SCHOOL BUILDING POLICY

Taranaki Daily News, 1 February 1921, Page 4

SCHOOL BUILDING POLICY

The discussion which took place at the recent conference convened by the Minister of Education for the purpose of considering the problems connected with buildgg schools, was productive of much valuable information which should go far towards evolving a satisfactory system that will materially reduce the cost of the work and enable the available money to go much further than is possible under present conditions. The Minister (Mr. Parr) went very fully into the matter, quoting examples of the large discrepancies between 'the estimated. coSt of buildings for which grants were made by the Government and the amount of the tenders for the work, the result being that the Boards almost invariably came back for increased grants. Practically the discussion centred on the question of the advisability of the Boards erecting schools with their own staffs, under the supervision of their own architects, as was done by four Boards out of nine—Taranaki, Wanganui, Canterbury and Southland—and the experience of these Boards was that this arrangement was preferable to the tender system on the score of cheapness and efficiency. This view was endorsed by the Department’s architect (Mr. J. Mair), who suggested that the Boards were in a good position to make their own arrangements for the building of schools without the intervention of private builders. Their saving on joinery alone would be twenty per cent., they would get better work and scamping would be eliminated. The delegates fully considered the matter in camera, with the result that they gave a general approval of the proposal that all the Boards should establish workshops in order to carry out work of their own. The only question was whether the Department would give direct assistance in establishing these workshops, and on this point the Minister should have no hesitation in making an affirmative response. In view of the ever-increas-ing demands for new schools • and the large amount of money involved it is absolutely necessary to make the,available money go as far as possible. It would, therefore, appear desirable that the Government should evolve a practical scheme y hereby all materials required for public works, including school buildings, should bp acquired at the cheapest rates and supplied to the users at as near cost price as possible. This should be the firct step in the economy campaign, and so far as schools are concerned, the general adoption of the system of the Boards doing the work with their own staffs will then be far more economical than heretofore. The conference should be productive of much good, and the Minister deserves praise for his efforts in the cause of a muchneeded reform