INDIGNANT PARENTS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 924, 17 September 1910, Page 5

INDIGNANT PARENTS.

A. BIBLE-IN-SOHOOLS CIRCULAR

, .The Hutt and Petone Ministers' Association, in;-arranging' the: preliminaries for the. institution of Bible lessons in the district schools after the'. regular hours,' has, after -..having I obtained permission .to uso the schools, fallen toul of, both - the. Petone. West School, Committee and the .Petone District High, School Committee. The *former met on Thursday evening; .and its protest against the action of'the association in, issuing a. certain circular to parents was . duly - reported ;in The Doitojion yesterday. In the circular' under criticism, the following were the words objected to:— ' ,"l do not... desire: my- children "to" remain for Bible lessons' on- Tuesday afternoons. ;,Sighed, .etc." ; The-District High School Committee met last evening, -when the matter-was brought up by Mr. PA Cairns, who remarked; that he had had this "'formJ waved in his face, by certain indignant parents, , who wanted' to know what the committee had been doing that such a circular should have been allowed to go; through the school. He had replied that the committee had known nothing about it. Strong ' had been taken to the . wording of this formrth'at was where the trouble had begun. People objected; to being asked to sign the. form. It would have been very much better if the Ministers' Association had submitted a copy of the circular to the committee.. before issuing it. He assured the committee that the action of the association had roused a good, deal of feeling. . According to the system in vogue elsewhere, ■ it was the practice to dismiss the whole school at the conclusion, of the day's work, reassembling those who desired, td attend the Bible lesson. One prominent citizen of Petone had- informed ;him that he had put the association's "circular in the fire, with tho remark that if- any attempt were' made to detain ■his children for religious instruction, ho would , make trouble \

The chairman :(Mr. _D. M'Kenzie) said that the association should- certainly have approached the committee before issuing the. circular. It had 110 .right to go through the'-school, and had he known anything about it in time to have stopped it, ne would have- done so. He considered that in allowing the circulation of the form tho headmaster had exceeded his duty. The committee was i the ■ controlling authority in, such matters.

On tho motion of Mr. Cainis.it was then resolved that the Ministers' Association slioukl be 'written to,, andl mado acquainted with tho committee's objection to the circular; further,'that the headmaster be notified that'in future no circulars of any kind should be allowed to. go through the school without the committee's authority.