BOROUGH SCHOOL COMMITTEE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 793, 15 November 1882, Page 2

BOROUGH SCHOOL COMMITTEE.

The ordinary month'y meeting of tin above was held last evening. Present— Mr G. H. St. Hill (Chairman), and Mcssr A. Orr, J. Orr, W. R. Boyle, W. Robert; and J. Ward (Secretary). Head M .stek’s Redout.—This repor was read as follows : —-The average atten dance for the four weeks was 372 C, witl: an average roll of 490 7. The school wa: examined on Monday and Tuesday, Gtl an i 7th huts, by Mr W. L. Edge, M. A. and the Rev. James Gumming, luspec tors, when 425 childr n were present ant examined. The result was quite as good and even better, than I expected. A 1 pupils on the books of the school, wit! i he exception of three disqualified, wort presented for examinat on, and expected to attend. 1 am very g ad to say that tea absented themselves who were able to bt present, so that the school is now thoroughly classified by the Inspectors 1 have brought 55 children from the Infant school to the take the place of the First .Standard, who wore all promoted t<; S amlard 11. The attendance of the children has been very ■■ atiafactory during the time that has elapsed since 1 toolc charge of the school, ami I would respectfully suggest that when the prizes are ap portioned sumo of the most regular attonders should receive your consideration, The following are the names and attendances of those in each Standard who have boon most regular ;—Standard Y. : Edith Empson, 320 ; do. IV, Ethel Alcorn, 334 ; do. ID, Maggie Shaw, 3 il ; do. It., Reginald Felton, 325 ; do. L, Isabella Brown, 333. Some, again, are very careless in their attendance. Out of 50 times that the school was open from Oct. Ist to Nov, JOth, Annie Philps, George 1 Etchings, Pauline Price, D.avid Price, James Robbins, and John Robbins have each made less than twenty attendances, without any satisfactory reason being given for their irregularity. As I am compelled to he in Christchurch during the latter part of this week and the beginning of next, I shall fuel much obliged if you will kindly grant mo leave of absence from school on Thursday and Friday next, and the following Tuesday, during which time 1 would recommend that Miss llarhand be asked lake charge of the school, I bog to draw your attention to the fact that the school registers have been tampered with sonic t ime between 5.30 o’clock yesterday afternoon, and 8. 15 this morning < 14th). I hey were marked at tho proper times yesterday, and Mr Chichester remained for some time after the dismissal of the school to make some alterations that were necessary after the examination. lie was the last to leave the school, a id at that time Hie registers were correct. When i arrived in school this morning at 8,15 o’clock, I found them marked for to-day, viz,, registers for -Standards IV. and \ r . This is a most serious matter, and I would ask you to bo kind enough to look at thee# falsifications in the registers, which ! have laid on the table for your inspection. H, Dempsey. Leave of absence was granted to Mr Dempsey, as desired. . Some discussion took place with regaVd to the falsification of the attendance registers, which were carefully inspected by the

Committee. The opinion was erircssed that the matter was a r ery serious one indeed, and that the ofence was one that would subject the per,on offending, if detected, to prompt disnissal. The registers showed that at a juarter past eight yesterday morning the ittendance of children for the whole day lad been marked, and as the children do lot assembleattheschooluntilO.SOo’clock, if course the attendances were marked lefore any of the pupils had arrived at ;he school. It was resolved, after dismssion, that the head-master should be written to and requested to find out, if oossible, who had been tampering with :ho registers, and to keep the latter under lock and key for the future. Petition for aSide School. —Mr W. R. Boyle, in conformance with a notice of motion tabled by him i : the last meeting of the Committo' 1 ; submitted the following petition : —To the Chairman Borough School Committee: Sir —We, the undersigned, beg respectfully to request that your Committee will take into its favorable consideration the desirability of at once establishing a branch school in the neighborhood of Hampstead. We would point out that the present school is situate at some considerable distance from the centre of the town, and that the children resident on the south east side, especial'y the younger ones, have a much longer walk to and from the school than is desirable or expedient. We would further point out that in consequence of the inconvenient distance the children are not able to attend school so regularly as we would wish, and that unless compelled by the Act parents would prefer keeping the children at home to sending them such a long way. The children arrive at the school tired and quite unfit for their duties, and a large portion of both the masters and children’s time is wasted in consequence, which would not be the case if a school was erected nearer their homes.—Sixty-nine signatures of pirents int rested, were appended.—Mr St. Hill was pleased to see th it Mr Boyle was so much interested in the question,—Mr Boyle said that they were aware that he had tabled a notice of motion having reference to this matter at the last meeting. What had beendonehad beenaltogether at his own instigation. Since they last met he had been talking to a good many people about the side school, and he felt quite sure that a school would be established in the Trovorton district either under the Committee or outside of it. Ho would prefer to see it established in connection wi ll the present school. The population of the district in question was a large one, and the distance a long one for the children to coma at present, besides which there was the railway line for them to cross, which was very undesirable. It might be said that the establishment of a side school at Trevorton would interfere wit i the efficiency of the present school at Ashburton, but looking at the experiences of other places, Christchurch and Xelsou for example, he did not think that that was likely. He would move —“That this Committee concurs with the Trevorton petitioners with regard to the desirability of establishing a side school in their neighborhood.” He hoped that the Committee would consider the matter favorably, and was ready to oSer good and valid reasons for urging that the request should be granted.—Mr Andrew Orr would second the motion pro forma. —Mr J. Orr would ask, was the distance from Trevorton to Ashburton too far 1 And was the school at the latter overcrowded ? He was rather inclined to oppose the motion, because he thought it Would be a mistake to divide the sehool, as that course must detract from tee efficiency of the main school. Two small schools could never possess the importance of one large one. If he thought that the side-school was really required he would willingly vote for it, but he thought the proposal was premature and would therefore oppose it —Mr A. Orr would not like to vote for anything likely to interfere with the efficiency of the school, and if there was room at the existing school, and he understood from the chairman there was abundance of room. Perhaps, as the new Committee would shortly be coming into office the matter might be left over for their consideration. —Mr St Hill said that they ought to look into the ma-ter themselves, and should not shirk it. —Mr A. Orr said he was not at all afraid of it, but had merely thrown out the suggestion. He was not afrdd to record his vote. —Mr J. Orr th mght the side-school was not at all necessary. If lie thought it was he would vote for it at once.—Mr St Hill was surprised to think that a person holding the position that the person who drew up the position held should have the impudence (oh, oh !)—yes, he would repeat it —the barefaced impudence, to write as he had. Ho (Mr St Hill) had the greatest respect for the mover of the petition. He was referring to the writer of it. Surely ho had allowed his usual zeal to outstrip his us ual judgment. He made the most unwarranted assertions. The passage of the petition ho particularly referred to was that commencing “ The children arrive at the school tired and quite unfit for their duties, and a large portion of both the m isters’ and children’s time is wasted in consequence.” How did the writer know that? He had no right to write such thH.cs. He (Mr St Hill) condemned the petition in toto. Here was a man who only came to the place the other day, and ho had no right to make such assertions. No doubt Mr Boyle had acted as he thought for the best, and ho gave him every credit for his conduct. He w:s surprised that the writer of the petition should have expressed himself in so poor a manner, and he was surprised also that Mr A. Orr should have seconded such a proposition.—-Mr Andrew Orr said he haci merely seconded the motion in order that the matter might ho discussed —Mr St Hill: You are, in fact, a kind of Hercules, who thinks it necessary to take up all the burdens of the district in which you reside. Now as fo the Ashburton school being overcrowded. There was ample accommodation at the school for the next four or five years, four years anyway. Now wer ■ they to have one school properly filled or two schools n-t filled i Thera was an abundance of room. -As to the distance, why let them look at Moth'cn, where the children had to walk three four and even six miles to get to school. Then let them look at the attendances at some of these outside schools. Let them re. me mher Elgin and Sealield, at which the attendance was very small, and say whether they thought it was right that money should bo expended in establishing an unnecessary school at Trevorton. But he had no fear, because ho felt that the Ldueation Board would never recognise the the matter. Was it likely that the Board would go to Ihe expense of building a I ranch school loss than a mile away from a main school / The fact of the matter was (he success of (he Ashburton school under Mr Dempsey’s rule had given groat umbrage in certain quarters, and he couldn’t help bringing it up The establishment of the side-school was ttemptod to impair the efficiency of the existing school. (No, no.) Air St. Mill still persisted in his assertion, and

Mr .Folia On- sai l that, he had agreed with him up to that point—th t, the school was unnecessary, but he could go no further. Mr St. Hill : I have a po’fect right to speak, and I will rp nk Since Mr Dempsey had been at tlie school it had drawn awy several scholars from the High School. Parents all round the district were coming to the conclusion that the Borough School was the best school to send their children to. T3y having a side school they would weaken the organisation of the present institution, and he for one sincerly hoped that the resolution brought forward that evening would not be carried. He had, lie would repeat, a great respect for the mover of the resolu*,

tioti, but some people would be only too happy if the side school was started—not for the sake of its educational advantages. —Mr Coyle said Mr John Orr had referred to* the proposal to form the school as very absurd. He would lit-o a little explanation.—Mr John Orr said i,.nit if he had used the words, he had meant them to apply to observations that had fallen from Mr St. Hill.—Mr St. Hill (jumping up) : Then I object to your calling observations of mine “ very absurd.”—Mr John Orr thought the Chairman should have avoided personalities.—Mr St. Hill denied t at ho had been personal.—Mr Boyle was very sorry that Mr St. Hill should have said the things he had said. Mr St. Hill could assure Mr Boyle that he had only refrained from not saying more out of respect to those present. —Mr J. Orr said lie thought it unfair of the Chairman to infer that the petition was the work 'f one gentleman. —Mr A. Orr was almost tempted to vote against Mr St. Hill after the vile manner in which he had spoken in the course of his speech. Mr St. Hill ; What word did you use, I did not quite catch it ?Mr A. Orr : Yile. Ido not ihink it rb.ht to attribute motives to people in the way you have attributed them to night.—Mr St. Hill ; What motives 1— Mr A. Orr ; I cannot say what your words were, but if I was a reporter I could tell you. —Mr St. Hill : Mr Orr is it not better to speak out your mind than act in the irresolute manner in which you have acted this evening 1 You did not know when the matter came up whether you would support or oppose the motion. You don’t know you own mind, and yet you have seconded the motion.— Mr A. Orr ; I seconded it pro forma, and for purposes of debate.—Mr St. Hill: But you won’t allow debate.—Mr A. Orr ; I think a Chairman should speak respectfully and moderately.—Mr St. Hill ; But you do not know the rules of debate.—Mr A. Orr : I know what a gentleman should be, and strive to act like one. —Mr St. Hill : Well, I have not intentionally given offence. I have but spoken as usual, and if I have spoken with energy, why, that is only my way. Ido not think I ever lose my temper. The best way to settle the matt r is to put the motion, and I have great pleasure in doing so.—The motion was then put, when only Messrs Boyle and Roberts voted for it, and it was therefore declared lost.—Mr John Orr characterised the whole debate as a storm in a teapot. Visiting Commit i-ee.— Messrs St. Hill and Williamson were appointed a Visiting Committee for the month.

Accounts. —The accounts having been passed, the commit ee adjourned.