PALMERSTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 81, 20 July 1878, Page 2

PALMERSTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE.

A meeting: of '.the above committee 1 was held on Wednesday evening m the School-house,-. Pal inerston North. The Chairman, presided, there were present,.. Messrs. Warburton, . Coleman,- Linton,., and Goodissbnj The Cjeuiemaw read a letter, which !• . Tip had ' received, • to the- following •;. effect:—Palmerston North, July 17th, To theChairman of the School'Cotnmittce, . Pahnerston If ortlu Sir,-— I bf>g to hand you a memorandam. of resolutions passed, at a> meeting 6f settler3at the-Terrace End of the tovrrij on the 6th. • instant.- ' ;i :: ) Tonrsfcrniy EtllOT WAKBtntTOIT,' Chairmau of said meeting.. .', The Ghatrmam: then read the following resolutions. , That this- meeting consider the erectioni :of a 1 school at the Terrace JEnd. part, of the- : district most essential, there- . being at present 150' children whc will soon require; school wcoimuodation.. That this meeting request the- present t school committee to bring the-matter contained m the first resolution! before- the Wanganui* Board and urge that body to. vote a sum sufficient for the erection of "asnitable building. • That steps should be taken at once tolook out for and recommend a suitable aite' for a building. That Mr Linton, Mr Denrd, Mr Mackie, and the mover, be appointed aVjommittee to select arid recommend to the school committee a suitable site for the proposed school at Terrace End. . . Mr Linton said that although the - Committee might recommend that the request oE the meeting should be com-?-plied, with, it might be twelve months before anything would.be done m the* matter. The Board of Education had now money at its disposal, and it was. as well that an early application should', be put m for assistance. He mightstate that although the committeeappointed to select a site, had not as yet done so, he felt quite certain that , a most eligible one wpuld be obtained . when necessary. -Herwished it to beperfectly understood that m the steps being taken towards .a second.schoolsthere was no intention on the part of the residents at Terrace End. to injure the present school, as' it was quite apparent that when the- ' compulsorydause was carried out, there would be far more scholars than there was accommodation for. ; Mr Coleman had no objection to a: second school, providing it were shown that it was a necessity, but he certainly thought that, before the committee had been asked to recommend the claim of, , the Terrace End residents to the Board , . some- statistics should have been brought f orvsf ard. At present the building had 115 scholars on the roil,, with, an average of 93 — and it was stated that it had capacity for accommodating; from twenty to thirty more. Beforepledging himself to , the matter, hewould like to see some data produced ■ for the necessity of the step proposed and would prefer to ask tlii« Board foran enlargement of the present school,, if it were found too small. Mr Linton said that the matter had been fairly discussed at the last meeting.; MrColeman was auxtous to obtain statistics, but he (the speaker) could not seewhat more were wanted than those already furnished. He had himself employed a man to makea personal canvass from house to house, and not only take down the bulk amount of children ict the locality, but also to get the numberto each dwelling, and from that it would be found that there were 150 children who would shortly beTequir- > ing school accommodation. He did not agree with the policy of crowding threo or four hundred children into one building, and he was quite convinced ti. an no teacher could efficiently look

after morq thau 150 scholars m the county districts, where their teaching - power was necessarly limited. The Ckaiem as thought the committee could, not do wrong m acting upon the second .resolution, as it might be taken for granted that the Board would not expend £400 for the erection of a new school unless it was convinced that such a step was a necessity. For his own part he felt quite sure that before twelve months were over tliere would be an application for a third school, for the west end, and it was just possible that before long what was now the public, and only school, would be converted into a High School. After some further discussion Mr Coleman proposed, and Mr Linton seconded, the following resolution : — That the Education Board be requested to section the erection of a second school for. the District at the east end of the town. .'Carried. ' - .;.: ;i ,T j--^ rirpii teachers. Applications were received and read .from Sarah Patterson and Mary Goodis-' son for the- position of pupil teachers.' \Bbth: applicants' had passed the 4th standard, and were- highly recommended by Mr Locke, as eligible and suitable for the situation. It was- decided to 1 recommend both candidatestothe Board, but before making the appointment ; infoj-mation- to be .obtained- eoneeriting particulars of remuneration. ■% v: -/; v „ CADETS. ■■■;.■ '*•■ r . The Chairman read a comma-nieafion 'which, he had received from the Education, Departmentj stating that* it the intention of the Government to acetmt the- names of scholars over.sixteen of age, who would for good conduoflknd ability be- recommended by Committees forcadetships iti the public . service.— The receipt of the circular to acknowledged, but as the school had no .pupils of the required 5 age* no further action at present. • HEMBEES OF THUS BOABD. The> Committee next went int® the matter of "the nomination of a member to serve on- the Wanganua. Boaird m the room of Mr- Bryce r l'esigned. . The C&AiKMAsr suggested 1 that it ■would be 'welt that the voting should' be by ballot, and* that the result should' not be made tnown until finally declared' ajb Wanganui. His reason for the-pro-posed step was; as there were otherplaces m the district m- which nominations had 1 , yet to be made, it would be lust as welt ! that the choice of the iPalmerston Committee should not be made known, so as not to biass or influence others.