THE AHAURA SCHOOL.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1463, 12 April 1873, Page 3

THE AHAURA SCHOOL.

(to the editor.) Sir — Though I have riot now to learn, I hope, how inconvenient and how mischievous it would be for a public officer to rush into print whenever he felt that he had been misrepqrted, I trust that you wi'l agree with me in thinking that the portion of your own correspondent's letter of March 28th, which refers to education, ought not, on public grounds, to be allowed to pass without comment. Your correspondent's remarks, though doubtless written in good faith, read very like an elaborate puff of the Ahaura school, and in their persistent inaccuracy remind me of the famous definition of a crab submitted to Cuvier by the members of the Institute—" Gentlemen," quoth the great anatomist, " your definition is admirable, with certain slight drawbacks —a crab is not a fish, itis not yellow, and it does not walk backwards !•'' For instance, I never stated that " I was highly satisfied with the order of both schools," (that is, of No Town and Ahaura.) My commendation of the orderliness referred solely to the former school. I stated distinctly and repeatedly both to Father Pertuis and to the mistress of the Ahaura school, that the number of scholars present during my examination,.^, was far beyond what one lady "could fairly be expected either to teach or to keep in order. Again — my remark as to "the unexpected proficiency of the scholars," if not taken in connexion wiah the fact that the children present were obviously too liv* merous for the teaching staff, would be most misleading. It was certainly credit- j able that a single, teacher, in an overcrowded room, should have done so much in so short a time, but the, school was manifestly buffering, as I pointed out, for want of Vco'mpetent assistant. Nor have I the faintest recollection of having "expressed my approval of the accommodation for the resident boarders," a matter as to which I was then and am still in the profoundest ignorance, and as to which, moreover, it would /have been act of impertinence on my part to express any opinion whatever, seeing that it was no business of mine. Though I have by no means exhausted the list of your correspondent's errors, I have perhaps done enough to show how widely his version of the matters referred to must differ from the official report that it will be my duty to lay before the Board of Education. To leave his statements uncontradicted -would, therefore, be alike/ unfair to the managers i cjf the Ahaura school and to myself. ' " Youis, &c, W. Hopgson, Charleston, April &