THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1921 HIKUTAIA SCHOOL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4340, 9 November 1921, Page 2

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1921 HIKUTAIA SCHOOL.

All round the district there are complaints of schools being overcrowded, but Hikutaia School appears to present a particularly bad example of the common malady. The regulation capacity of the building is sixty pupils, and yet there are actually 111 now being taught there. A small shelter-shed is being used as a class-room, and the whole building is shockingly overcrowded. Every nook and corner being oc cupied, there is no space left for a lavatory or cloak room, and the conditions, especially during very warm, and also in wet weather, are most unsatisfactory from a hygienic viewpoint, to say nothing of pomfort and convenience. The Minister of Education (Hon. C. J. Parr) promised to have a new building erected, but like the proposed new post office, it is still “in' the air.” It is understood that the local school committee, which has done all in its power to hasten matters, will shortly hold a special meeting to see what further can be done towards impressing upon the authorities the , absolute need for an amelioration of the shameful conditions now existing. Perhaps a well-signed petition to back the committee up might be effective if forwarded to the Member for the District to hand to the Minister of Education..