EDUCATION IN FRANKLIN.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 9, Issue 588, 30 November 1920, Page 3

EDUCATION IN FRANKLIN.

PLEA FOR SUPPORT.

OF TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL

("Times" Staff Representative)

An eloquent plea to parents to send their children to the new High School being erected at Pukekohe was made last evening at Waiuku. Speaking before a meeting of representatives of provincial local bodies, held under the auspices of the Waiuku Chamber of Commerce, Mr.< Frank Perkins (chairman of the Pukekohe School Committee, and member of the Pukekohe Chamber of Commerce) said that meetings of the kind tended to bring men together. He had lived in Waiuku 30 years ago, in business, and the knowledge he gained in Waiuku stood him in good stead elsewhere.

Mr. Perkins dwelt at length on the new Pukekohe District High School, and he thanked the Waiuku portion ol the county for the support they had given, through their council representative, to the High School. The erection of the school in Pukekohe was the first thing of its kind in New Zealand. Every ratepayer in the county had to contribute towards its upkeep, and it behoved the .people of every place in the county to support it. He believed that the people of the towns combined to drain the commercial and social life-blood out of the country. He considered there should be a hospital in Franklin. He also thought the canal would be a benefit to the whole district the rivers ran through.

Reverting to the High School, Mr. Perkins said that threequarters of the pupils at present at the High School were from beyond Pukekone Borough. It was by no means a merely Pukekohe concern. The building was a fine one, well equipped, and the school would be fully and competently staffed. He hoped the school would be looked upon as a Franklin institution. It would provide as good an education as any school in Auckland, which assurance had been given by the Education Board.