SCHOOL FOR ARUNDEL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1926, 6 August 1889, Page 2

SCHOOL FOR ARUNDEL.

TO THE EDITOR. , ' Sii,—-In your issue of the 3rd, re school for Arundel, I quite concur with what Mr Charles says, but permit me to say that we have been agitating for years, seemingly to no purpose. The Board has put us off from time to time, but some time ago they asked us what we would be prepared to give towards the erection of a school. Our answer was that we were prepared to supplement an allowance of £l2, and cart all material to site free of charge to the Board, as we have already procured a site some years ago; their reply to our offer was that if we guaranteed £ls we should get a school. Their request was readily complied with. That, I think, must be more' than a year ago. We were then in a fair way of getting a school, until *here appeared a letter through the medium of your paper from Mr Pearpoint, asking the Board not to erect a school at Arundel as the resources would be drawn from other schools,; or words to that effect. Now I may, draw your attention to your own advice to call a meeting and appoint a deputation to wait on the Board. I may say that we hare already done so, but to all appearance it is of little I good—only a waste of time and money, for no purpose. It will ill become us to waste time and money going to Timaru, when I see that some of the members of the Education Board go so far as to think that it would be reasonable to suppose that their travelling expenses should not oome out of their pockets. Now you can

learn through this what is the cause of Mr Charles's grievance, and what he says is quite true about the school; but I do not mean to say that the raising of the Geraldine school to the Btatus of a high school stands in the way of ours, although I must concur with Mr Charles in saying that the country district schools ought to be attended to prior to the raising of the Geraldine school to the standard of a high school. I may further say that we have more children in, the district Jfchan what Mr Charles states in his ▼letter, viz., 69 children in all. We should be very glad of your assistance towards this matter, and trusting that you may find space for this in your valaable paper, I am, &c, A HOTJSEHOLDEB. Geraldine, sth August, 1889. [W« have no recollection of Mr Pearpoint ever having written to this paper. If there are 69 children in the district a school ought to be erected without any assistance, but it is all the result of retrenchment? Is this the way Sir Harry Atkinson has effected retrenchment ? We feel certain that if the Board bad the •money they would erect the Bchool. We shall do our best in any way pesßible. If the people hold a meeting we shall send a reporter, and give full publicity to what is said.—En.]