LAW REPORTS

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 923, 16 September 1910, Page 3

LAW REPORTS

SUPREME COURT.

RIGHTS OF EDUCATION BOARDS. IMPORTANT DECISION. Air. Justice Chapman'deliyored his, reserved. decision yesterday, morning in a dispute argued same days,ago'as. 'to'.the' right of the Wanganui Education Board to exclude from instruction in the District High', School-'children below, the ■ Second Standard.- ■ The. question .had ; been raised on behalf of the . teachers by tiio .New Zealand Educational' Institute;' 1 .'"v;l . 'i'lio, facts of the case are sot out''in Ms,. Honour's judgment, as follow:— - . Some time, since the , board, passed ~a •resolution to tho effect that children below Standard 11, that' is to say, children who had'not passed Standard 'I, should not.be allowed to- attend.'the school known as,,the Wanganui District High School. The board had, in fact, long before; this. established an infant school in the district .'to provide'- for .the needs of these, children. .It 'is stated that a'lira,had:then occurred which had reduced accommodation available ■in tile school. : The' rebuilding of the school .buildings .has now given ' the 'necessary accommodation. The affidavit filed, in support ' .of this application, states' that. Children .of- school age are now .excluded from the school, that the'headmaster lias been prevented from accepting or" allowing- such children to . attend,. and 'that -both teachers and parents have protested against-the board's action. -.'"By tho Education Act, '1908,- Section 2', a. public school moans' any school estabJwlied or constituted, under Part' 2of this Act, . subject to 1 the cdutrol and management !of the'board. Tho ■ board's powers are , very i large; including power, to establish and "maintain public schools'.(Section 4-t)j- which necessarily implies , a 1 power to manage and control all public schools. .The. speciul power. in: Subsection .(d)/ to establish District High . Schools cannot; be, read as' derogating 1 from the more general powers given -in the section,• (but. is : a power-which ; adds'to that/conferred by Section: 8(i,- to 'establish such' schools in a particular 1 , way—namely,, by converting' "any public ■ school in the ilisfrict", which 'is . not ». district; hii;h 'school into such : a,-school.' . Powers of Control. The power of coulrol reserved to the board by Sections , 132,' 133, 134, arid »135 are ; intendod to , indicate and recognise rather" than, to express the: very' extensive ..authority; .of the; board,, which, throughout' the Act, save where it is expressly . limited, , ippears.v'to ,ik' ; dominant. ..In' this, instance, the., board: has. Come . to. tho conclusion that . to. maintain tin .infant school is for the advantage, of ■very, .young ,children.,/. presumably the' board,holds*, that it Is better to have such :jchildreh.'separately : taught; 'bya. special staff up:to. a'certain, point. This is properly a matter for the consideration and determination of the board, unless something .in'.'the. stntnte. which Stands'in the way; of. the. board's. poiVei. so todetermine. --.'Unless'-'; tho policy.'.of the /Legislature appears' to be' inconsistent with/this,: such a. matter'would,',-in my .opinion,j.faU 'wlthin the: power to' control and manage all, public, schools.,' Counsel tor the institute relies on several provisions of tho statute,, including, the l'ourth Schedule, and on the provision of T'he Educatiori;Amendment, Act,, 1008, in-, eluding,'the second' schedule :as setting up; rights; inconsistent, with this view".,; Part' I defines, a mixed school; , as. "a', school to ; which 'all , girls and . boy's , of school age' are : admitted." The■•.suggestion,'-based on :.this,'r as" I understand -it; is that all . children .of - school- age . must. be admitted, .'to., amixed school,. and '/that, a/ district"highi.school is a, mixed school,' with something ; superadded.', I■' do.'. riot, understand these..ivords as intended' to have any such ''compulsive effect.' There is no' eVidencb in .tlio. lnnguage . thus used to, suggest that it : was intended, to ;foe, ■ used in ..the : most lliteral .-sense. to .predominate; to the, ex- : tent/of, over-riding': the board's .'more gun-: oral powers of control : and l management. : Th'e':words aro descriptive, arid" do riot' seem to mo to. be intended to create 'or restrict , the authority of • the board. If words,of.'this ltind used in such a place, were to be read ias dominant . then the board' might be .compelled to read many : other.expresMons ill; the Act in, the srirnn way;//with': - :;very.' extraordinary results.'; ;For, instance,..there.is in Section 144 ;Of the 1 principal/ Act an express Legislative' command-that ,in : 'public/schools ,provi-sion/shall-be,' made,, for'/tJi a ■,illstrxiction" .in military drill ,of all boys. The Board's Duty. : ;It can. hardly be suggested that. the ■board is, ui|der; a'■ positive' duty, to introduce a military dnll-mastci into every ; infant: school, or to ensure that "every boy: ■above , the age/of- live, shall receive , military drill in addition to physical drill ;(Section''l4s). , Yet the "verbal expression of the two sections is very'similar; There •is po.Wei:in, : tho Act to establish irii'arit schools,- a power the actual- exer.onle.'.of'. which; in a; given locality .-might ■lie paralysed . were it found that, the very .young-children could, not be concentrated in them to • the relief of a' dis-trict-high school. /To adopt the. literal construction /suggested", would certainly liayo. this .clfect of disabling tho' , board from, adopting /a 'similar • construction' ofSection 80', /which enables:,, it to convert •"any .public, school = in-the . district, etc." II ;think:,that all the provisions of/Sec-'. tioM;B7/d'nd .88 (now; repealed) are also consistent with this view. The proper way tp-look at'-the power'is.-J'think, to. consider- the , interests of the . children in' the i- district as paramount,: «. and ' to .treat . the board' lis/ prima -facie endowed with tho requisite power 'to give effect | to. thst. view. It then becomes necessary ft lookifor.restrictive language sufficiently .explicit to make '.-it - clear; that the Legis-; laturq intended to :. restrict the board's powers./-.That language /I '.do' .not. .find ■here,- though ,in 'other.; directions it may be ' found V in', : the'' statute. The • circumstance, that Mr. Mj'ers was able to point to possible caSes of inconvenience which plight ariso ,from an extravagant use by. the board/of 'its powers is at best an argument, but tho answer in all .such . cases is that' a body ;so constituted ought to be capable of being trusted as the Legislature trusts it to exercise its. powers discreetly. .1 have endeavoured to bs careful not to- ignore, or'over-rids the rights of teaohcrs as they are expressed in ' and secured by ...the,: statute. ; . Interest of the Children. ■ . It' is ' as. mUoh 'to . th& interest of /'the children of the district that these independent rights should be. safeguarded as that ,any other/provision of-the statute should bo . properly observed. I have, however,; come, to the conclusion that' the board.is here acting .'within its powers.;/Several questions are asked by the summons. I' think,' however, . that it' is Buflicient ; that I should/confine my answer to a question based on what the board has done in this particular' case.'' The,' answer, therefore is: The Education Board has power by resolution or general instructions or other proper measnro to require or insist that 'no children Below Standard II shall be' allowed to attend ;or bo received at a district high 6chool within its district. ... 'I allow the board l ,,£l2 12s. costs of this application. //',..' ■ Mr.. M. Myers appeared for the Educational Institute, and Mr. Hntton (Wanganui) "for the Education Board.