A NEBULOUS GRANT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 156, 27 November 1914, Page 4

A NEBULOUS GRANT.

During the course of his speech at Fitzroy tlio other (•veiling, Mr Okey, M.V., announced that |,« had secure,! a grant of Wood from the Government towards the building of the proposed Oirls' High School. Tliere are circumstances iu connection with this -grant" which suggest that in making the Mr Okey was living a political ''kite." In the first place, the lli g l, School Hoard has had no official intimation that a grant has been made. It only knows what Ml- Okey told the Fitzroy people. A perusal of the .Supplementary Estimates does not enlighten one on the point. There is certainly an item of | .tMW) for a Girls' High (School, but "here or whose is not stated. This ;:raut, however, is probably meant for ! New Plymouth, but it is a conditional one—conditional on the money not being required before Slst March, j'JIS. This means the money has not been voted at nil; it will have to.be revoted next year if the High School is to get any assistance. . All votes, it has to bo borne in mind, automatically lapse if not spent by 31st March. For all practical purposes the "vote'' might as well never have appeared. Mr Okey, in unfolding this precious prize-packet, mentioned that there was no reason why the High School Board should not make a start at once with the school. What business man, we ask, would be prepared to com-

mcnco operations on such a nebulous promise? It is not a straight-out grant, indeed it is no grant at all, and to use it as Mr Okey is doing is simply a piece of electioneering that will when its meaning ia fully understood, do him moro harm than good. The New i Plymouth High Schools hare nothing to thank the present Administration for. Not long ago, when the accommodation of the Boys' School was becoming so taxed that the gymnasium had to be used for class-rooms, tha Board was given to understand by the Minister for Education himself when lie was on a visit here that the Government would "see the Board through" in building another gymnasium. The Board thought the Minister's word was sufficient, and went to work. The Education Department subsequently put in its oar and stipulated for a chango "in site and a modification of the plans, -which were not desired by the Board, but which had to be agreed to, and the building was erected. Now the Department refuses to repay the Board the money it spent on the building! Is this fair or honest? The school is going ahead at such a rapid rate that extra boarding room is an absolute necessity, but the Government will grant not a penny for the purpose, though it has money in plenty and to spare for colleges in other centres. The Board borrowed from the Public Trustee some £9OOO on the security of its endowments some time ago. Mr Okey claims credit for this, but nothing lias transpired to show that it was other than an ordinary business transaction between the Trustee, who has money to invest, and a Board that has the security to offer. Now, it would be something to Mr Okey's credit if he had been able to secure a straight-out grant of that sum from the Government towards the schools. The High Schools serve as colleges—and very good colleges, too — for the whole of the province, and as such arc entitled to a share of the substantial grants made to similar colleges in other parts of the Dominion. But the fact is that New Plymouth, by reason of its palpably weak representation, has been and is being side-tracked by the Government. And that it will continue to be whilst Mr Okey is member must be fairly obvious to anyone who will ponder what has happened to New Plymouth during the past eight /year in which that gentleman lias been its political guide and custodian.