CORRESPONDENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 270, 10 November 1873, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

♦ ** We are desirous of affording every reasonabl facility for the discussion of public subjects; but it must be understood that we arc in no way responsible for the opinions expressed by correspondents. "A SCHOOLMASTER PUNISHED." To thb Eaifoa op the Neison Evening Mail. Sir — Such is the heading to a paragraph under the "News of the Day"., in the Examiner of last , Wednesday, and it appeared in a different shape in the Colonist of Friday last. On reading it in , the foxper paper I sent a iiote £6 the editor with severardocumentsjits length, it seems, prevented I its being inserted. ••- In justice to Mr Ray I will thank you to publish it with the long documents abridged. ; When I read the paragraph I referred to the report of the trial in the R.M. Court in the Grey- : mouth Evening Star of October 28, and am sure that no jury would have convicted on such cvi-" deface. As this case is published in a manner that the public cannot judge whether Mr Ray is • guilty or ij&t, I extract the following from eight resolutions passed by the School.Committee, and which appeared in the Star of October 30 : — "3. That, after careful inquiry, it is the opinion of the Committee that the caning was not severe, ' and that the girl, from her own admission, deserved the correction. ".5. That^n consequence of the ruling of Mr Whitefoord, and the zaisconduct of theDinan family by setting the teacher at defiance since, the Committee recommend their dismissal from the school. "* "That, in the event of the Central Board not • taking action in this matter, the Committee will ' at once resign." The following is an extract from the Grey-r mouth Evening Star of November 1 : — "We have received three letters . . . and ■they only bear oat our conviction the more tbat ( the sooner the Committee or Mr Ray, or both, ; dismiss the Din-^n children from the Cobden school the better it will be for the school anil (schoolchildren the better. The Inspector/in ; April 1871, said, *-* H I was in Mr -Ray's position II should not admit theDinan children again. • . ■We feel certain that the ill-considered, judgment ;of the Magistrate, on the face of the evidence, i will not go to injure the reputation of one who has for so many years retained a most enviable iposiliori amongst the besf teachers in the Nelson ■Province." . „, , ... .-. i Mr Fell, as a iriember of the Central Baard, has been pleased to put a resolution condemning Mr Ray: could Mr Fell havp been retained by •Mr Ray in defence (and I wish -he had been) he would have shattered such paltry evidence as that upon which Mr Ray was convicted. i Mr Ray is an old inhabitant in Nelson, and has jmany friends here (among whom I am proud to •rank myself), and I assert that he is utterly incapable of an act of crp;e!ty like that attributed to him. s Extracts from Evidence: John Dinan, father of the girl : My wife often beat the child. •'• ■ : Mrs Dinan, mother: Was often in the habit of beating »he child, sometimes with a bit of twig, «nd also with a branch of a tree. -t . Annie Dinan, sister: Mother frequently beat her with a stick. Schoolfellow: The beaming the girl; got was only middling, and was not given hard. &c &c. I -am, &c , E. TncKBE. Nelson, Nov. 8.