NELSON BRANCH of the BRITISH and FOREIGN SCHOOL SOCIETY.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 30, 1 October 1842, Page 120

NELSON BRANCH of the BRITISH and FOREIGN SCHOOL SOCIETY.

The first general fmeeting of this institution was held on the 24th of May, at which the following resolution was unanimously adopted : — " That the immediate design of the subscribers is the establishment of an elementary school, which shall be open to the children of all, without regard to the religious opinions of their parents, in which no sectarian views whatever shall be taught; and that the Bible, when read, shall be read without note or comment." A public subscription was then opened to defray the expense of building a school-room, and a committee appointed, consisting of Mr. Tuckett, Mr. Macshane, Mr. M'Rea, and Captain England (the latter gentleman kindly undertaking to act as treasurer), who were instructed to proceed with the building as soon as the amount of subscriptions would warrant them in so doing. • <* Captain A. Wakefield, R.N., on behalf of the New Zealand Company, "engaged to furnish a site on the acre No. 208, at a nominal rent of 6d. per foot frontage for twenty-one years ; and to give the same amount of money as should be subscribed. The building committee accordingly, in the latter part of July, having received £46 Os. 6d., in subscriptions, and the same amount from Captain Wakefield, announced their willingness to receive tenders ; when two were furnished, one by Mr. King, for £122, and the other by Messrs. Bird and Palmer, for £100. The latter was accepted. On the 30th of August a meeting of subscribers was held, when Mr. Moore was appointed to fill the important situation of schoolmaster; and it was also arranged that the school should be opened on Monday the 12tb of September. The following gentlemen were elected as a committee of management, with power to add to their number : — Mr. Macshane Captain Wakefield Captain England Mr. King Mr. Tuckett Mr. Spence Mr. Anderson Mr. J. Barton Mr. Richardson At the first meeting of the committee, held at the School-room on Monday evening, Sept. 19, the following additional names were added to the committee previously appointed : — Mr. M'Donald Mr. Cockburn Mr. Domett Captain Wilson . Mr. Tytler Mr. James Mr. Jollie Mr. Cautley « Mr. Brown and Mr. Elliott appointed honorary secretary. Captain England, Mr. M'Donald, Captain Wakefield, and Mr. Tuckett, were requested to act as trustees, and Mr. Domett and Captain Wakefield undertook to act as inspectors- for the ensuing month. It was understood that the gentlemen named should fill their respective offices for six months, and be then eligible for re-election. The committee of management have now to acquaint the subscribers with the plan on which they have determined the school shall be conducted. They consider the best mode of instruction to be that laid down in the " Manual of the System of Primary Instruction pursued in the Model School of the British and Foreign School Society," which can be seen at all times at the School- room ; and that the school be divided into three classes ; the fees of admission to be to the first class, for instruction in reading and spelling, sixpence a week; to the second class, for instruction in writing, arithmetic, and grammar, ninepence a week ; and to the third class, for instruction in higher branches or education, as mental arithmetic, geography, general and sacred history, and, as soon as may be practicable, linear drawing, one shilling a week. The fees to be paid weekly or monthly in advance ; but one-fourth less to be charged when more than two children are sent of one family. The committee of management have great pleasure in stating that a further sum of £12 ISs. has been subscribed, which, with the same amount from Captain Wakefield, on behalf of the New Zealand Company, will leave in the hands of your treasurer a balance of £14 9s. lOd. The number of children already attending the school amounts to 34, 22 of whom are boys and 12 girls. For a temporary supply of books, the institution is indebted to the forethought of the parent society. To complete the premises, a further expense must unavoidably be incurred in fencing the ground, providing desks, seats, lesson boards, shelves for library, and in the erection of privies. In anticipating the necessity of calling on their fellow-colonists for an additional subscription, your committee rely on their liberality and jußt appreciation of the lasting benefits which' such a*- institution is likely to confer. Engrossing and varied as are the interests of an infant colony, it has no interest of such transcendent importance as the right education of its people. In ten short years, the children of the day that is now passing over us will be to Nelson a protection or a pest ; they will hold before her the shield of their strength or paralyze her by their imbecility and their crimes. It is the anxious wish of your committee to give this rising power a right direction ; and, that they may in some measure do so, they solicit from all the means of imparting to the labouring population the blessings of a sound and scriptural education. The principles of the institution are founded upon the comprehensive declaration ; pf the apostle Paul, that, with respect >tt> 4&ip£kildren for whom they provide the meaßs'of feducation, "t there is neither Jew, nor Ql&fe,' barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free." The teachers are expected to teach the children intrusted to their care to read the Bible, and to understand the Bible; they are strictly forbidden giving any interpretation of Scriptures that would tend to

inculcate the tenets of any jsect or party ; and although the committee expect' the children to attend some place, of worship on the Sabbath, the parents are at liberty to send them to that which they themselves prefer. At a general meeting of subscribers, held in the School-room, on Monday the 26th of September, the preceding report was read and received. The secretary was then requested to write to those who had not paid their promised subscriptions, requesting their immediate payment ; and Mr. Richardson, Mr. Macrea, and Mr. Elliott were authorized to receive additional subscriptions. The committee were empowered to expend the balance in hand, and additional subscriptions, if procured, to the amount of £20, in completing the present building.