BACK-BLOCKS SCHOOLS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2895, 8 September 1909, Page 13

BACK-BLOCKS SCHOOLS.

SETTLERS' GRIEVANCES. AUCKLAND, September 1. At a meeting of the Board of Education to-day a warm discussion took place on the grievances of back-blocks settlers with regard to .the expenditure of public money on school buildings. The question { was an application for the erection of a • school at Tokerimu Road, a remote back- ; block on the Wanganui River. Tlie secretary to the board stated that the spplication had been sent to the department, and a reply had been received that it appeared that the average attendance was only 10, and that £21(5" appeared to be a large expenditure for such an .attendance. The department therefore suggested that further inquiry be made, with a view to seeing if a cheaper school could not be pn vided. Upon this tiie Chief Inspector submitted a report suggesting that the settlers should be requested to erect their own school build- ! ing. Mr H. J. Greens Jade, M.P., took strong objection to the euggestion m.-ide by the Chief Inspector. It was grossly unfair to compel settlers to erect schools in back-blocks. They paid as much towards ' the cost of education as any city dwellers, i and should be entitled to precisely the same treatment. He could imagine "what I sort of language any city echool committee ' would make use of if such suggestions ' were made to it. i Mr Mackenzie (chairman) said the question was an important one, and an important principle was involved in such cases as the present, where the average attendance of children at back-blocks schools was small and uncertain. He thought the architect to the board should be asked to design a cheap building capable of meeting actual requirements. If a email and reasonable grant were asked for the department would no doubt grant it. After some . discussion the chairman's . proposal was adopted.

A rabbit and a stoat have been found together in the same trap in Dean Forest, Gloucestershire. Evidently when the- rabbit bolted into the trap it was so closely followed by its enemy that both fell vie- ' tirns. ,