THE NEW STATE SCHOOL.

Kumara Times, Issue 414, 23 January 1878, Page 2

THE NEW STATE SCHOOL.

This school-house, erected by the Westland Education Board at Kumara, is a handsome, massive-looking building, designed in the Greek style of architecture,/ and of a wholly different appearance to [the Hokitika and Greymouth Schools, which are Elizabethan.. •■< The'peculiarity* of the. Greek style lies in -the uniform arrangement of the masses and the display of clearly-defined horizontal lines. We think, however, the» design: *is 'equally! effective, although mot <s6< florid' in its ornamentation as .the.sohools'mentjoned,. and that it is 'very suitable for. the sositionin which the building is The • school-house is designed tb< contain : 25Qt children, but has, to those r who have not studied the how necessary plenty of healthy space is for children, ;the .appearance of r being large enough to accommodate a greater number. | The Westlaaad Education Board' have; In I the all wisely avoided the evil custom/of crowd- 1 ing children into small.rooms,, too often , badly lighted and illventilaTbed- There is no doubt that, however "excellent, may ibe the system of teachers, the good-effect of the draining will be more than -neutralised* if children are kept' for. many .Sours of ;each day, dW prived of'the necessary quantity of pure and wholesome air. ! $Ve consider then .thfttthe Board has acted ;wigeby ? and in attending to the first grand requirement of any school system—a good school-house. The levelling of the school ground is being rapidly proceeded with, and. will when completed greatly improve thftappearance of the school-house. The groundat both front and back of the school-house is being gravelled and thoroughly drained, and a sloping earth bank is to be made in front close to the street,, in which shrubs will be planted. There will also be a belt of shrubs and trees between the master'3 residence and the school-house. Space has been left for the extension of the school-house should.it become necessary ; and provision been made in the design for the satne purpose, so that when completed it would: give accommodation for 500 pupils. Tins would be effected by the erection of two wings similar to the central portion of the building, but extending further back. The school-house has been built of good material, in a thoroughly sound and substantial manner. THe school-house and also the master's residence were erected to the designsj and under the supervision of MessrsBrothers' architects to the Board; Mr Haworth was the contractor,- the painting was done by Mr Hooker.

' Yesterday evening the formal opening of the school took place. Shortly after six o'clock the children to the number of about 250. sat -down in two of the largest . rooms to'.a substantial repasfy'the manage•ment of. which had v Joii'diy been undertaken by Mesdames Bush, Spiers, Homeman; and Phillips, l and ! Miss, Crowther.Full justice having been done to .the, good things so liberally provided, ittiei children •were assembled in the principal room. There were also present Sir J. M'Whirter, Chairman of the Local Committee, his Worship the Mayor; Messrs B. Lyons and S. M. George, members of, the Westland Board qf Education, Mr Phillips, head-master, and' his staff, and a number of the parents.and friends of the pupils. Mr M'Wb±eter, who occupied the chair, delivered a brief address; He said that a more pleasant duty than that of opening such a. school could not possibly j devolve upon him. It was gratifying to meet together in such.a handsome and | spacious building, erected on a spot which j only two years ago' was a desolate '* wilderness. He thought the Central Board of Education wds' de^erving 1 sie< highest! praise for the manner; jn ;wJu<sr; they had carried out the work ; while having other i important; matters to attend to,, they had, | not bWi'unmindful of''the interest ' L o l f t .Kumara. (Cheers?) The new Education Act ckus.e, but he hoped it necessary to enforce it; he hoped and believed that parents woulcLof they own .will. take.- fuljjfce}. ,Act. Addressing the children, Mr M'Whirter advised them to,pay: strict attention to their studies. He reminded them that in due course they would have to take their places as men and women in the community, and that if they now paid, attention to what their "teachers taught them they would hereafter properly ■discharge their duties to themselves and to the public. (Cheers.) Mr M'Whirter, upon, the conclusion of his remarks, handed the key to his Worship the Mayor. .a Mr Sbddon- said it.gaye him great pleasure to receive the key of the school from the Chairman of • tlte Local Committee. The-act of handing it over to him proved of itself that the school had been erected

, for the benefit of the town and surrounds ing districts. It was only after the most arduous labor that the work, the achieve* , ment of which they met that night to ! celebrate, had been accomplished, and that Kumara could boast of a public school second to none in the county of Westland. Eighteen months ago no one could-hare dreamt that such a noble edifice, dedicated to educational purposes, would bo erected on the spot on which they now stood. When the rush to Kumara first broke out he called the attention of the then Provincial Council to the necessity of establishing a school, and under the Education Ordinance of 1874 a <sonv mencement was made by clearing the bush in the neighborhood of Mr Cornfoot's sawmill. But it was sqon discovered that the. ground was of such a swampy nature as to be likely tqi prove- injurious to the health of the children, and, by the aid of the. Press backed by public the Board was induced tp ; remov,e to the j present site. He thought, it jwoujd be ad» * mitted on all hands, that', the Boajd had'' not done ' things' by halves!'.'' From the ' reserve they had during the past year obtained a'revenue of'£4ooo,' of' which they had expended on the reserve!£lßoo, and i in erecting thie scKoolhouse<;£22Qo, and more had yet to, be done*; for instance, it would take at least £IOO to fence in the ground attached to the school." Althbiigh the building-was a large one and hadbost a considerable sumf bf money,! still/it would ultimately prove an economical rin- ' vestment; as ; it, .would. Ije unnecessary /to, erect another school for a ; long, tune tp come, and the present one would serve the requirements of both" Kumara and Dilhnah's *' r &rlim:'garters i' derogatory remarks had been' tmade" • the Central , Board of Education, as at; - presented constituted, but he,.thought it ' -would be. generally 'conceded that ; the members of ; it had- their duty faithfully (cheers) ; and now, that a new election was about to' take place be thoughtthairnb > member should, be. ousted merely because he was a Government official. In his (the ' speaker's) 'opinion-; .theyr.kad t &I\ssP§> di&r-. •charged Tduties fi||PfyTlffc I and exhibited energyy t&cjb,:, and trative ability; and it would bOjto tiffix!** tereste of the c'oniniunity to return men of r the experience. pfassettedttby-ithQ; present member x>f,the .tßoa^j^Qni,the general' question of education inuch, might, be sadd, . i but,. lie ; would merely' touch upon' it.' Switzerland. ;was the first 1 nation that-had fo' educate " f the masses ; Germany followed, and'noW'he might say that the -whole civilized wbrld wad following in ,their footsteps.'., Heucdukl ,see a vast {change.in educational,matters since, he was a boy. In those days'.amongst the masses as soon as a boy was old enough he hadto go to work, and even for primary education high fees were charged. He considered the system of free, secular,'and compulsory education a sound one, and he hoped the Government ;• would go further, and open the Universities to boys who through some system of competitive examination qualified themselves for admission. Mr Seddon concluded by giving some sound, practical advice to. the 1 " children and the parents. Mr Babff, M.H.R., .congiatuhted th© Board of Education and the Local Committee'.«p6n the work. they.had accomplished. Even in Wellington there was • no school-house to compare with that in which they were assembled. It was equal to anything he had seen in the colonies, and his pleasure was enhanced when he remembered that the work had been initiated and earned out under tffe old Westland Ordinance. It proved that in these matters Westland, Had been far ahead of the other provinces'; and that if all of them had done their duty equally well, there would have been no necessity to change the system of government. (Cheers.) , This terminated the proceedings at the school-house. Immediately'afterwards the children marched down to the Theatre Royal, where Mr Button M.H.R. kindly entertained them with- his: fine magic lantern pictures. MessreE. Patten (ohairjman), E. T. Robinson (secretary) and G. Mueller (member) of theJßoard of Education, who had not arrived m time to take part in the proceedings at' the ! school, were present; and Mr. Patten briefly addressed the t6'the effect th&t lie thought it'would be admitted that the Central Board had done its;duty, and that it now remained with ..the parents, the teachers, .and- the children tq do theirs. After giving three cheers for Mi: Button, the Children dispersed, t--' ; / <; ;