TARANAKI EDUCATION BOARD.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 October 1915, Page 6

TARANAKI EDUCATION BOARD.

THE MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Toranaki Education Board was held yesterday. Present: Mr. H. Trimble (chairman) and Messrs E. Marfell, A. M. Bradbury, B. Masters, G. A. Adlam, F. Maokay, A. Morton, and the Rev. A. B. Chappell. Leave of absence was granted to Mr._A. H. Halcombe. MOVEMENTS OF TEACHER*. The following were granted leave of absence.:—-Miss M. Wilson, head teacher, Vogeltown; Miss Tooman, assistant, Stratford; Miss Gleeson, assistant, Central; Miss Cocker, assistant, Waitara; Miss Grant, cookery instructress; Miss Lenuon, pupil teacher, West End; Miss Harle, pupil teacher, West End; Mr. Cutler, head teacher, Kaimata; Mr. H. Thompson, assistant, Stratford. The following resignations were accepted:—Mr. Evison, head teacher, Bell Block; Miss Bell, dressmaking instructress; Miss E. Brickell, sole teacher, Mangaehu.

OVERSEER'S REPORT. The overseer reported that required repairs Jinil been carried out at the schools at Ratapiko, Tun, Tarurutangi, Norfolk and Inglewood. The report added:— Tahora.—Temporary school. We have extended this building from 28ft by 12ft to 23ft by 22ft, and also added a small verandah porch at the back. The classroom will now provide accommodation for 50 children. Marco.—We put up a new tank at this school and made alterations to the. lavatory basins. Two new out-ofTices have also been completed. The school requires painting outside and other repairs attending to. These matters will receive attention later on in the summer. Kahui.—We replaced the out-offices at this school (one on account of being accidentally burnt down whilst clearing up logs). Sundry small repairs were also attended to. Rahotu.—The out-offices will require re-building in the near future. General. —I have prepared plans for new schools at i'ulcengahu, Finnerty Road and Mt. Messenger. In regard to the Hillsborough residence, I would suggest that tenders be called for its purchase and removal. In accordance with the request from the Department for a report on the general condition of the schools in this district over 36 years old, I went into this matter with the secretary. In regard to this matter, although the Department put the life of a school built of wood at 30 years, it seems impossible under the circumstances to make a hard and fast rule. As long as a building is kept in thorough repair it may be sound at 36 years, yet very obsolete and bad in design. We have schools of this description that can be altered and made'up-to-date, by doing away with the old style of windows, porches, lavatory arrangements, and such like. As an instance of this I would mention Warea. Part of this school is 35 years old. On the other hand, we have schools that are done and should be replaced.

THE VOGELTOWN SCHOOL. The sub-committee appointed to enquire into the question of establishing a permanent school at Vogeltown reported that the number of children on the roll was 51, 38 not higher than Standard 2 and 40 not higher than Standard 3. The size of the building will not provide accommodation lor more than fifty children. The committee was of opinion that as a temporary measure, and until the Department can ,see its way to make a grant for the erection of a permanent building, it would be best to open the school as a side school to Central School, admitting children up to Standard 3. The attention of the Department should be drawn to the fact that this could not be considered as other than quite a temporary measure, and that if the erection of a building for a full standard school was delayed very long considerable additions will have to be made to the Frankley School. In any case, it would not be possible to delay for very long the erection of a school, as the space in the present building will be overtaxed even for a side school if the number of children increases. The chairman said that he would have liked to recommend that a separate school should be established with a standard limit, but he did not think the Board had power to do that. If any more children went to the school the building would be overtaxed, and the Department would then have to reconsider" the matter. The report was adopted.

LOWER MANGORRI SCHOOL. A petition was received from eighteen householders in the Lower Mangorei school district, stating that the existing Lower Mangorei school was inconvenient for the greater number of householders, and it was desirable that a new site for a larger school should be chosen lower down the Mangorei road. It was pointed out that the Board had previously contemplated making such a change, and the petitioners declared the time was now ripe for the change. The chairman said this matter had frequently been before the Board, but they had never seen their way to do as suggested. He thought the petition might be referred to a committee for consideration. . The chief inspector (Mr. W. A. Ballantyne) considered there were too many schools in that district, and the existing schools were too close together. A sub-committee, consisting of the chairman, Mr. A. Morton and the Rev. A. B. Chappell was appointed to consider the position of the schools in the district to see if any reduction could be made.

SITE OF A SCHOOL. A deputation, consisting of Messrs H. Rowe and F. J. Browning, waited on the Board to object to the proposed site of the new school to be provided at Pukengahu. They asked that a more central site should be selected, and the ground at the new site would be provided by the residents of the locality. To reach the proposed site of the school some of the children would have to travel over a mud road from l l / s t° two miles. A committee, consisting of the chief inspector and Mr. Masters, was appointed to go into the matter of site and report to the Board.

GENERAL. The Secretary for Education wrote stating the Minister regretted his inability to make a grant for a school at Radnor. It was decided to draw the Department's attention to the necessity of a new school at Radnor. On the recommendation of the director, Miss M. Mikkelson (of Auckland), was appointed instructress in