EDUCATION BOARD.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 255, 7 November 1879, Page 2

EDUCATION BOARD.

The Board met yesterday. Present: Messrs Barnicoat (chairman), Wastney, Caaipbell, JDencker, Rout, Malcolm, and the Bishop of Kelsotl. The minutes of the last monthly meeting, and of a special meeting held on October 29, were read and confirmed. The report of the Works and Finance Committee was read and adopted, the chief points being as follows:— 1. That a school site at Haven Road, near the Globe Hotel, and containing upwards of an acre, be purchased, at a cost of £500, on deferred payments.— The Secretary was instructed to have this site surveyed at once. 2. That Mr Rout's report on the school building at Foxbill, recommending the erection of a new room 36 feet by 20 feet, be adopted, and that a buildiug on the same plan as that at Hope be proceeded with without delay. 3. That the modifications of the plan of the schoolroom at Central Buller, proposed by the School Committee, with the view of bringing the cost of the building within the amount granted (£150), be agreed to. •1. '1 hat £25 be allowed as rent for the use of the Roman Catholic Church at Addison's Flat as a schoolroom during the past eighteen months. 5. That £8 be allowed for a stove at Charleston, and that the appointment of Mr Dkkson as supervisor of the school iu course of erection at Charleston, at a remuneration of £15, be authorised. 6. That £25 be allowed for lining the schoolroom at East Takaka, but that no grant be made for fencing. 7. That the Board contribute £8 towards the erection of a verandah at Tadmor school. 8. That, in fuiure, the cost of exchange be added to the salary cheques of teachers on the West Coast. 9. That £5 be allowed to defray cost of gate, drainpipe, and approach to school at Brightwatcr, the question of fencing the school- ground being deferred. 10 Mr John Scott was instructed to prepare for the consideration of the Board a sketch plan of a school at Haven Road, the dimensions of which are to be as follows i Central room, 42ft by 20ft ; wings, 36ft bv 20ft each. * Also a plan of a school at Richmond 38ft by 20ft. Also plan of addition to teacher's house at Ranzau, the cost of which is not to exceed £80. Certain alterations in the design of the teachers' houses at Lower Moutere, Riwaka, and Spring Grove having been considered, the whole question waa referred to the Works Committee, who were authorised to deal finally with the matter. A letter having been read from the Spring Grove Committee, recommending by a majority of one the appointment of Mrs Desaunais to Brightwater school, it was proposed by Mr Malcolm, and seconded by Mr Dencker, that the recommendation of the Committee be adopted. The following amendment was carried after a division, " That in order to avoid increasing the staff of teachers in the Spring Grove, River Terrace, and Brighwater schools, it is expedient to transfer Mrs Bryant from River Terrace to Brightwater school " Ates 4— Messrs Rout, Wastney, Campbell, the Bishop of Nelson. Noes 2— Messrs Malcolm and Dencker. The Secretary was instructed to write to the Spriog Grove Committee, explaining the Board's reasons for arriving at the foregoing conclusion, and to request that the Brightwater school may be opened on the 17th instant. Ifesolved, That for the present, Mies Bryant, assistant at River Terrace* be sole mistress of that school. Resolved, That the request of «be Town Committee, that the Ist division of the Town Boys' school, and the Toi-toi Valley Girls' be constituted District High schools be acceded to but that the fees be fixed, for financial reasons, at £1 per quarter instead of ten shillings, as proposed by the Committee. The Secretary was instructed to apply to the Hon. the Minister of Education to have the foregoing schools constituted District High schools, and to convene a special meeting of the Board on receipt of the Minister's reply Mr Pownall's offer to teach drawing in the Town Schools was declined on the score of expense, it being also the opinion of the Board, that, for the present, the teachers of the Town Schools might themselves give lessons in elementary drawing. A sum of £9 was allowed for an outbuilding, and for painting a verandah at Neudorf. The Secretary waa empowered to make provision for the supervision of candidates for scholarships at Reefton and Westport. Leave of absence during the present session of Parliament was granted to Mr Shephard. The Secretary was instructed to inform the Pangatotara Committee, who applied to have the site of the school changed, that the Board ia not prepared at present to make any alteration in the position of the school. The Secretary was instructed to reply to an application from the Westport Committee for payment of two sums of £20 and £15, each which had been paid to the credit of the Committee some time previously that the Board declines even to discuss the question of providing, a second time, moneys already paid to the credit of the Westport Committe for a specific purpose. In reply to some strictures made by the Lower Wakefield Committee on the relative amount of the salaries offered to the mistress at Lower Wakefield girls' school and the Mistress at Brightwater, the Secretary was instructed to state that the Board saw no reason for making any further alteration in the salary list for the current financial year, which had been fixed after very careful consideration.