Manamatu Herald TUESDAY FEBRUARY 4, 1890. ONLY WHAT MIGHT BE EXPECTED.

Manawatu Herald, Issue III, 4 February 1890, Page 2

Manamatu Herald TUESDAY FEBRUARY 4, 1890. ONLY WHAT MIGHT BE EXPECTED.

- ♦ — — — Hitches in the working of the pi -esent system of education are dai y bi <ing shown up. It is but a little tix ae ago that we entered pretty full v int o the present unfair representatio n of this portion of the distirct on thn Wanginui Education Board, and to >show that we were making no incorrect claim produced figures taken firom the latest educatiou repor , which fully bore out our view of the Cjtse. The Wanganui Chronicle desi rous of upsetting our statements, rofused to consider our argument on the figures given by government, but assured its readers that the statistics now being compiled at the Board's office, would prove that we were wrong. A t present the matter must rest, »s it is impossible for us to criticise figures that are in process of compilation to bolster up an unfair claim. If the case had be n good for the other sid ••, we think they wouM have gladly pointed out any errors we might have committed, 4?nd we therefore take it a* granted that we are right, until other, and n^w, statistics can be prepared. The "W'anganni Hvrald has been doing all it can, feeling it had a bad case to defend, to try and lead the committees to vote as will suit '{Van ffanui, and asserts that the present arrangement is due to the observance of a " compronrse " forg«tti->g to a f ld, that, though the compromise mi#ht have been a reasonable arrangement on the first formation of the Board, the district has been proved to have outgrown the proporjtion th°n settled. However much we may have suffered by this compromis", our Wanganui friends I ca ed little, so long a3 they believed they could secure the majority of repres"ntativ©s, but now, admitting that our claim is good, and therefore? bound to succeed, the Wanganui Bei'a'd discovers that "'he method of elpeti'nsf members of education n oards has not b°en a success, nor it cannot be denied that the cumulative system of eVcting comnnritte»s has given satisfaction " Now that the committees south of Waneanui far outnumber the north iff finds that " if a majority of commit . tees are dusted at one end of a district, they may com Sine to return the whole of the members, and The minority are helpless to prevent the injustice." So at last comes ham© the treatment meted out to others not certainly in snch a wholesale way as above, but sufficiently so, as to keep the control of the Board in Waipanui hands. The Herald then describes what it stvlea the " true mtera of representation " which we do not now desire to discuss. Th»* agitation mnde for a fairer representation by the districts south of W;»nsranui has resulted 10 far, most satisfactorily, proving that the claim is a fair on*», and that other objections have to be made by those who d'i not desire to Me it succeed We have thus secured one more notch, against the use of Boards. According to the vi«ws we hive reproduced It in acknowled ed by one of the piper* issued in the town the Board el Aim* for its headquarters, that the srst«»m of e'ection to it is unfai-, ••and th* minority are helples to prevent the injustice." a pleasing description of a representative body. This is all tfiat need be said concerning the Wanganui Board, whose members are not reckoned as the he<-t of representatives for the duties 'hey hare undertalii to ttecute, but if it was needed to strengthen the arguments agairth the continuance of Bonris, the New Zealand Times of Friday last hat hung out another signal. The Wellington EdueaHon Board is a bodv comprised of some of the beet of men, and whose actions h ve been held np to the public, as an instance of how much good, a thoroughly ear < eat Board can effect, but 10, they even have failed. It appears that the Inspector furnished to the Board a strong report on the teaohers employed under him, and thus the

Times comments on its publication. "We are at a loss to understand how the Board could have allowed soch a report as that of the Inspector to be made public at their meeting. Th" proceeding ee mB to us a deplorable error in judgment, to put the rase very mildly. As to the mt-rits of the report itself we pxpress no ooinion. Mr Lee's v ry damaging observa tions directed personall against parti'ular teachers may have been justified, or they may not We have no means of judging authori tively. But school inspect .rs »re not infallible." The writer then draws attention to a fact that we have also brought out at times, that Inspectors do make most extraordinary charges against teachers who have been for years under them, and who up to the hour of consideration havo been always highly reported upon. The Times says, " It is a cruel wrong to a teasher to br nd him (or h*r) as mcompetei t or inffficient in big (or her) profess : on. E.'en were the fact of inefficieacy coaclus'fly established, instead of being simp y asferted by a single fallible person, there would be no necessity to publish it far and wide. The teachers must hare possessed a reasonable degree of efficiency in the first instance or they wenld hardly have received appointments under the Board, and, having been so appointed, tbey hare a clai n to kinder and mor« considerate treatment than in this case has been accorded to th em " So we might quote for a whole column, till the further objection to the continuance of Boards is brought out thus. " Thft Inspector's report on individual teachers should be communicated only to the persons ••itcised, and every opportunity Uould be given them to a^fe-d themselves against what might b« an unduly harsh judgement, or even one who ly unwarranted by the facts. Care in this respect is rendered all the more necessary, owing to the retention of the same Inspector in the same district year after year, instead of a rang ng for each one to in«P"Ct a different district every successive year, a reform which has long been urgently t. e pded, and which if carried ont, would at least mini rnise the risk of teachers being sub jected to injustice." Interchange of Ins^ctors is blocked by the riva'ry of the different Boards, and it is in tins, as in many o'her caspg, too numerous to refer to now, that the pystera established at so much cost to tbe colony is heing brought into direspute. We have been, and sbal< b* unremitting in our endeavours to effect the improve -en* i n our system which would result by the abolishing of Education Boards, nn3 we welcome any expose th«t shows them un, in their power, of doing mi«chi W ere the people to take the question iu f o real earnest consideration Education Boa ds would find no place in our land.