ASHTON SCHOOL ENQUIRY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1434, 17 December 1886, Page 2

ASHTON SCHOOL ENQUIRY.

TO TBS EDITO*. Sib. —ln Saturday's is; ue of the Guardian there appeared *hat purported to »e an impartial report of a public enquiry held on November 15th. Now, Sir, our Master has attempted a fee- which, 1 fee sure, no qualified reporter on your staff would ever think of doing, namely, writing a verbatim report ef a pub c h qniry from memory almost a mouth a tar it has t*ken plsca Ymr correspondent states that it waa tekan from hia notes, but it is a cu'ious coincioeuca that such notes introduce in hi* report, I will i ot say wilful misrepresentations, bat assumeily gross misstatements which apparently have been furnished w th a view of misleading your readers and to satisfy a certain sm ant of vanity wh oh, perhaps, is pardonable in a youag mantes.

It ib very singular that, while he waa in possession of a copy of the charges preferred against him, he shoold studiously withhold reporting them as supplied to him, and given you an abbreviated version of hi* own, carefully omit'ing a gross misstatement which he was charged iu making to the mis re** in closing school, a d which he was confronted with on the day of inquiry and could not gainsay.

1 come now to a muter which shows how far your correspondent's notes can b- relied on, wh*n, in answer to one of the witnesses, Mr Saunders is made to say—“ If they were foolish enough to elect a Committee in whom they hai no confidence ih**y must put up with the. consequences. ” Now > Sir, as there other persons present taking notes on the matter, I have no hesitation In saying such a statement is a libel on the understanding of the gentlemen in question as well as a foolish attempt to satirise tbe Committ'-e.

If the Master to 'k such copious notes, how, 1 ask does he come to treat the charges laid against him in such a light way, and omit many or all of he leading points ? Take that of severe punishment. He does not tell your readers in the evidence given by the several witnesses that he kept a family of four closed up in tbe school for about six hours w thout allowing them the chance of obtaining any food ; that the mistress, through pure sympathy, allowed one of them out to eat her lunch, and when the Master had the hardihood to remark “ there were only three,” Mr Saunders said it was a very serious charge, and bad there been only one child the principle was tbe same. He refrains froip letting the public know that it was given in evidence that one boy was to badly bruised and beaten that his father stated ho had gone to see Mr Bramley, who, however, was from home, with a view of bringing the case hefoie the Magistrate. Hib notes are barren of the fact that another witness stated that her girl had her hand rendered so bad as to be unable to use it for a tort ight. But still, for purposes of his own, he makes this same witness state that her children we’e refused admittance to another school, which nn 'oubtedly is another of the joung Master’s misrepresentations. I come now to the latter part of the so-called impartial report, and feel bound to say that a more ga bled and contorted statement coaid hardly be made. Words are put into the month of Mr Saunders w ioh he never uttered, and it is a I peculiarity that a'l such ere introduced In such a selfish form as to leave no doubt what the Master’s object was in drawing up another report of the meeting. Let me give one of my notes, and compare. Speaking to the master, Mr Saunders a id : “ You have acted very foolishly in taking np a defiant attitude towar is the Committee.” Here he asked the master if he Lad read the latter part of the Education Act, to which he replied “ No.” Mr Saunders sa dhe would advise him to procure a copy, as he would find therein that tbe C •ramittee had the supreme power over the management • f the school Imihtgo on t > show tb»t with the exception of two or throe paragraphs the summing up of Mr Saunders is totally suppressed, and the Master’s own version given, so as to form a favourable report towards himself, a<>d in the eyes of your readers He says the reports on the school have been satisfactory. So far as the Committee is concerned, they were u> animously agreed that the last annual examination was very unsatisfactory. ! *ut of a roll number of 52, only 22 were presented, which, I think, spei ks for itself, seeing there is a mistress teaching the infants together with Ist and 2nd Standards

In closing these remarks, I feel sorry that Mr Bratnley should have allowed himself to open np a matter wbt h has been virtmlly settled a month back, but in justice to ms self and the Committee, I eon d not allow what is simply a satire or the mealing to go nnohaileneoi. We have been subjected to an amount of haughty contempt and self-will from the Master which is not often met with in y ung or old. We placed the whole ma ter in the hands of the Board of Hdncation ; we invited the fullest enquiry, which was made at a public meeting. The result of that erquiry was received by me from the Board, which went to show that the charges preferred against Mr Bromley had been fnllv substantiated ; also, that the Board was prepared to receive his resignation at once, failing which the Board would give him three months’ notice. I think, sir, this speaks for itself and the action of the Committee, and I will leave the public to judge how far the result of that inquiry agrees with the impartial report of the mee Ing supplied by the M-ste from his notes. Hoping you will excuse this rather lengthy common (cation. I remain yours, 6 Gjlmouk, Chairman Ashton School Committee;