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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 171, 17 July 1878, Page 2

[With an amount of good nature that may possibly be deemed excessive we have permitted Mr W. Price to make use of our columns for the purpose of airing his private grievances and blowing his own trumnet. That he has fully availed himself of the*opportunity thus allowed him no oue can deny, yet now—a fitting finale to the series of bumptious letters that he has inflicted upon the public—he says, " You are afraid "to let me have my say. We do not propose to follow Mr Price tbroueh all his vainglorious boastings and self-complimentary assertions, but, aa he has made an impudent attack upon a body of men who are held in respect by the public, and upon an officer of the Education Board, whose position precludes him from making any reply, we cannot allow the subject to drop without stating as briefly as possible a few facts. The upper division of the Bridge-street school, when under the control of Mr Smith, occupied a high position among the Provincial schools, and boys from outside were drafted into it. in order that they might receive a superior education to that which under the circumstances was obtainable elsewhere. Mr Smith sent up to the College regularly every year two winners of Governors' scholarships, and could have supplied more had there heen additional prizes of a similar character for them to gain; under his regime, too„the school generally comprised from 40 to 45 pupils. Unfortunately for the town boys Mr Smith rer signed, having received the appointment of Inspector of Schools at Westland. Then followed a short interregnum, in the course of which the school became somewhat disorganised, in which state Mr Price found it upon his taking office. This was a sufficient reason for overlooking any shortcomings that might have existed during the first year of the new master's, rule. But as time rolled on the upper division of the Bridge-street school still remained in the background; at the annual competitive examinations for College scholarships it never supplied a successful candidate, and on the last occasion was beaten by every town school that entered the lists against it; in addition to this, the J number of boys in daily attendance, instead of being 45, had dwindled down to 24. Pacts such as these could not possibly escape the notice of the Local Committee. They spoke too plainly to allow of their being ignored. Mr Smith kept the number of attendants up to 45, and supplied two scholarship winners every year; Mr Price's boys numbered 24, and not one of those under his charge was capable of going to the front. Arguing upon this basis the Committee arrived at the conclusion that the only way to improve the school was to change tbe master, and so, acting in the interests of the public, by whom they had been entrusted with the control of these matters, they decided upon dispensing with Mr Price's services. But such is the inordinate vanity of the rejected master that ifc is absolutely impossible for him to attri-

bute his removal to the right cause. He, the perfect Price, who had proved so great a success in Victoria, he to be dismissed from the charge of a school in Nelson! What could be the reason? The idea of his being, or being thought, incapable was not to be entertained for' a moment, so he set himself to work to flnd out some other cause for his being treated in this unceremonious manner. At last he discovered it. The Local Committee and tbe Inspector of Schools had entered into a diabolical plot against him, and had persuaded tbe members of the Central Board to become accomplices in the accursed conspiracy. They may laugh at so absurd an idea who read these lines, but this ii really, and in substance,- the charge that Mr Price has insolently brought against the gentlemen constituting the bodies named above. The overweening conceit that conld give birth to such a notion is, fortunately, possessed by few individuals except Mr Price. There is something so ludicrous in the idea of the Inspector, the Central Board, elected by the whole Provincial district, aud the Local Committee, appointed by the householders of the Town, combining to unfairly crush one whose inferiority had already been proved, that we can scarcely bring ourselves to speak of such a charge as having been serionsly made. Bufc made ! ifc was, as the reader of Mr Price's egotistic j effusions mußt have seen for themselves. The last of his letters, which appears above, | is so characteristic of the writer that to attach bis name to it was a superfluity. It will be observed that he passes a sweeping censure upon tbe whole system of education which bas prevailed in Nelson for twenty years, has proved satisfactory to those immediately concerned, and was spoken of in terms of commendation by many of the members of the Assembly in the debate thafc took place on the Colonial Education Act. Such a condemnation as our " unbiassed "— his own word — correspondent has passed upon ifc would cause us to reflect seriously upon the matter, were the opinions of him who utters them entitled to any weight, but, naturally, we ask, " Who is this Mr Price who deals in such withering denunciations of a system to which, from its successful working during so long a period, we have become attached ? " The answer is plain : He is a gentleman who assures us that in Victoria he was a most admirable teacher, but who has, after three years' trial iirNelson, proved so lamentable a failure that the authorities have been compelled to relieve him of his duties aud responsibilities.— Ed. N.E.M.]