A DEFINITE STAND

Marlborough Express, Volume LXXVI, Issue 241, 13 October 1942, Page 4

A DEFINITE STAND

RE-P0SSESSI0N OF COLLEGE BOARD OF GOVERNORS' ACTION NOTIFICATION TO AUTHORITIES A definite stand in regard to the re-possession of Marlborough College was decided upon by the Board of Governors at its meeting yesterday afternoon. After a full discussion, during which further stress was laid on the serious educational handicap being suffered by pupils under the existing conditions of makeshift and scattered classrooms, the following motion, which was moved by Mr S. Hyndman and seconded by Mr H. Duckworth, was adopted: — "That the Marlborough Hospital Board and Health Department be notified that it is the intention of this board to enter into oocupation of the college at the beginning of the new school year in February, 1943." At its previous meeting the board decided to draw the attention of the Director of Education to an unanswered letter which had been forwarded to the Education Department asking for the provision of adequate temporary acoommodation for next year. Yesterday a reply was received to the effect that the matter was under consideration with the Health Department. and that the board would be further advised. In opening yesterday's discussion the secretary (Mr F. Mogridge) suggested that steps should be taken to find out if the new block at the Wairau Hospital would be finished by February next. BUILDING OWN HOSPITALS. Mr Duckworth: I don't think it depends on whether the hospital block is finished or not. The military authorities are building their own hospitals, in which they will take everything but surgical cases. Mr Mogridge: It is a question of size and how many patients they will take. The Principal (Mr J. Stewart, M.A.) said he had been told 30. Mr R. P. Furness: That is a drop in the ocean. The number of patients in the College Hospital was now under 20, added Mr Furness. Mr Stewart: The last report I had was from 18 to 20 for the past week. The chairman (Mr W. J. Girling) : I think that speaks splendidly for our climate here. Mr A. F. Bent pointed out that the original instructions received by the Hospital Board were to keep aocommodation ready for 200 beds. The new wing at Wairau would accommodate 85, and they would still have to be iprepared for a possible emergency. Those were the instructions, unless they were altered. Mr Mogridge: We don't want to keep the college empty because we might have to have 200 beds. Mr Girling: The Health Department has stated quite clearly that as soon as the new wing is completed our college will be vacated,. and we can resume work there. Mr Bent: The Hospital Board is awaiting instructions from the Health Department. NON-CO-OPERATION ALLEGED. Mr Duckworth : The Hospital Board does not appear to want to cooperate with this board in the furtherance of education in Marlborough. It is in contrpl of the hospital facilities for this district. In the Wairarapa the Wairarapa Hospital Board was very keen to cooperate with the education people, and after oceupying a school it got out as soon as possible in order to allow educational facilities to be carried on. It appears, from what is happening in other places, that the Marlborough Board is not prepared to do that. Evidently it desires to relieve accommodation at the ordinary hospital, and it does not appear to be considering the welfare of the pupils of the schools of the district. Mr Duckworth went on to review the attempts made by the Board of Governors to meet the Hospital Board and diseuss the position, and declared that if the board also was prepared to do so, he was willing "to walk in" and repossess the oollege. Mr Girling, at this stage, read a letter, dated April 27, from the Director of Education stating that the new wing at the Wairau Hospital would be ready about September, and that the Hospital Board would no lcnger require the college, except in the event of a major epidemic. "That is the position between the two departments," he added. "THE THEORY OF IT." Mr Furness: That is the theory of it. Mr Girling: Theory if you like — but it is the arrangement made between the two Departments. He expected, he said, that the new hospital wing woulcl be ready by the time of the eommencement of the new school year in February. Mr Bent said he would like to explain that the attitude of the Hospital Board was not exactly as stated. "They are not trying to go against this board," he said. Mr Duckworth: I didn't say that — I said not co-operating. That's a different thing altogether. Froceeding, Mr Bent said that the members of the Hospital Board were anxious to do v/hat they could. Their attitude was that they had been given instructions, and until they had received others they could not do anything. They were under the direction of the Health Department. WORK SUSPENDED. Mr S. Hyndman said he believed that in the meantime work on the new hospital block had been suspended. It was likely that the men would not be back for a month or six weeks. He suggested that the authorities should be notified that the board intended to enter into possession of the college building at the eommencement of the new year. "If this board adopted a definite stand in the matter perhaps we wsuld get somewhere," he added, in moving the motion outlined. Mr Furness: I think that is a good idea. "They have had a fair chance now of making other provisions and it seems to me that we are getting sidetracked all the time. Children don't seem to count at all," proceeded Mr Hyndman. It was not a fair thing to the Principal and his staff that these conditions should pertain indefinitely. "There has been too much shilly-shallying all along— one Department pushing it on to another— and it is about time that this board took a strong stand in the matter," he said. A SERIOUS POSITION. Mr Duckworth said he thought the position was very serious, At a pre-

vious meeting Mr Stewart had reported that the children were not receiving the education to which they were entitled and which the board desired they should get. Referring to the Board of Governors' decision to apply to the UniVfrsity Senate for the institution of an accrediting system to cover the matrieulation examination this year, Mr Duckworth said that while that might serve its purpose and get the children the necessary pass, it did not compensate them for the education that they had lost. Any children who would be going on to the University from this district would definitely be under a handicap. It was common knowledge that children who missed anything in any one year of, schooling found it almost impossible to keep up with other scholars. It was something that absolutely could not be replaeed. Therefore the board would have to take a firm stand and get the educational facilities back for the children. He considered that the College Board had been very reasonable and not dictatorial. It had allowed the hospital authorities 12 months to provide alternative accommodation, which could be proeured in that period even in wartime. "JUSTIFIABLY IMPATIENT." "I don't think we have been very patient — we have been very impatient, and justifiably so. However all we got was a lot of toru nails from scratching against granite — and rough granite at that," declared Mr Furness. "We are on a different plane here from any other part of New Zealand, as Mr Stewart has already pointed out, and if we are not going to put an absolute premiuni on illiteracy then it is up to us to be up and moving at the earliest possible moment," he proceeded. Although an accrediting system was quite justified, it was only a sop. The board had got to do something or it would find the school drifting back into the various halls and places about the town for another year. "I don't think it is a fair crack of the whip at alir even if we are again going to make ourselves unpopular with the powers that govern these things. Public opinion will demand. even if we don't, something . better for next year than the jim-crack make-shift accommodation that we have been putting up with," he added. He thought the motion was on the right lines, and he would support it. Mr Girling: I feel our children have suffered during the past 12 months very considerably as far as education is concerned. If we are not careful it will go on for perhaps another year. I think we, as a board, should see to it that our children have the facilities necessary to bring them up to a standard which will enable them to enter into examinations on a par with others in New Zealand. The only way to do that is to get back into our new building. BEING TAUGHT IN STREETS. Mr Duckworth: They are practically being taught in the streets. Mr Girling: At any rate in such buildings that it is impossible to carry on. i Mr W. E. Davies said he considered j that the motion indicated the truej opinion of the board regarding thei matter It vyas a ridiculous state ofi affairs that they should continue toi leave a big building like the collegel occupicd by only 20 patients wher* there were 500 or more children whcB wanted the accommodation. Ifl seemed only sensible that some othe J accommodation should be found fcfl the patients, and the children ifl allowed to go back where they we>B supposed to be. If an emei'geniB arose the Board of Governors w|H perfectly agreeable to the aUthoritijB taking over the college at a irJH rnent's notice, as had already 1dm pointed out. The building was® ready prepared as an emergency (pital, and he did not see any re® vvhy it should not now be vacat® The motion was then put and® ried unanimously. ®