The Feilding Star. THURSDAY, DEC. 17, 1885. The Wanganui Education Board

Feilding Star, Volume VII, Issue 81, 17 December 1885, Page 2

The Feilding Star. THURSDAY, DEC. 17, 1885. The Wanganui Education Board

As the time approaches for the election of three members of the Education Board to replace Mr Carbon, Mr Fry, and the Rev. Mr Boss, whose turn it is to retire, it behoves all sections of the community to interest themselves in making selection of new members. The Board, as at present constituted, has given as much dissatisfaction as seems possible for any public body to give. As individuals, the members are all, so far as we may judge by repute, estimable and honorable men, but in their collective capacity their good qualities appear to have been permitted to lie somewhat dormant. They have allowed the whole administrative power of the Board to rest in the hands of Mr Watt, the chairman, so that the position may be summed up briefly. The members trust to Mr "Watt, Mr Watt trusts to Mr Bindon, the Inspector, and Mr Bindon does as Mr Browne, the secretary, directs. Therefore the secretary controls the whole business of the Board. In order that one man may do the whole work to his own satisfaction and therefore in his own way, the powers of the school committees have been narrowed down by degrees until they have become almost invisible. There are instances on record where chairmen of committees have made attempts to keep in their own hands the authority given them under the Education Act, but such attempts have generally ended in miserable failure. The Board has always found means to frustate any attempts in that direction, either by taking advantage of technicalities, or by ignoring the committees altogether. Most of them have tamely submitted, but there is one exception in Mr Thynhe, the chairman of the Foxton committee, whose manifesto to the school committees has been published in nearly every journal on this coast. Mr Thynke will be a candidate for one of the vacant seats, and we hope that he will be elected. Messrs Wiokstead, Noake, and Drew are also mentioned as probable candidates. These gentlemen have all given public expression to their dissatisfaction with the present working of the Board, and are determined to do their utmost to obtain a reform. The Board as now constituted is of far too autocratic a disposition to suit an enlightened people. The treatment accorded to teachers within the past- twelve months has also tended to draw public attention to the incapacity— to use no stronger term— of the Board. The utter want of courtesy displayed in many instances to these gentleman has been simply astonishing. Letters have been sent to some masters (notably to the unfortunate one ttt Foxton, which for impertinent brusqueness is unequalled) whichdisplayeitheragrosswantof feeling, or an unpardonable ignorance of the ordinary amenities of life. Instead of leading the servants of the Board to believe that they had in their official superiors men to whom they could refer as "guides, councillors, and friends" they have been forced to dread them as their natural enemies, who are continually on the lookeut for opportunities of faultfinding.. .The same may be said of the school committees, for we do not. believe that anyone of them ever addressed a letter or communication to the Board, the reply to which did not convey either a direct snub, or an evasion of the request. If there have been, and are, frequent strained relations between head teachers and the school committees, to the Board may be attributed the blame. No case has been recorded, where the judicious intervention of the Board or its officers as peacemakers has been the means of reconciling the several parties, and plenty are known where their want of tact—when they have interfered — has only made matters worse. This is a heavy indictment, but it is unfortunately too true, and points to the urgent need which exists of an entire change in the 1 composition of thei Wangauui Education Board. r / f