat different impresson than one about two years ago. The transformaton has ben aceomplishd at a vry. moderate cost to the Education Boafd on account of the amount of work undertaken by the -committee itself and the district is exceedingly fortunate in having -sucjhi willing help offering. Works carried out during the year included the removal of the remaining trunks of trees felled the previous year, the uprooting of ten or twelve large stumps, and the .clearing away of sjnall roots to enable a contract to be let for the ploughing and levelling and • sowing in grass of about two acres for playing fields. A basketball court was laid down in metal chips and later sealed with two coats of coldfix. This area also serves as a tennis court in the summer. Seating accommodation has been provided on the •north, side of the school in order that the children may have their lunches witout sitting on te wet ground. A fence has been, erected from the front gate to the edge of the concrete to set aside a atrip of ground for ornamental gardens. The eastern arid Western pre-

<;incts of I>ho building have been filled in and surfaced with metal chips. The general appearance' of the school has been greatly enhanced by the making of flower gardens by the scholars under the guidance of ti.e teachers. We are indebted to Mr. Anstis for the donation of a number of trees; these are making rapid progress and will add considerably to the beauty of the grounds. We haye been provided, through Mr. Bofbinson, with twelve pohutukawa trees and these will be planted as soon as the weather is suitable.

On the opening of the Randwick School we lost about 250 pupils, but "pwing to the rapid growth of the district we are confident our roll will soon be regained. It does not seem to be generally known that our boundaries extend on" the western side of the railway line to Hautana Street and Knights Road and numbers of children :n these localities are attending other schools. ;

The committee gave its support in the fight for increased capitation grants, but we regret that so far the Government has failed to grant any relief in this direction. T&e justice of •the claiir^ needs little emphasis as - all are aware of the continued struggle of committees to make ends meet.

-Throughout the year invaluable assistance has been Tendered by tiie PaTents' Association who have worked hard and long to provide the necessary finances to enable these improvements to be carried put. Donations amounting to £70 have been made to the committee for tiie following works: Grounds, £35; basket-ball court, £15 j Library, £5; School* Picnicj £10; Seats, £5.

The Picnic was held on the 26th February at the Hutt Park and it was generally conceded to have been a*_great success and we are sure that all t-he children enjoyed the day. The children are indebted to Mrs. Joyce for on several occasions arranging and conducting parties to Parliament and on inspections of various industrial concerns.

Relations with the teaching staff ih&ve been most cordial and they have given their assistance and co-operation in many of our .undertakings.

The school Uias gained quite a, high place in the various sports conducted t>y the Primary Schools Sprts- Association. The senior cricket team, won the cricket ehampionsiiip and the Rugby team were runners-up -in the football. The school also performed meritoriously at the annual athletic sports meeting.

Lastly, but not leaist, th« committee thanks t>he Education Board for the help and consideration given during rt;he year and fox the granting of all subf sidies asked for. EASTERN HUTT SCHOOL At the Eastern Hutt School Mr. W, "V. Dyer presided over a god afrten-ioan^e ■of householders. - ■ The chairman • referred to the unfortunaite indisposition of the headmiaster, Mr. M-cßain, and the meeting earned a resolution of sympathy and wishes for a'speedy recovery. . . The annual report of ; the • committee and. Dental Clinic were read and adopted. ■ _ . . • The Financial Statemient was also • i-earl and adopted. It was disclosed,! ithart at 28th February the, credit bal-/' ahce stood at £200/5/7 and during the yeaT tlie committee spent £137 in excess of capitation grants."

A very full and comprehensive report was submitted by Mr. W. Dickinson on behalf of fche he&amaster. "Meny items of interest were noted and dis-, cussed by householders.

The new committee elected is as follows:—Messrs W. V. Dyer, V. H. Piper, L. H, Wesley, H. S. Dudding, H. Burgess, T. G. Clarke, W.. Elsom and Ross Tait.

Tht> following resolutions were carried without dissent: —

" Tihat this meeting of householders requests the Government to immediately grant 'an adequate alliowane\e t\ji school committees for incidental expenses." ' : •

"That a definite effort be made /to reduce the size of classes to '30 ■scholaTs per class.

"That an effort should be maiJe to check the constant changing of teachers."

"Tihat the meeting favours Sir. Thos. Sidey *s - suggestion to cnange summer vacation to IPebTuary-Maroi.."

Ther Ghainjia/n spoke in high praise of. the work of the^&eadmaster and staff of the school and tfie^l- meeting carried a resolution of thanks afld eo»----■gratulaitions. ' •'. )\

The meeting was one of the best held for several years, and householders displayed keen interest in the work and welfare of tihe school.

Tihe new committee met immediately after the householders' meeting and appointed the following _ officers:— Chairman, Mr. W. V. Dyer (re-elected); Secretary, Mr. V. H. Piper (re-elected); Treasurer, Mr. L. H. Wesley (re-elect-ed).

The committee decided to meet on the first Wednesday in ea«h month at 8 p.m.

BOULCOTT SCHOOL.

There was| a good attendance ©£ householders at the meeting whioh was presided over by Mr. A. J. Gearing.

The election of tie committee resulted: Messrs A. J. Gearing, L. Jenkins, E. H. korne, W. Marsh, C. H. Downes, H. Saunders and C. M. Willcox. At the-committee meeting at the close Messrs Gearing and Jenkins were elected chairman and secretary res-p'ee-tively.

The annual report is as follows:—

The roll number is now 170 with a sure and certain prospect of -heavy | increase during t»he present year. As the school was overcrowded .when it was opened in February, we have been compelled to send Std. I and II to T£riox School-Toom. How long this unsatisfactory state of things is to last we know not, but one thing we do know, and that is that it is uneconomical in every way—the children suffer as well as the taxpayer. It was an egregious blunder on the part of the Education authorities to put up a three-roomed school at Boulcott. T-he eommitt'ee has made every effort to get the building en-' larged, but so far without any sign of success. *

In September of last year the Board reduced capitation from £16/5/- per quarter to £12/10/-. The committee thereupon resigned in a body. The Boards however, raised the school a grade and as tthis restores -the amount of capitation, the eommitteee decided to meet again. The allocation of capitation is in a very .unsatisfactory position however, as the Board has decided to distribute in-future on average attendance only, instead of t'hle more equitable method used previously.

The school groimds 3iave been improved during the year, vfche balance of the ar£a having now been levelled , and

sown in grass.

The result of 'fch"e Proficiency Examination was again most satisfactory. Of nineteen candidates, seventeen obtained proficiency and two competency.

.. We were unfortunate this. year with -the picnic. The weather changed for the worse during the afternoon and the amount collected fell short of last year, leaving us wit»h a de-bit balance of £6/2/4 on the event. During the coming year an effort will be necessary to raise funds, but- we have confidence that, when the time comes for an appeal, the parents will rally round as •before, and put the finances again on a sound footing. ' •