EDUCATION MEETINGS.

Evening Star, Issue 3400, 14 January 1874, Page 2

EDUCATION MEETINGS.

DUNEDIN. / . At ‘the statutory meeting o£ householders, &c., held last..evening lathe City, for, the, purpose of electing a school committee for the about lOOpersons attended; andMrG. Sinithwae called to the chair. ■ t - \. The retiring committee reported that the4ttendance at_ the various City schools had increased being 1,522 last quarter, , the corresponding quarter of 1872. The. total amount received for fees forthe-year has been L 2.225 8s Bd, against LT,960 11s 2d for, 1872.—The amounts paid rto the principal teachers (including the Goveimcontribution) have been as follow Middle Sohooh Head Master, L 383 3s • second do, L 290 12s lid,; third do, LIBO 6s3d; schoolmistress, Llßo 12s ild; assistant do, Llßs‘6s. 2d. .North School: Head master, .L 356 6s fed ; second do, L 253 16s sd; third do, L 159 Os Hd• nnTlTwu’ ' L v 73 *u l6 l ; «?si«tant Li tomi 9a ,School ; Headmatter, liSl iM 5 second D 145 14s 6d. In addition to the above salaries the head masters at each school have a house and grounds, rent free.-There are seven pupil teachers at the Middle, School, ‘four aSe North, and four at the 1 Sblith,’ whose salaries Re^v.p fr °TV 20 according to length of resignation of Miss Fisher (Mid? kas been accepted and Mfsa oitl n n airi to Bi toati«3q. Misses Lowry, Donu, Wilson, and jßanyig have'been appointed ■KLPBK 1 teachers atthe Middle SchflojTud Miss White at the North of may be, regarded as the toguhir rev&uie of the committee Ims been L2i43318a-Bd. In addiwon to this has been the Government contribution towards repairs, &p., and two special grants from the Provincial Government/ one of L 25 towards the,expense of graveiling'the Middle School play-ground,, and another of Ll.’OOO' Yof which L 25 have yet to be recaSvfe&) towards the general alterations, new buildings; /and renair* to the three ,schopls (the sure m MknowJedgiM lthese' liberal grahtfc • a contract for which, the latter shin Ws kran&d is now in course of execution), making a total revenue of. L3,65112s lid. The ; «xpfndiW as ranged sunder the various/.heads balance-sheet, has been (--Balance iroto'W ® L 127 2s 5d i Teachers’ salaries, ’LI/814 l4s *9' sundries, L/ 38 8a 8d; balance in the Wank 5L* m. ,d°plio n „l '{j*, . The Eev. Dr Stuart asked what the committee had made for School. He knew,, from what ibSanSSd m the newspapers, that tho committee Jiadbeen oxertiug thoDuclvcs verw muph Uif t, ’ . also like to know what their having a Fourth School to mffiheK catmal ftWßwtiea of Dunodiu, *** We

Mr Stoot said that the position of the matter was this i'The first thing the committee,had to: consider was, how they could get si suitable 4 Site, -i Along with this question, was that of a normal school. The committee met some of the members of the City. Council, and also the Executive. , The_ Executive Would not expend the sum they intended to expend on a normal school if the site was fixed where the committee wanted it, A deputation waited upon his Honor the Superintendent as to the question of a site, and the .opinion of the Government seemed to be that in the meantime a school should be erected in the north-east part of Dunedin. Ultimately it was thought advisable to leave it to the in-coming committee to arrange with the Government for a small school to meet the requirements of those who resided on the flat; but the Government would not; spend money for a normal school on the flcit. 4 The money was not in the hands of the School Committee, and even 'if it were there were difficulties to be surmounted in respect to the question of a site. Besides, a normal school would be ; managed by. the Education Board, and not by' the School Committee, and therefore it would bo for the Board to make up their minds as to what steps they would take to ;det a school in. the centre of the City, He believed arrangements would be made to get a school to meet the requirements, of the residents on . the flat, . As regarded the question offees, it‘would be remembered that last year, in May, 1872, the fees were raised for the last quarter of the year. When the new committee caime into office it was found that the overdraft at the bank stood, at L 127 2s sd;' there. V *vfas L 44 12s 6d paid by ;the late Secretary, and L 3 9s fid due, making a total of Ll76l2s,fid* : The committee, ielfc .there .would he .great , difficulty in deciding, how they could meet. tUa largeoverihraft,and, /after considerable discussion"’and careful comparison of the anipunts that would have to'be'expended, they' caihe to the conclusion that if the fees were reduced, somewhat they would be able to about balance them accounts during the year, and reduce the overdraft to about L3O at the end of that time. .The committee Were, not unanimous •in' regard: to, the question;.of, the reductiqn o {. the fees ; and. it was ultimately decided that the fees in the case of large families should be reduced, and remain as they were in other cases. They regretted that they could not reduce the whole of the fees to what they were formerly, but, in the 1 face of a large overdraft, they did not see their way to do so. The com mittee also pared down, various items,’ and, supported by;the. ; liberal conduct of the Government, dhey bad been able to give effect to. their view in that'respect., , Leaving out the question of the special grant; the Committee had been able’to show that their accounts more than tallied. As regarded the question of' a Fourth School; ; it ; was hot Until December 1 24 of last year that the committee were in apposition to know how this question of a site would end, and they it would; be, unwise, seeing that they would remain only a fortnight longer in office, to forestall what action the new committee might deem it advisable to take. Mr J .‘ G. S.' Grant remarked that there were only 1,522 children attending the whole of the schools, and the fees only amounted-'to L 2,000, which was little more than LI for each child. He deprecated cramming -500 or 600 children in schools, which were so very, inadequate to their proper accommodation,, and pointed out that in the. High School there was a Fourth School waiting to he taken possession of.—(Laughter and applause.) Mr R. Gillies scarcely understood how the committee could congratulate the citizens because the children attending the schools had increased so largely, seeing that there was so great a ’want of accommodation. He agreed with Mr Grant that it was decidedly wrong, and even inhuman, to place so ,many children in them; and he therefore hoped, that before the business of the meeting closed, a resolution would he passed directing that the Government should be further pressed in respect to additional school accommodation. He did not agree with Mr Grant that they should take hold of the first 1 building," as it were by the collar, and say, ‘‘We will have this;” but they should certainly determine to go to those in authority and say it was imperative more school accommodation should be provided. ; Mr Shebwin also explained the committee’s action in regard to a fourth school The Rev. Dr Stuart considered the committee had hardly gone far enough in the matter of reducing the fees. It was ot more importance that children should be educated than that there should be high school fees, and one reason why so many children were running about the streets of Dunedin was the high fees.—(Dissent.) Well, that was his opinion. ,He would welcome a school rate; but in tbemeantimeincreased accommodation must be had.

The report was adopted. The Rev. Dr Stuart moved, “ That a vote of thanks be accorded to the retiring committee for the many services they had rendered to the cause of education during the past year,” which was also unanimously agreed to. Mr Street, in returning thanks, said the Government had evinced a desire to assist them in every way in regard to educational matters, in the Way of obtaining funds;, and also in their endeavor to obtain a site for a Fourth School. Indeed the Government had also almost gone out of their way, perhaps illegally, to , enable them to supply the pressing necessity for more room in some of the schools; and he could not help saying that the citizens were far more to blame than the Government. If the meeting at the Oddfellows’ Hall had shown the same determination as they had done that evening, he believed they would now have been in possession of'the Octagon site. . But the Government were waiting, with money in hand, to pay for a good, substantial school, if the meeting would only make up their minds where the school should be.

It was agreed that the number of the School Committee for the ensuing year should be nine, and-the election by ballot. The following gentlemen were noxninateiMessrs Street, Stout, Sherwin seh., W. D. Stewart, Robin, Gordon, G. Bell, Wright, Prosser, E. B. Cargill, D. Hay, Scanlan, C. R. Chapman, 0, Smith, John Anderson, Livingston, J. P. Millar, John Grant, ,H. S. Fish, jun,, and the' Rev. Mr Gow, A ballot took place, and it was found that the following had been elected the School Committee fer, the ensuing year:—Street 110 votes; Cargill 97, Stout 95, Robin 76, Hay 61, Prosser. 60, Livingston 57, Wright 55, Sherwin 53. A FOURTH' 'SCHOOL* ' . Mr Gillies , moved, “ That this meeting desires to record its strong sense of : the utter inadequacy of the school accommodation in this city; and to express its that opinion the Octagon site is the one which at present seems most suitable,for another school, combined with, a Normal Schoo l; and therefore that it be an instruction ■ to the committee to leave ho stone unturned to obtain the consent of the, Corporation to the granting of that site.” The motion was carried, only three hands being held pp against it. , Mr Grant attempted to move a resolution instructing the Committee to obtain the edueation grant in *■ connection with elementary education, for the purpose of supplying our present requirements, but was ruled out of qrder,. • , ; r> 7. > -, CATEBSHAM. The retiring committee-r-Measrs Macgregor. Pope, Rutherford’, "Laing, Baxter, Anderson and Orgig, were re-elected, i"! i .SORT .CHALMERS. . There was a very poor attendance, only four members of' committee and about twelve householders being bresent. We make the following extract from.'the retiring committee’s report:— “ Owing to iil-health, Mrs Wallace, the schoolmistress,; waa compelled to apply for leave of absence in the early partof the yeaj, and the position wis temporarily filled by Mrs Jpownes, for fiye mpnths, when, finding that the state ,of Mrs Wallace’s,health precluded,her from resuming her, duties, a successor to her was advertised for, and out of seven applicants, your committee selected Miss who held a first-class Certffickte fromthe' Victoria!! Board of Educatiori, and ; Who has occupied similar positions in other schools in- Victoria and ;New Zealand. Although your committee consider themselves fortunate in obtaining the mistresses they did for the year, yet. it must be patent to all that the-frequent change must. militate against the usefulness of that department in the school, and they hope a‘ considerable time may elapse before nhptneE' change. becomes necessary.. Owing to FAtJouß.causes, among others the state of the Diiilaing," opening of other'schools in the town, fec.y the * attendance was not so good as last yeai) although equal to that bl 1871.’ - la last

year’s report your committee stated that they Bad no doubt a sum would be placed on the Estimates at the next meeting of the Council for the .erection of a new stone school-house. Messrs Drysdale and Elder waited upon the Government on several occasions this year with reference to the matter, and your committee have now very much pleasure in reporting that tenders have been called for the erection of a really first-class building, capable of seating between 500 and 600 pupils ; and they have reason to believe that the work will be proceeded with without delay. Acting on the advice of their architect, the Government intend erecting the new building on the site at present occupied by the police camp. The reasons for so doing having been explained to your committee, they Unanimously approved of the proposed change of site.”—Owing, to the small attendance, it was agreed to postpone the election of a committee, .and to ask the Superintendent to name another day upon which a meeting should be called for that purpose. MOSGIEL. The committee for this year are—Messrs Aiken, Dickie, Ross, Day, Marshall, M‘Leod, and Lees. -• ~ •