Accommodation Short of Needs

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 36, 12 February 1937, Page 3

Accommodation Short of Needs

GROWTH OF FEILDING AGRICULTURAL HIGH SCHOOL It was pointed out at Wednesday evenings meeting of the Board of Managers of tho Feilding Agriculture High School that the boarding accommodation at the school was far short of immediate needs and while a new annex was about ready for occupation and a new refactory about to bo built, the school really urgently needed an additional building to house the increasing number of boarders. The subject came up in the report of the Principal Mr L. J. Wild who stated:— “Now boarders enrolled number 42, and there will bo about 40 returning, making a total of at least 80, so we aro faced with a difficult period pending the erection of the new refectory block. It is several years now since we have bad sufficient accommodation at the beginning of a year and we have done no more than meet immediate requirements. It is no doubt time that we began to consider, on a longer view, tho lines of development of the school, and what our future requirements are likely to be, and to plan our building programme in accordance therewith. This will necessitate consideration of the Government’s general scheme for the re-organizatiou of post primary education and the local application of the principles of such schemes.

“To meet tho immediate situation I have been proceeding with tho work necessary to make the annex ready for occupation on March 1, and this includes some structural work by arpenters, supplementing our own work, as well as the electric lighting of the building, and the ordering of all necessary furnishings. A more difficult problem to solve economically, in view of the impending change-over to the new refectory, is that of supplementing cooking equipment. ” Discussing the report Mr A. C. Buist emphasised the growing needs of the school. It was felt that when tk* school opened last year with 60 boarders that perhaps the limit had been reached but the figure had now grown to 80 with prospects of further enrolments after the school reopened. Tnia pointed to the urgent necessity for additional boarding accommodation. The school was doing all it could to meet the position and the speaker realised that the Chairman and Mr Wild had been active in representing the acute posi tion to the Minister and tho Education Department. The Minister had asked the school not to refuse any pupils and the demand for accommodation was such that it was very necessary for the Education Department to meet the situation by authorising a new building to house tho increasing number of boarders.

The school’s growth and progress, said the chairman (Mr J. Knight) was well ahead of accommodation requirements and he appreciated fully the urgency of the positon. Everything possible was being done to expedite action by the Department in tho way of additional buildings and he hoped that the matter would be advanced to-day when the Department’s architect visited the school in connection with the new refectory. Mr W. A. Salt paid a tribute to the work of Mr Wild and tho pupils in the matter of the building of the new annex for boarders and said that excellent work had been accomplished. In regard to the new refectory block the chairman said that an acre of land near the school had been recently acquired for this structure and its completion would relieve the present tax on tho accommodation in the main school house block. However it would not over come the want of boarding accommodation which could only be met by a new building designed for such purpose. The chairman also announced that advice had been received from the Education Department that a departmental architect would visit the school to-day to arrange for the erection of tho new refectory.