The Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1878.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 104, 9 October 1878, Page 2

The Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9 , 1878.

The Wanganui Education Board appears to have reckoned without its host m attempting; to snub: the; Matarawa School Committee. . The latter body, fprtunateijr tor itself, possdiises a chairman who is acquainted withLthe provisions of the Act uiider -which he Lwas elected, and also has the courage to resist: any action which -may be deemed an infringement. We bave before now found occasion to administer a rebuke to Mr A. A. Bbownb, the Board's Secretary, for the peculiar a.nd very unofficial (•onstriiction of his replies, and Major Noake, on behalf of the committee for which he is chairman, makes a similar ißhargtf . Moßt Gvr€*nj9ieht Wvajits •r©

so . deeply inoculated- with a sense of red-tapeism and circumlocution that it is impossible for them to do ought but follow to the strict letter the orthodox routine. Mr Bbown has no such scruples, and when addressing his epistles to such small fry as school committees, the personal pronoun I stands prominently forward, and the Board occupies but a secondary place m the correspondence. In a caustic letter to the Board, Major Noake administers the following deserved rebuke to the presumptuous Secretary : — "At the last meeting of this Committee resolutions were passed protesting against the action of the Board m removing the teacher without first consulting the Committee ; although this remonstrance j was addressed to the chairman, it has ! been replied to by the Secretary, who has omitted to state from whom he received the instructions contained m his -memo., wherein he states 'that the removal and appointment oE teachers rests entirely with the Board.' " This is exactly a repetition oE Mr Bbown 'B treatment oE the Foxton Committee, and tbat he has again acted on his own responsibility — at least apparently so — wituout mentioning Erom whom he derives his instructions or authority, is conclusive proof that the Board either approves of, or winks at his conduct. In claiming for all school committees to have the "management of educational matters m their own districts, and that no appointments, removals, or suspensions should take place without members being first consulted,- we imagine that Major Noakb can fall back upon the Act, which should be the guide for Board and Committee alike. On referring to the 45th clause, we find the following, which we imagine will set at rest the question whether teachers can' be removed without the Committee being first consulted. It says : "The Board of each district shall be entitled to appoint teachers for every school under its control, or to remove such teachers from one school to another within the district," &c, &c, " but no appointment, suspension, or dismissal shall take place until the committee have been first consulted." The last sentence is certainly considerably at variance with the dictum of Mr Secretary Bbown when he says that " the removal and appointment of teachers rests entirely with the Board," and we are at a loss to know by what means he has arrived at such a conclusion' Perhaps the very best point made by Major Noake m his letter to the body is one iv which he hoists the Board with its own petard, m the following language : — " It seems clear that this is the spirit as well as the letter of tbe Act, the f ramers of which evidently assumed that seven local ratepayers, duly elected, would be equal to the management of such small matters as those- pertaining to its school. They further manifested their confidence m the intelligent discrimination of committees by trusting them with the responsibility of electing the Education Board itself — a confidence, the Board, aEter its election, have not appeared to share, as it seems to place but ; little faith either m their judgment or ! discretion, seeing that it has invested the Inspector of Schools with the duties prescribed by the Act to committees." It does appear somewhat singular that "tlie very meriAupon whom devolved tbe duty of electing the members of the Board should, by those same members, be deemed incapable to carry out much minor duties. It is certainly stated distinctly m the Act that, subject to the general supervision and control oE the Board, the Committee shall have the management of educational matters with the school. This is specific with regard to the sanction of the Board being required ; but it is equally specific and imperative that certain rights conferred upon committeemen should not be trenched upon, and Major Noake deserves the thanks all school committees for grappling with the innovation m the determined manner which he has done. Very little harmony, unity, or unison of feeling appears to be exhibited at tbe sittings of the Board, and it is .just possible that m the atmosphere of indecision and indifference, Mr Bbowne is the voluntary arbiter on all questions m dispute.