MANUAL TRAINING SCHOOL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4383, 27 February 1922, Page 2

MANUAL TRAINING SCHOOL.

Educationally, Paeroa has not been altogether neglected, substantial additions having recently been made to the Paeroa District High School. But there certainly is much room for improvement, the chief want being a manual training school such as has been agitated for during the past few years. There is no need to retrace the history of the negotiations on this matter ; suffice it to state that the ground for- a site is already secured, and that the authorities have promised to remove the old Mackaytown school to Paeroa for use as a manual training school. But financial obstacles have been met with all along, and have proven insurmountable so far, notwithstanding substantial efforts to smooth the path. For instance, the residents of Paeroa have guaranteed £lOO towards the project, and a public-spirited local building contractor (Mr W. Marshall), volunteered to remove the school to Paeroa for the bare cost of the work. The Education Board went into the question, and secured from its architect an estimate for the removal of the building and fitting the same up in Paeroa. Unfortunately, the architect s estimate, which included the equipment* of a cookery department, far exceeded the locally anticipated cost; in fact, practical men have expressed the opinion that the estimate was altogether too high. 'However, the figures submitted by Mr Farrell gave the Minister for Education (Hon. C. J. Parr) good grounds for declining to proceed with the. school while the financial stringency lasted, and so matters are at a deadlock. There is, however, a side to the question which has probably not received adequate consideration by either the Board of Education, the Education Department, or the Minister in charge of the latter, and that is the annual cost of railway fares for Paeroa scholars now being sent to and from Thames. It is stated that the Board pays the Railway Department approximately £3OO per annum for this • service, which amount would provide interest at 6 per cent, on £5OOO, to. say nothing of the doing away with a most unsatisfactory condition of affairs for the scholars and their parents. Furthermore, there is the inducement that a now unused building, probably worth £lOOO, could be made useful, giving an added gain. It has been stated that other towns are in a worse position than Paeroa in respect to manual training, but it is doubtful whether this assertion would stand logical analysis. From what other town are 120 scholars sent over 20 miles by rail to attend school ? The numbers | have reached such proportions '-that the time is now ripe for again’making very strong and persistent representations to wards having, the Mackaytown school moved to the site awaiting it in Paeroa; the saying in railway fares will ultimately prove a financial, gain to the Education Beard, and since the institution must come intc being before very long, the sooner it is available the better for all concerned. Apart from the actual educational conditions obtaining, there is a civic aspect that needs serious consideration : t it is a wellknown fact that scholars often have more regard in after life for the centre, where they obtained their secondary education than they do for their home town. Such misplaced sentiment bodes ill for the future of Paeroa; we want all our young citizens to possess intense local patriotism, and tn take a pride in the home town all their lives. In order to bring into being this desirable mental state it is essential that all secondary education shall be made, available in Paeroa. It is likely that the abovementioned subject will b a discussed at the next meeting of the Paeroa Chamber of Commrece; any forward step the Chamber mav deem it advisable to take will have the moral support of the whole community.