PROPOSED SCHOOL AT LANSDOWNE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8459, 8 June 1907, Page 6

PROPOSED SCHOOL AT LANSDOWNE.

EDUCATION BOARD'S ACTION CRITICISED. At a special meting eltfefl MBS" terton School Committee; last availing, the Chairman (Mr R; Brown) drew the numbers' attention to a import of the last meeting of thS Wellington Education Boards in which reference was made to the proposed establishment of a school at Lansdowne. The report stated that the Chief Inspector of Schools had submitted a reply to the enquiries ot the Education Department as to the probable effect of a school at Lsussdowne on the Masterton Side School. The Inspector considered that there would be little or no interference with the Side School for some time, but when the road and bridge connection between Lansdowne and Masterton was improved, the new school at Lansdowne would become the main school for Masterton North, and the Side School would be.dispensed with. The Board had adopted the report. Mr Brown expressed indignation at the action of the Board in not consulting the Masterton .School Committee before making such a report public. He went jn to say that Lansdowne was not yet in the borough, and it was the Committtee's duty to protect the interests of parents residing in the borough. When some of the members of the Board were in Masterton, recently, they had informed him that the establishment of a school at Lansdowne would not interfere with either the Side School 'or the Te Ore . Ore School. He considered, however, that it was evident from the report that the Board meant to close both schools. If the Side School were closed, the. position would be that about 160 children, at present attending the school, would have to walk to Lansdowne to attend school. He considered that it was an extraordinary thing that the Inspector should recommend such a I proposal to the Board. He added that there were about ten or fifteen children from Lansdowne attending the Side School, and it was considered a hardship for them to have to do so. It was now proposed to close the Side School, and it did not appear to be considered a hardship to send 160 children, at present attending the Side School to Lansdowne. Not many of the children attending the Side School came from near Lansdowne. Most of t them came from the vicinity of the railway station, in which locality the population seemed to be increasing. Other members present spoke in a similar strain. Each speaker considered that the committee should certainly have been consulted in the matter, and admitted that the report mentioned above was a surprise. "We don't mind them having a school at Lansdowne," said one member, "but we object to the Side School being closed." Finally a committee, consisting of Messrs Brown, Fendall and Waldington, was appointed to draft a reply ,to the Board, expressing surprise at the action of the Board in ignoring the Committee in the matter, and protesting against the proposal to close the Side School.