SCHOOL HELD AS HOSPITAL

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21363, 6 March 1941, Page 6

SCHOOL HELD AS HOSPITAL

Indignation has been caused among parents with children attending the Hamilton West School because the Government has taken no steps to hand back to the education authorities the new school which was pressed into service as a soldiers’ hospital during the measles epidemic some months ago. The position is highly unsatisfactory and a reasonable solution of the difficulty is long overdue. Repeated protests have elicited very little information regarding the intentions of the Government, which long ago indicated that the school would be available for the pupils on the resumption of classes alter the summer holidays.

So little use has recently been made of the building for hospital purposes that the attitude of the department is difficult to justify. Presumably the building is being held in readiness lest there should be another outbreak of sickness among the troops, and unless the issue is forced this state of affairs will perhaps continue for the duration of the war. In the meantime several hundred children are being taught in an ancient, dilapidated and insanitary building which has been condemned. Fewer soldiers are now in the district, and it should not be difficult to provide accommodation for all hospital cases that might reasonably be expected. There are no doubt other buildings in the town which could be adapted for the purpose; if not, the seriousness of the conditions at the old school, which has been partly demolished, warrants the construction of temporary accommodation.

The Hamilton West School authorities do not desire that the evacuation of the new school should react to the detriment of the soldiers, but they are bound to consider the interests of the children also. They would not be performing their duty if they did not press the Government for a prompt solution of the problem. They have even been driven to the length of considering holding a public indignation meeting—a procedure that should certainly not be necessary if the department had met the committee’s requests fully and frankly.