THE WAIAREKA SCHOOL INQUIRY. THE REVELATIONS.

North Otago Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8170, 30 April 1895, Page 4

THE WAIAREKA SCHOOL INQUIRY. THE REVELATIONS.

The tollowing ia the conciucung portion of our report of thisihtoreating enquiry : Fanny Lousia Andrew, head mistress of the school, said she remembered handing the Inspector's reporb of dato the 15th September, 1894, to the teacher, and observed thai poetry, disciplinary exercise and objecb lessons of infanta in Standard I. had nob been examined She spoke to the teacher nboub these things having been missed ab the time of the examination, and she was very glad that Mr Goyen had nob asked them, because she was afraid of some of the pupils. Sho was nob out) of the room when her classes were examined, and it) would nob be correct) to say thttb sho was frequently out of the room. She was nob all the time in the odb room. She noticed that Mr Goyen was very much sharper to Mr Fraser'B scholars than hers. He was sha-p, discourteous and sarcastic towards thoui, nod spoke so quickly that sub did not c.itch the question, and tbo questions were pub in a discouraging tone. The whole of the examination would not take more than 5 hours. She waa in Mr Eraser's room during eleven and twelve when history wassaid tohavo been taken, but sbo beard no questions in history asked. She heard the tiißt question in science And left the room, bub returned agaiu in two or three minutes (o minutes at the outside, bub she would nob bo sure to a minute or two) and the examination was over. Sho did not remem ber the ezacb nature of the question or its signilicance. Sho expressed indignation ab the geography examination being so short. Sho wrote a letter to hf r sister at Ilampden tolling ber about the examination and h~>w the Inspector had examined. Her sister bad burned the letter. She remembered the words ' antecedent, ' singular ' and ' plural,' being used by Mr Goyen in the grammar, and noted tbab as the children did nob understand the terms they could nob answer. These were nob Third Standard questiouf. Mr Fraser spoke Bharply to Mr Ooyeu, und Mr Goyt n spoke assharply and she feared a quarrel between them. They were both warm about ib. She waa presenb when .v i Goyen examined somo reading. Mi Goyea did nob give the boys a fail chance. He told one boy to hold bit bead down, and down and down til the boy could nob hold ib down anj further. When one of the boys started to read Mr Goyen told the boy to "Sii down,'' and said he could not have i 1 go out) la the district that such read' ing had passed the Sixth Standard She beard Mr Goyen tell Mr Frasei to take the science lesson in physiology. She had a conversation wibt Mr Williams who was present, anc who had laid to ber that the Inspectoi had observed to him that) ib would be difficult to find out what the children really did know. Mr V\M 1 ama bad also faid their Committee bad resigned, saying, " why did the Board nob act on the suggestion of the Inspector, and not leave it to the Committee to remove Mr Fraser." Mi Williams also said thab Mr Frasei bad friends on the Board, viz., Messrs M'Gregor, Ramsay, and Fraser, the lasb of whom he had assisted to got into the Board. (Laughter.) Mr Williams bad conveyed an impression to Miss Andrew thab if Mr Fiaser had resigned, he would leave in a month, bub if the Board had to do ib, ib would take three months to shift him. To Mr Goyen : Objecb lessons were taken in two clas.es, and the other class — the junior one — was lefb alone. Mr Goyen said thab was the practice among the Inspector's of Otago. Mr Fraser contradicted this. To Mr Qoyen : Miss Andre wa said : I never thoughb of reminding you tatb you had omitted ' poetry.' Mr Goyen held thab it was n teacher's duty to remind the Inspectoi of any subject ommitted. Mr Goyon Slid he had also asked for the examination paper, bub Mr Fraser said Mr Goyen bad not. Mr Goyon said he had mentioned it to Mr Fitzgerald, and Mr Fitzgerald laid the ' square ' examination paper was nob forthcoming. With regard to the boy who read with bit head down, Mr Goyan siid ib was a good plan sometimes to laugh a boy out of a bad habib. Misa Andrews : The boy did not see you were laughing him out of it. Mr Goyen: No, bub the class did, und the boy saw ib afterwards. lie bad great difficulty with some of tho boys' habits, and thab was one of the ways he bad of improving them. To Mr Cohen : Ab these convcr ■ationa with Mr Williams Mr Goyen was not prcsanb. To Mr Goyen : Yes, an action song was taken ; and, to a Committeeman, some of the actions in an action song, wai identical with disciplinary exorcises bub ebe did nob consider an action song part of disciplinary exercises. This waa the p'aintifF teacher's case. It was now three o'clock. Mr Goyen said thab Air Fraser had not made a statement of fact, but a mere rhetorical statement, and ib would be impossible to reply to it in an hour. Had it consisted of facts he might have been able to deal with them in a sborb time. He would call some wit* nested, and the Board agreed to give Mr Goyen an opportunity of dealing with Mr Frasers statement afterwards. i£j Joßepb Williams said he was in the school during the examination. He cime up to the examination. Two others were also present. He met Mr Fitzgerald and Mr Fraser ia that room, with Mr Frasers leave they went into hear the oral examination by Mr Goyen, and ib was on physiology at the time. The action of the heart was described, and the girl Falconer answered about the lungs of a sheep. Mr Goyen treated tho children with t'je utmost) kindness. In reply to Mr Williams, Mr Fraser said he mentioned the surprise viiib to Mr Williams because it was favourable to him, bub be asked Mr Williams not to Bay anything about ib as ib wu not favorable to £iii» Andrew, £{rUpy«m*ld, tht impJioittaa bj

\lr Fraeer was hab he (bhe speaker had betrayed a bruib. Ho aevo 1 blabbod ' to Cotnmibbees. To Mr Goyon : Mr Williams said Mr Goyen nover eaid anything thab could bo constru ed into beinp; hostile to Mi Fraspr. Ho did not mention \'r Fraser" s name, and never said anything projudical to Mr Fraser, as a man or a Bchoo l master. Indeed Mr Goyen was particularly reserved bo the committee men, To Mr Eraser: Mr Williams donied having had a conversation with Mr Byors to the effect that Mr Byetrs' had uarratod, and denied it in toio. Ho had baid, however, that tho Board should have actad, and nob loft tho School Committee to do tho dirty work. Mr Byetrs' statement was not corrpcb, and Miss Andrew's was wrong ou tho point that he (witness) had said thab the Board should act on the Inspector's report. Mr Fetrio had siid thab the condition of tho school was doplorable, and Mr Isdale was present when that statement was made. MrFraser said that these three Com-mittee-men were stating deliberate falsehoods to the Hoard. M r fc'rascr read tho minutes of the Commit cc and the letter of tho Committee to t v e Board to prove thab the Committeemen's statements were nob worthy of credence The Chairman said he did not quite sei* that. Mr Williams said they hid had three meetings beforo they htul como to the conclusion to write to the Board and ask for a new teacher, and the letter to the Board was perfectly i orrecb a3 to being the outcome of tho Committee's deliberations. There wa3 at this juncture sorao high woitls between Mr Williams aud Mr Fraser. Mr Williams said thab he believed they considered the school's condition; it the three nretings prior to writiug to tho Board asking for a new teacher, and Mr Fiwsor said there was nothing on the minutes nt the second meeting to sub«tautate what Mr Williams had said. Mr Williams it was not necessary to bo on the minutes. Everything thab was said was not put on the minutes. Mr Frasor said he was prepared to swear hab nothiog was done at the middle mooting. Mr Cohen said ib was unnecessary for Mr Fraser and Mr Williams to bandy words, and it was nob for Mr Fraser to say what was falsehood or what was uob. Tho Board would |udgo that. Kichard Willott, chairman of the previous Committee, said ho heard the ringing in the morning of tho examination, and then left. When he came back, it would be aboub half-past one or two o'clock. Ho heard Mr Goyen examine the Third Standard in grammar. He was sharp with tho pupils, but witness might have felb it more as he had a child in the Third Stand ard —(Laughter.) Mr Goyen did not reab the children uukindly. He did nob pour invective upon them ; ho was nob sarcastic to them ; he wa3 not a Harsh and frowning critic of the children Mr Goyen was asked as to tho state >f the sclnol, but he said he could not -ny until lie saw all the papers together. He did say to witness that Mr Fraser was a shrewd, intelligent man. but nothing about him as a teacher. To Mr Fraaer: Ho did notji'emeniber having said to Mr Fraser thab he had not been fairly treated by the nspectors, or that Mr Fraser had nob been holding tho candle righb to them. He did nob remember having consulted >' v Fraser aboub the examination report of Mr Qoyen. The Committee had jonsulted themselves. — Laughter, They had considered it judicially, and the resulb was to ask the Board for a ulnngo of teacher. To Mr Macgregor : He had beep ab two previons examinations ab '.hab school. Mr Fraaer did nob recollect thab he had been, bub would not swear to thab. To Mr Cohen : The headmaster and tho Committee were on cordial relaions up to tho surprise visib reporb, bub during the last five years there had been dissatisfaction with the eacher. Mr Fraser: That) is nob true. — (.Sensation.) Mr Willott admitted to Mr Fraser that at one of the three meetings the necessity for a change of teacher had not been considered. Henry Barker Wade corroborated the stateraenb of the laso witness. Fhevo was nothing in Mr Goyon's mannor thab was unkind, and bespoke no moro sharply than he had spoken to the Board thab afternoon. He received a letter from Mr Goyen that month asking him to say what ho knew of the examination. Mr Wade wrote as follows in roply to Mr Goyen's letter : "I received your memo of 13th inst., yesterday (19th February, 1895), so reply at once. With regard to your mannor towards Mr Fraser and his pupils at the examination, 1 certainly do not think there is any justification for tho terms you have underlined in the oxtracts from Mr Fraaer'a letter. You oxamined the children in a business-like way with a view to understand whab they knew, and I must say ib was nob to their credib tho way you had to pump them to geb anything like an answer ; for myself [ must say you examined the school fairly both as regards Mr Fraser aud his pupils. With regard to the extract quoted, you said nothing to prejudice the Committee againsb Mr Fraser. In fact, we remarked outside that Mr Goyen was very careful what ho said, so that I say with confidence you said nothing either for or against him, If my memory serves me righb, when we abked for your opinion of the school you said you could nob answer until you had looked up all the papers in tho oveniug, then you would send a reporb to the Board, and we should hear from the Board whab the condition of the school was. — I am, etc., Henry B. Wade, P.S.— I think Mr Fraser might have left out the harsh term «' hostile committee"men " ia the extract. Souio personal recriwtqiuftbioa went) oa brtflWA Ma Fruer »od tbii w ltfc<

neaa. Mr Fraser explained that the witness and he were not friendly. The witness replied that ib was Mr Frasor'a fault as ho had passed witness od (ho road withoub recognition. Mr Fraser went on to cross oxamino the witness on this wanb of friendship, and the truthfulness cr othorwiso of thn statements made. The Chairman ab longth piotettod against Mr Frasor's blow beating the witness Mr Fras'i* said when fnlso state* raonts were ma'ln by men who were not particular about their truth, ho hid '•uroly a right to show the Board in his own way the incredibility of the witness Tho Botrd did nob ihink thoso matters pertained to tho subjoct of tho enquiry, and Mr Goyon had no moro <iuostioiiB to ask of witness. Mr Goyon said it would bo impossiblo for him to mcot tho statements of Mr Frasor in tho time, and Tho Board realised that thoy could not \\\\'\>)\ that night. It was theroforo rosolvod to >djourn. •T. R. Elder, called by Mr Goyon, said ho had witnos^od Mr Goyon oxamino tho Mahono school, and his manner of dealing with tho children thoro was exceedingly caroful and kind. Mr Frasor : What haa that to do with tho examination of my school ? Mr Goyon 1 It has to do with your statemont that my manner with children throughout tho district is di-courtooua and unkind, it rofutea that, and tho Board will understand why I've cillod Mr Kldcr. Mr Frasor domurrod to handing in his wiitton statement ; but ou being informed that it could not bo considorod as ovidenco un'oss it waa handed in ho consented. Mr Goyen said ho would call no more witnosses, but thought if tho enquiry was to be adjourned to Dunedin Mr Frasor should bo present. Mr Frasor wantod tho enquiry to go on thoro and then : but tho Boird resolved to pay his and Miss Andrew's txpenses to Dunodin and rosumo tho enquiry there at 0 o'clock on Mr nday evening. Mr Frasor agreed to this all hough it would be i\u considerable inconvonionco to himself. Tho Board then adjourned to moot in Dunedin. whon M- Goyon will bo hoard in reply to Mr Frasor, and Mr F.tzgorald's evidence will bo takon. Mr Frasor has the right to reply to Mr Goyen boforo tho Board comos to a decision.