NEW PLYMOUTH HIGH SCHOOL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 255, 18 March 1913, Page 3

NEW PLYMOUTH HIGH SCHOOL.

To the Editor. Sir, —As one who has for many years taken a keen interest in the local High School, will you allow me to voice the opinion of many residents that the girls of Taranaki are not getting a square deal from the Board of Governors? These gentlemen seem to be overwhelmed by the vigor of the new headmaster and have completely lost control of the situation. We find that everything possible is done for the boys, and the girls are relegated to an inconvenient private residence in a noisy street. While the boys have broad, acres of playground, cricket, tennis, and a well-appointed gymnasium, the girls have a full quarter of an acre, the bulk of which is covered by a rambling building, built for every purpose but that of a school. Does it not strike yon that the boasted chivalry of our youth is being demoralised when their sisters and their chums' sisters are belittled in the way the head of the school has seen fit to do since he took charge? The of Governors should remember that these girls are probably the future wives of those boys and the mothers of thMr children, and as such should have every consideration from them. It was unseemly that the boys should have all the good things and th(i girls -.turned out to fend for themselves. The order should have been reversed. The excuse that there was no room for the girls is one that will not [hold water, as the head has taken on 'the teaching of over 70 primary pupils I —pupils that would have been very much better taught at the primary schools. [ The new system is only pandering to I the snobbery of some parents. SnobI bcrv is already so rife in Taranaki, that | there is no wisdom in encouraging it. | Tn any case, proper provision should have I been made for the girls before any alter.- | ation was made. At present there are over 80 girls and teachers cramped into a building that no country school committee would tolerate. That this was the only building available is absurd, j As an. old resident I could pic*, on more than one that would suit admirably and that are and have been available. The proposal to ibuild 011 land fronting the j Hospital road is a foolish one. The | site being isolated and overlooking, as I it does, the cemetery, is anything but j a desirable one. but as the proposal is to build when funds are available there | is little need for anxiety on that score.— i I am, etc., | A FATHER OP GIRLS.