TARANAKI EDUCATION BOARD

Taranaki Daily News, 10 August 1917, Page 8

TARANAKI EDUCATION BOARD

.VISIT TO COASTAL SCHOOLS.

Tn pursuance of the Taranaki Educalion Board's policy to visit every school in the district, with the object of familiarising themselves -with tiio local conditions, etc., and of meeting committees and teachers, members of'the Hoard yesterday visited the schools from New Plymouth as far as Warea, thus completing the chain round the mountain. About (I a.m. the chairman, with Messrs H. Trimble, S. G. Smith, and P. J. 11. White, members of the north ward, and a representative of the Daily News, left Xew Plymouth. The first school visited was Omata, which has a staff" comprising .Air. Meyenberg, Misses Wells and Warren, and was the only school of its grade visited. The ground and surroundings were well kept. There were, no requests. The school agricultural plots show that agriculture is not neglected, a nice patch of lucerne being in evidence, whilst some hedge plants are being propagated. Ilnrford P.oad was next visited. The school is between two and three miles up the road, nicely situated on a hill, with a tine view. ' Very little of the land, which comprises one acre, is Hat. The committee have improvements in hand, and the chairman, who" met the Board, agreed to repair the fencing on condition that the Board supplied posts. The school is in charge of Miss Tobin, and the average attendance is 21.

Koru school, about three miles up the Koru Road, was then visited. Here the average number of pupils is 21, Mr. Jas Barber being in charge. There is about seven acres of laud, but a great deal of it is furze brake, only a small area round the school and teacher's residence being edoared. The members of the Board expressed regret that the land, which was cleared a few years back, was .unproductive, and authorised the committee to arrange to lease it, if possible. Oakura school came next. This is close to the main road and is in change of Mrs. Pearson. The school is a very largo building, and could easily accommodate three times its present attendance, which averages 23.1. The area of the ground is little over an acre of level land. There is also an asphalt tennis court. Mr. \Y. K. Morris (chairman of committee) was present and made one or two minor requests, which nvill receive attention. The visitors were entertained to morning tea by Mrs. Pearson. On reaching Tataraimaka the visitors were met by Mr. McAllum (chairman) and Mrs. Dougherty, members of the committee, who urged that additional ground should be purchased, the adjoining owner being prepared to sell threequarters of an acre for £4O. The Board agreed that extra ground was absolutely necessary, but they considered that the price asked was more than the Department would be prepared to pay, They also asked what assistance the settlers would give, stressing the value of selfhelp. The committee promised to place, •lie question of a contribution before the settlers. The chairman of the Board later interviewed Jjc settler referred to, who promised to reconsider the question of the purchase price. The school itself, which was recently enlarged, was visited. The attendance is rapidly increasing, the average now being 50. The teachers ure Mrs. Moss and Miss Gibson (assistant). Tho visitors had reluctantly to forego tho hospitality kindly proffered by Mr. and Mrs. Moss. After lunch at Okc.io, the school was visited. It is one of the old lowicilinged structures, recently rai-ed, enlarged and modernised by' the Hoard'* overseer, the <work being well executed. It may be mentioned that the Board had to defray the cost out of its maintenance fund. The roll number has now gone up to 97, with an average of SS. It an average of SI is maintained for a year an additional teacher mill bo atlached to the stall', and this will give needed relief to the teacher (Mr. Larson) and his assistant (Miss McGregor). Messrs F. Roebuck, senr. (chairman)", rtnd \V. Corhett waited on the Board in connection with the proposal to secure an additional acre of playing area, the school si.; being only an acre. Piiniho, formerly a native school, now In charge of Miss McKay, with a roll number of III! and an average of 2S, was next on the list. Mr. F. Gable, a member of tho committee, met the Board. Wai'oa iSchool, 'which was next visted. fias an area of four acres. Considerable improvements have been effected to the 'rounds, which include a tennis court, ✓Messrs K. Parker (chairman) and A. Jordan (secretary) met the Board. Further improvements, including the provision of a shelter boundary fence, for which the trees were donated by the Board, are being undertaken. The attendance here is decreasing, the average being about 40, just sufficient to retain Its assistant teacher, Miss Tobin. Mrs. Barak is head-mistress. The senior girls presented each member of the Board with a buttonhole.

A nm of .six miles up the Warea and Xcwall road,?, which in places are rather rough bivught the party to the Xcwall school. ThU school, almost under the moimtaiii>and the ranges, has ten acres, dud it shows that the settlers take a pride in their si'liool. They liave done considerable work in clearing a large portion of what was a very rough bush section. It is nicely planted, whilst provision is made for experimental lucerne and other plots. The new school is a roomy modern structure, where the 35 children arc comfortably house-d > under the charge of Miss Cuss'ie, who has had control of the school since its establishment ten years ago. The school is in a central situation on the junction of tiie Xewall and Cnrrington roads, and should bejome a large, school in the future. Residents pf the district are anxious that the old school building should be pre-crved, An oiler of afternoon tea had to be declined, Owing to the exigencies of the mail service In the district the committee did not receive notice in time to meet the Board.

The party then turned for home via the Carrington and Puniho roads. After a brief stay at Okato, where the party was entertained by Mr. J. S. Fox, and at Tatas'iliwka, Now Plymouth 'was reached about 0 p.m.. and by the time he readied Stratford the cha'irman would have motored about 130 miles durinn- the day.