CENTRAL BOARD OF EDUCATION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 136, 7 June 1873, Page 2

CENTRAL BOARD OF EDUCATION.

The following are the minutes of the monthly meeting of the Central Board of Education, which was held on Thursday. There were present, Messrs Barnicoat (chairman), Campbell, Rout, Shephard, Wastney, Cresswell, Tarrant, Rose, Simmons, Sharp, Kelling (for Upper Moutere), Tarrant, Burn, Jeßsop, Smith, Wigzell, Thorpe, and TunniclifF. The minutes , of the last meeting were read and confirmed. Resolved, on the motion of Mr ShepHABD, that a subsidy of £50 be allowed to the schooi at No-Town, ifrotn July Ist. Resolved, on the motion of Mr Wastney/, that from July Ist the subsidy to the Ahaura School be increased to £75, provided that additional assistance in teaching be engaged/to the satisfaction of the Inspector. / Resolved, on>the motion of Mr Shephard, that froto the Ist of July, a subsidy of £30 be granted to the school at Brighton. **y A letter froto- the Rev C. A. Soutar was read, together with a telegram sent by the chairman of a publio meeting at Charleston. A memorandum by the Inspector in explanation of his recommendation was also read. . It was resolved, on the motion of Mr Sharp, that all further action be suspended until receipt of the petition from the inhabitants of Charleston, to whom a telegram, conveying the substance of this resolution, shall be sent by the Secretary. The telegram received from Charleston was as folTows r :-T-A public ipeeting. of Protestaiits ''... was\ held 'last 'evening,* at | which tbe following resolution was passed: j ' That this meeting learns with great uneasiness and apprehension tbe suggestion of Mr Hodgson, proposing ihe handing I over of the whole of the Government subsidy to the, Roman Catholic school, which, if acted on, will virtually, deprive Protestant children of receiving . any education, and is also liable, to create a For remainder of 'hews see fourth page.

- feeling of dissatisfaction among the Protestant portion of the inhabitants.-* Petition on this subject being signed, and will be forwarded at once/' The following is the memorandum by the Inspector oh [St. Patrick's. School:-* "It is not proposed to subsidise a Roman Catholic to the exclusion of a Protestant schooi. The Board has never recognised denominational schools as such. St. Patrick's school is only known fo tbe Board as a well-conducted arid numerously attended school, in which purely secular instruction is given during school hours, to the satisfaction of the Inspector. It stands, indeed, on the same footing as St. Mary's schools, where two-thirds of the scholars are, and have always been, Protestants. It is clearly understood by. the master of St. Patrick's school that any violation of the condition that the education given by him shall be exclusively •Secular, would lead to the withdrawal of his subsidy. No violation of tbis condition has been so much as alleged against him. " The concentration of the Board's aid upon a single school *at Charleston has been recommended by the Inspector merely on economical aud educational grounds. The daily attendance at Mr Brown's school during the last quarter has been 18; at Mr Delaney's it has been 50. Mr Brown has left Charleston, and there is room at St. Patrick's; for 98 children — more than have been attending both schools. After providing for an addition to the teaching staff at St. Patrick's, there would- be a saying of £50 a year to the Board, in addition to the admitted advantage in point of organisation that a large school always has over a very small one." v Resolved, on the motion of Mr Wastney,, that £50 be granted towards the support of a master at Pakawau. Resolved, on the motion of Mr Rout, that his Honor the Superintendent be requested to construct a bridge over the Pakawau Creek, at a cost of not more than £25. • /Resolved, on the motion of Mr Rout, that a pupil teacher be appointed at Stoke from July Ist. Resolved, on the motion of Mr Wigzell, that £20* be granted to the Town Committee on condition that they supply all the town schools with water from the waterworks. Resolved, on the motion of Mr Wast--neYj in* reply to a telegram from Mr G. Broad, that the Board can grant nothing to the Reefton school, in the shape of rent allowance, beyond the increase of the subsidy. Resolved, on the motion of Mr Sharp, that a Sub-committee be appointed to examine into and report on the legality of the constitution of the Spring Grove Committee, such Sub-committee to consist of Messrs. Barnicoat, Rout, Wastney, and Tarrant. The Secbetaby reported that the Government had offered (subject to a vote of the Provincial Council, a site for tbe erection of the new school in Bridgestreet, at the junction of Bridge and Tasman Streets, to be obtained by exchange J from the Native Commissioner. The proposed arrangement was approved of by the Board. A claim made by the Westport Committee for repayment of a debt of £10 9s. 6d., which was increased without the sanction of the Board, was disallowed, £3 10s. only being granted. Resolved, on the motion of Mr Rout, that the Westport Committee be cautioned not to incur liabilities without the previous sanction of the Board beyond those which may *be met by their incidental fund. . \ -. ; Resolved, on the motion of Mr Rout, that the Government be requested to fix some other day than Saturday for the election of Local Committees, that day being found inconvenient. , Mr Thobpe gave notice that he would move at the next meeting that the Ex aminers for the Provincial Scholarships be appointed. Mr Kelling gave notice that he would move at; next meeting tbat, as the sum of £5 is insufficient to defray the cost of a verandah for Neudorf school, a sufficient suin be granted for that purpose. The Inspector's report on the working of the half-time system at Pangatotara was adopted and ordered to be publishedwith the minutes. It is as follows: — >" Sm,— The half-time system has now been tried at Pangatotara for eight months, ] with the following results. During the 'yfirst quarter a considerable apparent increase took place, the numbers in daily attendance having risen from 21 in the corresponding quarter to 31, In the March quarter of this year the numbers were 27 (including both schools) against 21 in J 872. But even this slight inorease is, after all, only apparent, as I find that

eight of the scholars have attended both schools, and have been reckoned twice, so that, on the whole, a smaller portion of instruction is now given to a smaller number of children than under the old system, "Ifind, also, that the average rate of attendance even daring the exceptionally fine weather that has prevailed since the half-time system has been tried, is no higher than it has been form ely, being only 52 per cent on both schools during the December quarter, and 55 per cent during the March quarter. " The education of the children has also suffered under the new system, the number of good readers in both schools have fallen from 18 in 1872 to 12 in 1873, that is, taking both schools, and counting several scholars twice. I ascertained that of the 17 scholars , present at the Upper School when I visited it last, two only lived south of that school, so that with these exceptions, the whole of the scholars then present, might, without serious inconvenience, have attended the North school during the last eight months. I see nothing to compensate the Board for the additional expense, to say nothing of the loss of time, both of teachers and scholars, that result from the maintaining of two small schools within two miles of each other. I recommend, therefore, the discontinuance of tbe half-time system whenever the new road is made passable, and the removal of the North School-room, to a point about mid-way between the present schools, " I am, &c, "W. C. Hodgson."