THE AUCKLAND EDUCATION BOARD.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 900, 20 August 1910, Page 10

THE AUCKLAND EDUCATION BOARD.

Sir, — I eueloßo two clippings from the Auckland morning- "Hurald," showinj* tho sort of stuff that.is discussed by this august body, as to the chairman's opinion of,what'was. a generation ago. 1 have seen u .Scotch ploughman's handwriting of ono hundred and twenty years ago that would put to shame tlw scribble of even the chairman of an education board to-day; and 1 can reinenik-r, nearly sixty years ago, while- 1 was in. a. mercantile office in Glasgow, it was a very common thing to sco writing that came nearer cop-per-plate.' '-The chairman reminds otiu of an 'occasion in the liosidont Magistrate's Court in .Duncdih, when a letter put in in evidence was handed up to the magistrate, which he donned his glasses to examine,.'aiid; after looking at it for tho space of a, couple, of minutes, exclaimed, "Dear nib, this is tlio town clerk's writing."- "Can't you read it?" asked the lawyer "No," said tho magistrate, "and I am not going to try to. It's like a spider crawling over the paper"; and if caligraphy is any indication of character, and having studied it for somo time, I think it is, thon heaven help New Zealand, at least, this northern district. But tho 'glory of tho discission at the Education Board's meeting «omes in in Mr. Garland combating the statement and urging his moral principles: "If a man ovtohca fish, it does not matter how ho 'catchos them"; and I have had, and am having, t]io experience of Mr Garland's statement. —I am, etc., THOMAS ALLAN. Avondale, August 14, 1910. - [Enclosure^] The extract enclosed by 'our correspondent is as follows:—"Home remarks on the quality of the penman-1

ship' produced in tlie public schools were inailo at yesterday's 'meeting of the Auckland Education Board Tho chairman (Mr. 0. J. Parr) said that the handwriting of the present clay was a great deal better than it was a generation ago. Mr. G. J. Garland concurred in. this view, and said that the writing had improved to the extent of at least 20 per cent. Sir. Gγ. Kdgecnnibe, who did not take such a favourable view of the present conditions, said that the children were riot even tanglit to hold their pens properly. Mr. Garland, wlfilst not combating this statement, reported that "so long as a man catches lish it does not matter how he catches them." The logic of this rejoinder was not disputed."