Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 1892. Taikorea School.

Manawatu Herald, 25 August 1892, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 1892. Taikorea School.

The more we look into the question of there being no school at Taikorea, the more we become convinced of the very great negleot that has been paid to the request of these settlers. The number of children of school age in that district fully warrants the establishment of a school as there are now 48 schools in the Wanganui Education Board district which have a lesser number than 35 children in average attendance. If a glance' at the Chairman's report to Parliament, is only taken it will be noted _ that out of the 91 schools established, 14 have an average attendance under 20, and are classed as aided schools, 14 schools had an average attendance of 20 to 24 ; 82 had from 25 to 49 ; 9 from 50 to 74 ; 2* from 75 to 99 ; 8 from 100 to 149 ; 11 from 150 to 299 ; and one other no number is given. By an inspection of the List of Schools published in the Education Report we find that there are 43 schools in this Education district with an average attendance of less than 35 scholar.., and deducting 9 schools from this total, as the other 5 schools are not particularised, we have the solid fact that the Board finds a school building and teaching staff wholly unaided by the parents, for 34 schools which have a lesser number of children than could be got together for a school at Taikorea. We find also that these 34 schools had a total of 933 children which equals 27 children per school, and that the cost for instruction per head amounted to £4 7s ld, whereas the average for the whole distriot was only some £8 2s 2d per head, and the average for the Foxton sohool shows fche small cost of £2 17s 8d per head. From these' figures, though small schools are expensive, ifc is clear the Board, when and where ifc pleases fchem, does not shrink from establishing such schools, and thei efore they cannot use this as an argument for refusing the proper request of the Taikorea settlers, ln addition to the establishment of these small schools the Board has during the pasfc year spent a sum of £628 8s in building3 which equals a sum of fourteen shilings and one penny per hyad on the 933 scholars. We also have noticed the peculiar varying of cost of instruction in some ef these small schools, as taking the Mount View school with 21 scholars the cost of instruction is placed at £62 18s or not quite £8 per head, but we find Fitzherbert Easfc school wifch 19 scholars costing £101 7s 6d or £5 6s per head ! the Paraekaretu school with 81 scholars costing £161 lis 8d equalling £5 8s per head ; fche Oroua Bridge school with 22 scholars costing £184 8s 3d or over £6 per head ! Yet in the face of this the amount voted to aided schools only equaled £8 12s 9d per head.

We again assert that the settlers should only have to repeat their request to obtain their wishes, as the very fact of the small number attending the aided schools proves the fact that the Board has recognised that' they are obliged to furnish the means of education to those who are unable to attend the established schools. At Mangawhero and at the Upper Wangaehu aided schools there are only five children in average attendance, and the others only range from 12 to 15.

The Board further admits that they ended their financial year with a credit balance on the General Aocount of £2997 lis 8d; but on the building lund they had a debit balance of £852 lis. During the year however they had been very busy aa they had built six new schools and four new residences, they had bought sites for two schools, and made extensive additions to twenty six erected schools, besides painting a number of other schools. The settlers of Taikorea have a good case which only needs pushing.