The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 1910. SCHOOL COMMITTEE ELECTIONS.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 26 April 1910, Page 2

The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 1910. SCHOOL COMMITTEE ELECTIONS.

Tiik various school committee elee'!:ons have passed off quietly, and nothing of great moment has been disclosed in the various school committee reports, beyond a note in the Shannon pronouncement, which makes evident a. dubiety in high places as to school committees' liabilities under the Workers' Compensation for Accidents Act. The extraordinary part of the affair lies in the fact that tho Education Department seems unable to instruct tho committee on this point—■mid- meanWhile the macrocarpa hedge around Shannon schoolhouse goes untrimmed! It should not be difficult for the Education Department to get an amendin.ig clause placed in the Education. Act or some other staitnte of a suitable character, to provide that when work for the sole benefit of a school or its grounds is undertaken by a school committee, tho liability to compensate for accidenits occasioned by and during the carrying out of such work shall be borne by the Education Department, or the Consolidated Fund.

The only other event ripe for comment in connection with Inst night's elections is the result of the contest- .at Levin between the Bible in Schools and the Bible a.t Home parties. There was a well contested newspaper campaign on the .point during the last two weeks, and the good spirit which characterised the preliminary arguments of the two •parties was maintained to the close of the elections. A decisive victory was achieved by those who stood for the maintenance of the existing secular system. After our remarks in last Saturday's leading article on the subject, there can be no doubt that we regard with satisfaction the result of last night's election; but that feelin.ig is tempered with regret for the defeat of some estimable citizens who stood as the qj)p o 'si'rig ticket. There were t]i£ se amongst them whose servicfe as se ], olo i mitteemen have been of great J benefit t£.~fiie schools and scholars*

They stood, however, as straightout; uncompromising advocates of a scheme ithat has been proved unpopular, and therefore their rejection was a collateral matter almost unavoidable. They have the satisfaction of. knowing that they made it possible for a decisive vote /to be taken on a very important issue; and even if they feel, still, that the vote of the citizens was -a, mistaken one, they may be relied upon to accept the situation philosophically, and to realise that in these 'times majority rule must always obtain.