The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 1877.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 66, 6 March 1877, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 1877.

Parents in aiding the teacher to educate their children have nearly, if not quite, as important a duty to perform as they had in carrying out " Home Training," and in discharging this duty, a very large share of the work, of necessity, will fall upon the mother. In dealing with the phase of the education question, which forms the subject of this article, we wish to to be distinctly understood that we refer to no particular person or persons, and any cases we may allude to, are, so far as we are concerned, merely suppositions, and are used simply to illustrate our argument. First, amongst the duties of parents in aiding the teacher, is that of attending to the personal cleanliness of their children. It is the teacher's duty to see that the children come to school clean and neat, and it is equally a mother's duty to see that her child leaves home clean and tidy, that his appearance at school may not reflect disgrace upon herself. It is pleasant to meet a group of clean and tidy children trotting along merrily to school, but it is pitiable to see those dirty hands and faces, unkempt hair, and ragged clothing, too often betokening the neglect they have suffered, and the dirt and squalor in which they live. Poverty is no excuse for rags and dirt. Soap and water to remove dirt are cheap enough, and rags tell the sad tale that either the mother is an untidy slattern herself, or that she has been crushed to the earth and lost all hope, it may be by the brutal treatment of a drunken husband. No matter how homely a child's clothing may be, it need not be rags ; a dirty child is thought very little of in school, and what is worse, it too often grows up without self-respect. The father too has his duty to perform, a duty which ought not be neglected. A portion of his time might be profitably employed in aiding his children in the preparation of their lessons for the morrow's school, that is, supposing him to possess education sufficient to enable him to do so, and if he has not had the advantages of education in his youthful days, that should make him the more anxious that his children should acquire those benefits which circumstances have denied to him ; and he should see that each evening, his children have a sufficient time alloted to them for the careful preparation of their daily tasks. Parents should be careful to discourage in their children any attempt to relate the tittletattle of the school, and they ought not to listen to frivolous complaints against the teachers. Now attention to this, will bring its own retribution. Children are exceedingly keen observers, and when they find that every little tale is listened to with avidity, if they have nothiug to tell, which is founded on fact, they are apt to invent, and the consequence will be, that parents and children will be in constant hot water with their neighbours or the school authorities ; nay more, the children will gradually acquire the prenicious habit of lying. Children should be kept constantly at school, only very bad weather or illness should be deemed a sufficient excuse to exempt them from daily attendance. The acquisition of knowledge is a slow process, little by little, and day by day, is it stored up in the child's mind, and parents should consider that every day on which a child is kept from school on some frivolous pretext, is so much valuable time lost, never to be regained. Parents are too often apt to complain that their children make no progress at school. In nine cases out of ten the fault will be with the parents themselves, for they have either neglected to see that their children are at school regulary, or they have lessened the position of the teacher in the children's eyes, by listening to frivolous complaints against him. It may be that in some cases both of these errors have been fallen into.

We how pass on to notice the duty of School Committees in so far as it relates to aiding the teacher in his work ; and in treating on this question, we propose to do so from a negative point of view, rather than from a positive one. It is unquestionably the duty of Committees to see that none but duly qualified persons are employed to teach, and that the teacher's conduct, both inside and outside the school, is such as to commend the respect not only of the children, but of the neighbourhood; It is also a Committee's duty to see that a teacher is supplied with those appliances which are necessary aids in his work, and that due provision is made to promote the health and comfort of the children ; a committee ought also to insist that the teacher is constantly at his post, and that he is unremitting in the discharge of his duties. But beyond these the committee should rarely or ever go, except it be to put a stop to cruelty or oppression. The less a committee interferes in the internal management of the school the better. A teacher should be king in the school ; there should be no

apparent power between him and the children under his charge, and members of committees, who, on their visits to the schools, under pretence of seeing what progress the children are making, interfere between them and the teacher, do incalculable harm, by lessening his influence over his pupils. Indeed, such interference on the part of members of school committees is not needed, as the periodical examinations made by the inspector of schools shew what progress the children have made, and whether the teacher has faithfully performed his work. • We have now completed our task, and although it has been somewhat arduous, it has nevertheless been a " labour of love." If, however, in any way our efforts shall be found to have promoted the great cause of educating the people, we shall consider ourselves amply repaid.

"Register ! Register!! Register!!! " were the words spoken by one of England's greatest statesmen, at a time when the Conservative cause seemed at its lowest ebb. The advice was followed, and the result told its tale at the general election which followed in due time after the above memorable utterances of the late Sir Robert Peel. It is the duty of every man possessing the franchise and whose name is not already on the electoral roll, to take the earliest opportunity of placing it there. If he does not do so, he neglects a duty to himself, his family, and those who are not fortunate enough to possess the right to. vote. Such an opportunity is now afforded, and can be used up to the last day of this month, therefore, we say to all those who being entitled, yet have not claimed to vote—Register 1 Register ! ! Register! ! !

A case has just been decided by Mr. Watt, Resident Magistrate of Dunedin, of very considerable importance as affecting hotel-keepers who have billiard tables on their premises. A publican at Green Island had been summoned by the police for allowing gambling on his premises, the alleged gambling being, that money had been played for, inasmuch as the losing party paid one shilling for the use of the table. Mr, Watt, by his dicision, upheld this view of the law, nay, he even went further, and held, that to play for moneys worth, was gambling within the meaning of the Act ; so, that two parties playing for drinks, would render the hotel-keeper liable to a penalty. If this view of the law be correct, and we are inclined to think, that strictly construed, the Act will bear this interpretation, then the sooner it is altered the better, otherwise an engine of petty tyranny will be placed in the hands of some, not over scrupulous in the means they employ to crush one who may have offended them. It is somewhat singular that the police should have selected a publican living in the outskirts of Dunedin, and have chosen so paltry a case for vindicating the majesty of the law, when doubtless there are houses in the southern metropolis, well known to the police, where large sums are nightly staked and won, at euchre, poker, and unlimited 100. Verily it seems like " straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel."

A man named George Cullen, was brought up at the Resident Magistrate's Court, Timaru, charged with stealing a chisel. Cullen at once admitted possession of the article, but said, that his little girl had brought the chisel to him, saying that she had found it in the grass. The magistrate, Mr. Woolcombe, in dismissing the case, is reported to have said, " that accused had acted very " wrongly in not trying to find out " where the child had got the chisel. " His opinion was, that as morality was " not taught to children in school, it was " the duty of parents to do so." Either Mr. Woolcombe has been grievously wronged by an incorrect report, or, he has libelled the whole of the schools, private as well as public, in the south. Does the Resident Magistrate of Timaru mean to assert that the children are not taught at school, that it is wrong to lie and steal, and what is that but teaching morality ? Besides, there is nothing in the report to shew that the child was not telling the truth, when she said that she found the chisel in the grass. Moreover, we apprehend it to be the duty of parents to endeavour to instil moral principles into their children's minds, whether they are taught morality at school or not. The truth is, that many of the public have very hazy notions respecting the moral as well as the statute law regulating the right to possession of treasure trove, and Mr. Woolcombe would have done infinitely more service by expounding this question, than in having a fling at the schools.