ANYTHING BUT SCHOOL

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 861, 6 July 1910, Page 8

ANYTHING BUT SCHOOL

HOUNDING UP THE TRUANTS.

Willy-nilly, the youth of the Empire must be educated, that thev inav be effi-' eientcitizens, but there are-there always • ™ffi„ U ~ a c f rtaill Percentage who will' ShSf w Volu i taril y. led to school. Hence, the truant officer, an offiS*i ?« b >\ th « ofCmpTlt«l £", P t0 &° to. school.;. His of Arl T T?" C>,lt T' If *e e S perienoe.s Wellington fcdncahon District! are tinv ants in the city is more or less of i commonplaw, wrk-a-day business-visits to the homes of the delinquents, cautions, «;ith Police Court proceedings at regular intervals as a means of compelling ner-' sistont offenders to fulfil their dutv But in the country districts, the daily routine is brightened by a little comedy now and then. For example:— _ There was once (related Mr. Dinecn to a Dominion representative, yesterday) a certain Maori "youth whose attendance at school was far—very far—from satisfactory. Cautions, warnings, threats having been found to be vain, the truant officer decided to prosecute, and so vindicate the pronsiqns'of the School Attendance Act. Then a difficulty arose.-' "Vith characteristic astuteness, the -live' com-' munity conspired to evade or .'browbeat the Law. No one would admit being the parent or guardian of the bov. But tha "bluffers" were out-bluffed. When the other cases were oeing taken in Court, the truant officer, in a'casual way, referred to., this, particular case, and suggested that .the boy, having no visible guardianship, should be committed, to the industrial school. Instantly was heard •from the back of the-Court a lusty protest, and the father of the boy shouldered his way to the front. The feint was successful. •'■".■

A certain teacher had occasion to remonstrate with- the liead of one of the families in his district; over the unsatis-. factory attendances of-his children. He (the" master) received in due course a reply, in writing. The writer, after a sarcastic reference to the importunities of the teacher, with regard to the attendances of the children, with a special .reference—also sarcasticallv expressed—to the writer's own case, 'asked: "What about a few moor of them?" Then he went on to say that his children were receiving, the benefits of home education, and had."learnted" more at home-than they ever could at school. As for the teacher's statement that Mr. Blank could send his children to schol on. wet dayswell,, he (the writer) was not Mr. Blank. There was another man in the Wairarapa district, whose abode is across the river from the, school.. Therwis.no bridge across the river, and this man is, therefore, not obliged to send " his children to school. He doesn't send them, but almost every-day his children are seen to cross the.river on horseback, carrying messages.for the man.who protests that the-river is too dangerous for them to venture across for the purpose of attending school. ■