NEW PLYMOUTH’S SCHOOL NEEDS.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 August 1922, Page 4

NEW PLYMOUTH’S SCHOOL NEEDS.

The importance of the visit made by the Director of Education (Mr. J. Caughley) to New Plymouth, yesterday, is clearly demonstrated by the report of his interview with the Education Board, which appears elsewhere in this issue. That Mr. Caughley recognises the necessity for becoming personally acquainted with the needs of the primary schools, by visits of inspection, may be taken as a hopeful augury of justice being done in the future. He admitted that until he came to New Plymouth, and received information on the spot as to its enormous growth and th© inadequacy of the school accommodation, he was under the impression that only ill Auckland was the problem, of finding accommodation in the schools for the largelyincreased number of children most acute. Without doubt the members of the Taranaki Education Board opened Mr. Caughley’s eyes to the fact that the New Plymouth schools were almost, if not quite, as badly off in the matter of congestion as at Auckland. That he was convinced relief should be provided as soon as possible, is evident by his expressed intention of expediting, immediately on his return to Wellington, any decisions that are pending, besides promising to. see what could be done in regard to all the matters brought to his notice by the board. The acuteness of the position concerning increased accommodation at the Central, West End

and Fitzroy Schools certainly calls for prompt action, while the provision of schools at Moturoa and Westown is equally urgent. The wonder is that, although the abnormal growth in the number of schoolchildren in New Plymouth has long since been pressed on the notice of the department, no remedy has yet been provided, apparently because the chief executive officers did not realise, without a personal visit to the district, just how acute the position was. Such a state of affairs throws a light on how the department has been administered in the past. Happily, Mr. Caughley has taken practical steps to learn what is urgently needed, so that it seems as if a new era of administration has commenced that will be of immense service to the country. Certainly those who are responsible for the education of the children of New Plymouth have good cause to thank Mr. Caughley for his visit, and they may now confidently count upon his doing all he can to make up for past neglect and to obtain for this district those pressing needs the absence of which is now not only retarding education, but adversely affecting the health of the children.