School Committee

New Zealand Listener, Volume 8, Issue 202, 7 May 1943, Page 8

School Committee

Written for "The Listener" by

M. R.

KENT

HADN'T been in the district six months before they asked me to serve on the school committee. Well, I said I didn’t know much about it, but I didn’t mind helping if I could. We had a meeting or two, and then I received a telephone call one day. "Look, Mrs. K." the lady said, "you know we talked about not giving prizes at the school picnic this year on account of the war? Well, some of the old identities think we ought not to deprive the children of their prizes. They say we are sending round a subscription list, and we are only going to give the children ice cream. So we are holding a meeting to-night to see what we can do about it. Mr. W. won’t be there till 8.15, so there’s no need to come early," etc. etc. * "All right," I said, "I’ll be there." The man of the house was going to Home Guard that night. The eight-year-oid was put to bed and the 12-year-old was promised extra pocket méney to wash the dishes. I raced over to the post office to collect the mail, then to the store to get the paper, then through the village and up the hill to the school. I

heard the Home Guarders_ shouting "Right Turn!" "Quick March!" as I passed the Town Hall. It must have been past eight o’clock, and I didn’t want to be late. It makes a bad impression. * * * ARRIVED at the school gates. A man walked leisurely towards me. "You'll have to climb over," he said. "They forgot to leave the key." I had my hands full of mail and papers, so I compromised by going away round to the back and climbing over the stile, The new chairman came to meet me with a torch. "Mind the tennis-net," he

said. I went and sat on the front steps of the school with him, puffing mightily from my exertions. No one else had turned up yet. I took my shoes off and shook the sawdust out of them. I had taken a short cut through the old saw mill yard. We started talking about stockings. "What’re the ladies going to do about stockings these days?" said the chairman, "Wear wool?" "Wear none at all,’ I said, briefly. "Very sensible, too, in the summer," he answered. Then we discussed the pre-war entry of Japanese silk stockings into New Zealand. We came to the conclusion that if there was one standard of wages all over the world it would be all right, but the way things were it wasn’t fair to let Japanese goods into the country, even in peace time. % a Ba MAN climbed over the locked gate and ambled up to the front steps. It was the secretary. "Come and sit down," invited the chairman. He came and sat down between us. "Couldn’t get here any earlier," he said. "Don’t like to start the milking too early these hot days. The heat knocks the cows back, and they’re liable to go dry on you." "How many cows have you, Mr. W?" I inquired politely. "Forty-four cows," he said. "And do you milk them by hand?" I asked, thereby displaying my ignorance. "Oh, no, we have a machine." Well, I found out that the machine milks three cows at a time, that it takes from three to four minutes to milk each three cows, that they bale six cows at once, and that his son, aged 13, helped him. I also found out that if you allow the machine to stay on too long after they are finished milking you are liable to weaken the cows and spoil your herd. Although, of course, some people don’t bother so much if they have a large herd, because they can easily replace the cows. A woman’s voice oo-hoo’d across the yard. "Well," said Mrs. C., "I kept looking across at the school, and I didn’t see any light, so I thought you couldn’t have got here yet, so I didn’t hurry. I could have been here long ago. I told you I had to go to a patriotic meeting first, didn’t I?" "Never mind," said the chairman, "We're all here now that’s going to be here. I’ll have to climb in the window and open the door for you. The teacher forgot to leave the key." * * * ; O he went round the back and climbed in the window, and we heard him stumbling over forms, and presently he (Continued on next page)

(Continued from previous page) came and opened the door for us. Then we had to hunt for the oil lamp and light it. We usually sat on the couch that was used for sick pupils, but the teacher had forgotten to bring it into the classroom, so we sat on school desks. The secretary took his books out of an attaché case and put them on the table by the lamp. "Well, there’s only two things to discuss to-night," said the chairman. "The prizes for the school picnic, and the question of the dental clinic." We talked for a long time. Sometimes we talked about the school prizes and sometimes we talked about the clinic. We decided to give prizes to the value of the subscriptions we received, and not to allow any child to win more than one prize. Othe: years, one or two children had swept the board. We also decided that we would call a public meeting and ask a man to come in from another district and explain about the dental clinic. The chairman said he thought the buildings and equipment required under the Department’s scheme were much too elaborate and expensive. I asked how much training the dental nurses have. They told me two years’ intensive training. The chairman said he thought there was altogether too much fuss made over the dentistry profession. "Sending them to college for years and years,’ he said. "Why, they could learn all there is to learn in a year. Then look at the fees they go and charge!" % Bd W ELL, then we got talking about diet and teeth. I said I thought New Zealand children didn’t drink enough milk. "The greatest dairying country in the world," I said, "and how many of the children drink milk? Tea all the time." "Water," said Mrs. C. "Water’s all right." "Yes," I said, "but there isn’t much nourishment in water. You want-~ the calcium in milk to build your teeth." Mrs. C. said her Mary had a glass of milk for every meal. I said so did mine. "Well," said the chairman, "let’s get on with the dental clinic." The secretary said he didn’t feel any too. confident about this public meeting. I wanted to know why. "Some of the old identities," he said. "They'll knock it as sure as eggs, They can never see why we want anything new. Perhaps we ought to decide everything first." "But we can’t get subscriptions for the clinic without the support of the public," the chairman said. "Mr. So-and-so’s all right. He’ll come and explain everything to them nicely. He’s slow and deliberate, but he knows how to put it. Ten years ago we ought to have had this clinic," he said, "I brought it up then, but there were some people who couldn't see what we wanted it for. Now we're getting behind everyone else. The only school in the district that hasn’t gone in on it." Well, we decided to have a public meeting. Then we got back on to the school picnic. We decided we’d buy two loaves of bread and cut it up the night before and make sandwiches in case any of the children forgot their lunch. Mrs. C. said several of them forgot it last year. And we wondered whether Mr. P.

would cut the grass and clean up the picnic ground for us this year, on account of the sheep. It wouldn’t be very nice for the children running races, Mrs. C. said. The chairman thought he would. _ nesaoryeamiae WE closed the meeting, and on the way out I told Mrs. C. to be sure aad let me know if there was anything : to be done for the school picnic, like making cool drinks and fixing the sandwiches and so on. Corned beef, she said, was good for sandwiches, but if we had it on a Friday there were some of the children couldn’t eat meat. I suggested tinned fish, only it was pretty dear. We left it at that, and I said "Good-night" and put my torch on and walked home. I nearly fell over the gate at home, because no gate has ever been known to shut properly in W.W., and when I went indoors, the man of the house. was home from Home Guard and had put the kettle on for a cup of tea.