TARANAKI EDUCATION BOARD.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 December 1916, Page 7

TARANAKI EDUCATION BOARD.

ORDINARY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Taranaki Education Board was held yesterday, a week earlier than usual owing to the Chrißtmas holidays. There were present:—Messrs. K, Masters (chairmanl, C. A. Wilkinson, H. Trimble, S. 0 Smith. E. Dixon and Rev. A. B. Chappell. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT. The chairman reported that he had made the following temporary appointment:—Sole teachers, Korito, Miss A. M. Porter; Kent, Mr. F. B. Beart: assistant, Ctangiwai, Miss A. necessary to close the Piiniwliakaii school on the 7th inst., on account of an outbreak of whooping cough, etc. The Okato school had been closed on December 12 in order that the repairs and alterations might be proceeded with.— The report was adopted. RE-ORGANISATION OF STAI'V. The chairman, Mr. E. Dixon and l!ev. A. 13. Chappell, a committee appoinvJl to consider the re-organisation of tin. sialf, reported that after goinf; very fully into the work carried out by ".he present staff and the great increase that was found to uccur because of the extended area of the district and tlu Board's progressive policy in manual and technical and general education and the renovation of school buildings, recommended' (1) that as the secretary (Mr. Whiccombe) would retire on superannuation in the near future it was necessary to have some one who would not only render the required assistance but also be conversant with the working of the office to take his place, an assistant secretary be appointed at a salary of £3OO. That Mr. Whitcombe's salary 'ocraised to £375 (an increase of £ls) per annum, and that of Miss Mouatt to £IOO, and that the organisation of the staff be left to the chairman. On consideration, wtili regard to apportioning the salaries of the office staif between the general and the manual and technical funds, they recommended that £l5O be charged to the technical and £ll2 to the manual fund fcr 1017, at the end of which year it will be reconsidered'.' 'For 1010 they veefiihmended that £54 53 4d be paid out of technical and £2.1 I.Bs 2d out of manual.

The report was adopted. Mr. 11. Trimble brought down a report recommending tliat the salary of Mr. K. W. Sandford, wood work instructor, be increased to £2OO from January 1917 and that he be paid £lO for extra work last year.—Adopted.

■LEASES OF SCHOOL SITES. Mr. Trimblo .'eported upon the lease of school site section 10, block 7, Hniroa (ten acres of land situate on the Motukawa road, abous four miles from Tarata school. He recommended that a new lease foi a term of ten years from January 1 ; 1910, be granted to 'Mr. Ilogan, the occupier of the adjoining land, at an annual rental of Ss per acre per annum. Jr. this connection Mr. Trimble considered the board's form of lease required remodelling, It was also time thai the Board considered the appointment of a ranger to see that the numerous reserve;, etc., were kept in order. The chairman suggested that the matter might come within the scope of the agricultural instructor. The report was adopted, and a committee, consisting of the chairman and Mr H. Trimble, was appointed to bring forward remodelled forms of lease and also to discuss the matter oi supervision with the agricultural director. j TECHNICAL EDUCATION ! Mr. A. Gray, technical organiser, reported:—The classes in the various centres have, now closed down for the year. At Stratford I desire to thank Dr. Paget and the matron of the hospital who at considerable inconvenience to themselves gave very valuable assistance to the teachers' Saturday classes.

Also in connection with New Plymouth clause?., our latitude is due to the Wcstinghouse Brake Co., of Australasia, ior a large wall diagram of their brake, .'.ml a number of books of instruction; to Mr. W. P. Short, for several lengths of flexible shafting; and to Messrs. Anderson, Ltd., of Christchureh, for valuable information re oi! engines. Also I wish to thank Mr. Lister for use of , horse and mower. | With regard to the "round the mountain scheme," I visited Okato and was I

very sympathetically'.received. The committee unanimously approved of the idea, aiul guaranteed the amount of donation'which would be necessary from that district. To-morrow I shall lie, visiting Wailii in connection with the matter of technical instruction for natives.

Mr. Sergei reports as follows on the work of the agriculture class: —We spent a week at the Bell Block cheese factory, where Mr. Koller and the ciiee?einaU*er were exceedingly kind and spent, considerable pains in giving practical instruction in daily operations appertaining to ,tho making of the cheese, At Corbett road \vc are at present completing the sewing of luce,me and turnips. Willi the help of the Department of Agriculture we hope to have experiments conducted of practical value. For instance we are having a test of 3 of an acre each of swede turnip, one plot riged, and the other flat. FITZROY SCHOOL.

The' Secretary of the Fitirny School Committee brought- before the Board various matters: (1) Provision of a new school-room. At present there were ISO ibildren on the roll, and .icr.oimnNation for 100. He pointed out that the opening of industries m the (list:ict would cause an influx of sc'Vars next year, and this, together with "lie incieasing roll number, justified his Committee in asking for addition?. (2) The provision of shelters for open-air classes. The headmaster nnl the Board's overseer had already .-ons'-deivd tliis, and for a comparatively small sum it would re possible to erect these on cither side i.f the gymnasium :S| The disposal of the present school resaltnw, and the delusion of the grou:. is in the school playgrounds. The school playground was at present far too snvi'.l This had been pointed out to the Miiiiste." of Education, who had promise 1 to give it favorable consideration, (vhoi referred to iiim by the Board. (4) 'the purchase of a section at the -idt or th.> school, to he iiH'lu<led in the giris : playground; The owner of the ;,e:livi was willing to sel! (}) The boarding of ;he gymnasium lloor. At present the door was covered with barK from the tan-pill, ami as Unbuilding had been us:il as a temporary class-room for some time, it had become very dusty, and in its present condition was a menace to the health of the children. Should "the Board be willing to supply the material, the Committee would find the labor. It was decided that the matter of the disposal of the residence be-left to the Chairman to bring before the Department; the proposed purchase of section to stand over, pending decision as lu the "residence; the flooring of ilie shelter shed to be deferred; the Chief Inspector to report on the question of increased accommodation.

TECHNICAL EDUCATION FOR Wil . \RA. The lVaitara School Committee strongly protested against the penalty imposed on the Waitaia school children in -having to attend the Technical .School (New Plymouth), as the travelling meant that they lost practically a whole day's ordinary lessons to secure ar. hour and a half's technical training. It was pointed out that during the com ing year about sixty "pupils would he eligible to attend the Technical School, and the Committee considered it grossly unfair to scholars and teachers that they should have to iose one-lifth of the ordinary lessons to gain about oneeighteenth of a year's technical instruction. They asked the Board to exempt the school from attendance at the Technical School for the ensuing year. Mr. Trimble remarked that what v.ns wanted at Waitara was a separate building.

Rev. * Cliappell stated the grievance was a real one. He moved —''That the Committee be informed that the Board was taking the matter into consideration, in consultation with Mr. Gray."— The motion was carried.

TAWIIITI ,SCIIOOI.. The Chairman of the Hawera District Higli School Committee wrote re the Commitee's efforts to obtain a site for the Tawhiti school He also enclosed a letter from the agents for the p.cperty withdrawing their offer. They were, however, agreeable to wait until after the Board's meeting, when the letter would take immediate effect. Til:: Committee had had no intimation from the Board that it was quite impossible to meet the case. The Committee emphasised the necessity for at least obtaining an option over one of the site-., leaving, if necessary, the ways and means for further o'-.r.siderat 011. The vendors were willing to meet the Board as to terms, only requiring definite indication as to which site, if any, would be taken. There was no doubt that the locality was an ideal one for the purpose, and unless action was taken at once the chance of obtaining a property which would meet the educational requirements of Ifawera for a considerable period would be lo«t-.

Mr. Dixon said a site must be purchased somewhere with the money received from the Department. He sin; gested the Tawhiti section might hi bought""nsjli money receivable from the sale of la«(l at, Fltliam. Mr. Wilkinson was quite agreeable to that course being takeg Mr. Dixon stated that an assurance had been given to the Government t'.i:.; if the land required was purchased, the Government would not be asked to erect a school till after the war. After some discussion, it wa; decided to inform the Committee that the Board was making a further urgent application to the Department for a grant, which, it was hoped, would be succe-s----ful. It was further decided that an urgent application lie made to the Department for a grant towards the pirchase of the site at Tawhiti.

THE OK AT-.. SCHOCL. Mi. W. A. Corbett (Chairman of the Okato School Committee) waited on the Board, stressing the necessity of providing a larger playground for the —The Secretary of the Board stated that the present section was 5 acres , perches but a great portion was very swampy. Ml'. J. Wooldridge ollered the Board one acre adjoining for £7O. In reply to the Chairman, Mr. CorbetL stated he was unable to say whet.ier the settlers would assist towards draininn the swamp. 'He suggested the pur rt,ase of an acre adjoining the school Personally, he would be willing to assist in tile draining, but could give no nuarantee on behalf of the Committee. ° was decided to defer action until the ground had been inspected by tlu< Chairman and members of Hie Hoard. BACKBi-OCkO SCHOOLS. The Waitaanga Committee is to be informed that the Board has already fixed the school holidays, which must be a.' hered to. Permission was given to the Matieiv Committee to sell the hay off the sehoo paddocks.' , Mr. E. B. Cole (Waemeka), on be-a-s. q[ th<) settlers in the Paraketa valley.

wrote ■re a shelter-shed" school.- He pointed, out that .Mr. Partes- Jiad donated a site, which had been legally taken over by the Auckland Hoard. Tile cottage now being used would shortly he unavoidable. There was an attendance of ten children, with two more to stiirt' after the holidays.—Uelerreil to tlie Chairman, when lie.visit; till! Oh lira district.

Mrs. ('. ('. Shield asked that a hrfir-c hold tcliool .should be established at h.-c lesidcnce, over lour miles from the nearest school (Otunui). There would be an attendance of four.—lt was derided to apply to the Department for i ccognil ion ol a household school at Mrs. Shield s residence, provided the inspector approves of the propose,! teacher.

In connection with an application frim the Ankopae settles f or the establishment. of a school, it was resolved to ask the settlers if a building was aviilablo in which the school could be opened, until such time as tfie attendance warranted application being made to the Department for a grant for a new school. GENERAL. In pursuance of the Inspector's 'recommendations. it. was decided to iemove the present Tnroto lload School to Mr Goldfinch's cottage. In connection with a fcomplaini from the« parent of two pupils at Awatnna School, it was decided to accept the explanation of the teacher. The secretary of the West End Scion! advised that his Committee would be in favor of starting school earlier during llio summer months.—Deferred forthe present. The explanation of the headmaster at Ngacre as to corporal punishment was accepted.

Leave of absence was granted to the following teachers:—Miss R.. Tait (Hawera), Mr. (!-. Mcintosh (Akiti-Tonga-porutu). • The following resignations were ae ceptrd: Mrs, jf. .Rattenbury (sewing teacher at Tongaporutii/, Miss Bates (Hawera), Mrs. Brereton (Tututawa). It was decided to apply to the Department for grants for rebuilding Normanhv School, and for additions to Otakeho and Hawera. Mr. F. J. May (Stratford) notified that his price for the proposed extension of the Pukenga'u Sclioo would be about £l3o,—it, was d'ccidcd that the overseer bo instructed to hold the matter over until after the Chairman's visit to Wellington,

Tlit? request of the Opunake Commitfee for grates in the school was complied with. Tlic followinpf matters were referred to tiie overseer: —Waihi: Supply of n new tank. Pukengalm: Supply of hyloplato for infants' room. Norfolk: At■tend to shelter shed; windows in school. Toko: Partitions in infants' room; extra door, and also attention to paintinn. llatapiko: Painting inside of the school. Waitaanga-. Arranging for erection of ont-ofTiees

The Tuna Committee's request for a grant of £5 towards the cost of draining was granted. v An application from the West End Committee for additional ground was referred to a committee to report upon. The West End Committee wfote relative to the menace to health caused by the stagnant state of the stream at the back of the school. —It was decided to again call the attention of the Borougli/ Council to the matter.

An application by Mr. R. T. Field for a lease of section 14, Block 2, Olmra, was referred to the. Chairman to inquire into.

Permission was granted to Mrs. M, Graham to surrender her lease, provided the rent is paid and the terms of lease complied with The Recruiting Board notified arrangements for appeals on behalf of teachers called up'for service by ballot. —The matter was left for the, individual action of teachers called up.

The Wellington Board wrote, inquiring if the Taranaki Board desired to take advantage of the courses at- the Training College for uncertificated teachers, free railway parses being given up to (10 miles.—lt was 'decided that, in view of the Board's arrangements fo- a course of instruction in the New Year, that the Wellington Board's offer be not accepted In reply to a communication from the Lands Department, it was decidul to accept the cash value of section 3C, Block 14, Xgaere, 011 a special valuation to be made "by the Valuer-General. A letter from settlers on the Whangamomona 15oad, applying for a. school, was referred to the Inspector for- his report. A committee, consisting of the Chairman, Messrs. Trimble and Chappell,. wa'set up to consider'appointments of pupil teachers and probationers, and tlie transfer of teachers. . The Board then proceeded to consider the- regulations and standing orders.