MARTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXII, Issue 9017, 3 December 1907, Page 3

MARTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE.

The monthly meeting of Marton Technical School Committee was hold last Evening.- Present: Mr J. J. McDonald (chairman), Rev. D. Gordon, Messrs Richardson, G. M. Davenport, F. Purnell, Little, Mossman, Way, Dolby, and tlio director, Mr Wilkes. Leave of absenco was granted to Messrs Newman, S. J.Davenport and Morgan. * It was decided to ask the Education Board to send a request to Government for £3O to fence the Technical School site. £SS Tho commiteo decided to endorso the offer by Mr Purnell on behalf of the committee of tlio use of the Technical School as a temporary dairy school in case the Marton site is decided om The director's report Was as follow- :—Most of tlio technical classes have now finished their course for the year, with the exception of paint iug, shorthand and telegraphy, which classes will continue till Xmas. During the year, 3 !!0 different persons have been on tlio rollgfor instruction in various subjects. Some of these students have taken more than one subject. Tho total of the class rolls amount to 181. (These figures do not include school classes In woodwork and cooking). During the year fees have been received amounting to£l'2. Capitation claims liave boei sent in for £4O, and some additional capitation will bs due at tho end of tho year. During the mouth of November I received instructions from tlio secretary of the Board to close the bank account, and to forward all fees, donations, etc., to the office. This change has been mado for tlio convenience of the Government auditor. Altlreugh this is the first year of tho school's existence and the classes have been held under disadvantageous circumstances in the matter of outfit and accommodation. I should say that the year's session lias been highly successful. Owing to the fact that capitation claims are paid direct to the Board, I cannot make out an exact balance-sheet showing the finan, cial state of the school, but after jiaymont of all expenses and instructors' salaries, a substantial balance should remain. In conclusion I would suggest two respects in which the opportunities afforded by the school might be taken more advantage of :—l. In woodwork. At present this room is used by the children only. 2. Commercial Instruction, the absence of a trained instructor in book-keeping has prevented the formation of a good class in this subject. • A vote of thanks was passed to the director for his capable management to which much ,of the success of the school was due.

Subsequently the School Committee meeting was held. It was decided to hold the school sports aud prizegiving ou 'Wednesday, December 11th. Messrs Way aud Little were appointed to take [charge of the sports. headmaster reported that there was not sufficient accommodation for Standards I and II in winch there were 03 children in a room 20 feet by 23 feet. It was decided to ask the Board to direct the architect to report on possible structural alterations in order to provide more space. In the primary school the roll was 256, averago attendance 228 or 85'per cent, while in the secondary classes with a roll of 28 the average attendance was 22 or 82 per cent.