THE HIGH SCHOOL.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 April 1919, Page 4

THE HIGH SCHOOL.

The official opening of the New Plymouth Boys' High School on Thursday was an important event in the history of the school and of no small consequence to the town and province it serves. The school has made wonderful progress during the past seven years, due almost entirely to the ability and personality of the Principal, the support of a loyal and capable staff, and the backing given by the Board until it is not too much to claim that the school ranks to-day with the most successful of the secondary schools of the Dominion. This enviable position has not been won without a long and hard struggle on the part of the governing Board, which from the very start has been handicapped by lack of finance and the opposition of an unsympathetic Minister for Education, but, as Sir James Allen pointed out at the opening ceremony, the difficulties have not altogether beea a disadvantage to tl. school, for they have spurred the Board, the master and teachers to further efforts, and fostered a healthy puiblic spirit towards the school. The new building is worthy of the school, but it ia clear that the accommodation 13 insufficient, pupils already being turned away. This is an undesirable state of things, and calls for prompt consideration by the Government, which has | gives, somewhat begrudgingly, only £6OOO towards the cost of the new building, whereas it makes no bones about providing £IO,OOO for the Girls' High School at Palmerston North, a school which cannot be compared in importance with the local one. It is evident Taranaki is being penalised by the Department for the very success of its secondary school. Under any intelligent system of government the interests of the schools, primary and secondary, would be the first concern, and everything done to facilitate their progress, for the war has shown the value of training and learning, especially that given in the secondary institutions. Our problem—and there are eome acute ones immediately ahead—can only be solved by knowledge and understanding, and the country can make no better investment than by encouraging and helping its educational institutions to the fullest extent. As the Acting Prime Minister stated, no good can be served by raking up and dwelling upon the mistakes of the past—from which, we must confess, the Board itself has not been quite free —but we do hope the Department will take a broader view of its duty towards a school that has proved in every way that it is deserving of encouragement and assistance, a school which, it must always be remembered, serves as ft secondary school for the whole of this progressive province. We desire to associate ourselves with the congratulations offered to the Board, master and staff, as well as the architect and builders, upon the completion of the splendid building the school is now housed in, and only trust that in a short time those sections that have not been undertaken because of the short-sighted parsimonious policy of the Department will soon be reinstated and so provide a Imilding in every way fitting the school.. its teachers and scholars.