BOARD OF EDUCATION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4274, 1 December 1874, Page 3

BOARD OF EDUCATION.

The adjourned meeting of the Board was held yesterday. Present—Messrs. Brandon (in the chair), Hutchison,, and Toomath, The minutes of the previous meeting having been read and confirmed, THE DISPUTED BEAT AT THE BOARD. The Secretary read the opinion of the At-torney-General as to the legality of Mr. Bunny’s appointment by the Superintendent to a seat at the Board. The opinion was to the effect that the Superintendent had not power to appoint Mr. Bunny ; that the appointment under the peculiar circumstances rested with the Board ; and that therefore Mr. Bunny’s appointment was illegal. The Chairman said he thought it right to bring to the notice of the Board a little piece of impertinence which had been indulged in by some wretched penny-a-liner employed by the Tribune. Of course, the paragraph to which he was about to draw attention could not have been written by the editor, Mr. Hutchison, as he wan lauded very considerably. The paragraph was as follows ; —“ Apropos of the disputed Education Board appointment for Eeatherston, we understand that the opinion of the Attorney-General is that it does not vest in the Superintendent, but in the Education Board, and that Mr. Bunny has no right to a seat at the Board. We do not see how any other opinion could well be arrived at, save to carry out some foregone conclusion, and yet we may be permitted to feel a pardonable

pleasure in our view being confirmed by the highest legal authority in the country. Mr. Hutchison was right after all, and it is to be hoped that the Chairman and Secretary of the Education Board henceforth will remember the duty they owe to the members of that Board, and instead of acting without any authority from them, as in this case, will take care that all letters and documents are submitted to the Board and instructions taken thereon, before they commit themselves and others to a course of action as illegal as it is improper.” He might explain that all he did was to request the Secretary to write to tho Eeturning ■ Officer, asking him to inform the Superintendent to the cause of failure of the election, and the officer reported accordingly. So far from taking upon himself to do anything that was illegal or improper, he thought he suggested that tho Board should appoint Mr. Bunny, so that if the Superintendent were right, that appointment would hold good, and if the Superintendent were wrong, that then the appointment of the Board should hold good, and Mr. Bunny would be legally appointed. Mr. Hutchison : I don't know what you suggested, Air. Chairman, but I know you instructed the Secretary to write to the Eeturning Officer to do a certain thing, which I submit you had no right to do. The Chairman ; I submit I had the right. We did not know, nor did the Superintendent know from tho proper quarter what was tho cause of failure of the election, and therefore I had the right to ascertain the real cause in order that the proper steps should be taken to fill up the vacancy. Mr. Hutchison ; You have no business to instruct the Secretary to write any letters on behalf of the Board, unless, the members of the Board are aware of it. ' The Chairman : The Superintendent may have had something to do with it. The proper course for the Eeturning Officer was at all events to make a return of some kind to him. Mr. Hutchison : What I complain of is that the Chairman has no right to take such a course without ascertaining the feeling of the Board. J The Chairman : The chairman has a perfect right to see that all matters come before the Board in proper order. Mr. Hutchison ; But this did not come before the Board at all, and I say that that is simply treating the members of the Board with great discourtesy. The Chairman : It is nothing of the sort. Yon may hold your opinion ; I hold mine. Mr. Hutchison ; And your opinion turns out to be wrong. The Chairman : It turns out to be nothing of the sort. Mr. Toomath : I move that, in accordance with the opinion of the Attorney-General, Mr. Bunny be appointed a member of the Board in lieu of Mr. Waterhouse. The Chairman (to Mr. Hutchison) : Do you object to that ? Mr. Hutchison ; I don’t object to that. I don’t object to anything that’s proper. The Chairman ; You just now objected to the minutes of the last meeting. Mr. Hutchison : I did nothing of the sort, Mr. Chairman. I said they were correct as far as I knew. I was not present at the last meeting. Mr. Toomath’s motion was then put and carried. THE INSPECTOR’S REPORT. Mr. Toomath moved that the Inspector’s report be now taken into consideration. The Secretary explained that the Inspector had gone away to Nelson to spend his holidays, in accordance with an intimation which he made to the Board at its last meeting. Mr. Toomath : I appeal to you, Mr. Chairman, if I did not object to leave of absence being given to the Inspector. I have taken a lot of trouble to go through his report, and have brought down my amendments for discussion, thinking the Inspector would be here to assist the Board. If he’s to go away when he likes, I shall move that he be dismissed. The Secretary repeated that Mr. Lee informed the Board at its last meeting that he proposed to go away on his holiday before the end of the week. The Chairman : Mr. Lee did not say anything about it until after I left the chair. Mr. Toomath : Has any written application for holidays been laid before the Board ? Did you grant leave of absence, Mr. Chairman ? The Chairman : No. Mr. Toomath : Then I will be no party to it. The fact is, we have too many officers. Either we don’t want a secretary or we don’t want an inspector. I should like to know whether the public will be willing to find between £4OO and £SOO a year for officers who travel about the provinces. I have postponed this matter several times for the attendance of the Inspector, and now we are told that he has gone away on a holiday. The Secretary : It was decided that the Inspector should have the same holidays as the masters. Mr. Toomath : I shall not object to that if you and the Inspector will accept the same salary as the masters receive. The Chairman : I think, Mr. Toomath, you ought to postpone this matter for a larger meeting. It is an important question, and involves the expenditure of a large amount of money. Mr. Toomath : I quite agree with you, sir ; it is an important question, and it is one that should be dealt with speedily. I see the Inspector professes to have travelled over a large extent of country, to have examined several schools, containing in the aggregate 350 children, and all this was done in the space of thirty-five hours ; that is at the rate of ten children an hour. These flying visits are like passing drops of water through a cullender.

Mr. Hutchison : I think there is a minute on the book giving the Inspector permission to inspect certain schools during his holiday, is there not ? The Secretary read the minute, which empowered the Inspector to inspect the native schools on the East Coast, in accordance with a request of the General Government. Mr. Hutchison : That minute does not mean that he shall inspect any schools. I understand the Inspector is somewhere in Nelson or Marlborough inspecting schools, and that is rather a strange way of taking a holiday—going about inspecting schools anywhere. That seems to mo to be simply a means of adding largely to his salary. The Secretary ; Mr. Lee has gone away, trusting to the good faith of the Board that he should have his holiday, and no objection was made at the last meeting, Mr. Toomatii : I beg your pardon; I did object. Mr. Hutchison : I have had a number of complaints from people ip Eangitikei, who complain of the hurried way in which the (Inspector conducted the last examination there—that the prizes were not awarded properly, that he had not time to do it. Of ■ course, disappointed parents will always say these things, but really the time was too short to enable him to arrive at a proper understanding of, what the children could-do. There was no need of his hurrying the examination in order to enable him to get away to Blenheim or Nelson. After a few further remarks, the consideration of the Inspector’s report was again postponed. miscellaneous business. Mr. Hutchison drew the attention of the Board to the fact that a person who had been employed as assistant teacher to Mr. Powell at Wanganui had been charged with forgery at the Wanganui Eesident Magistrate’s Court, and committed for trial. He protested against the appointment of such persons to bo masters of schools under the control of the Board. The Secretary explained that the person referred to was only employed temporarily, and that the offence alluded to was committed after he had loft the school. A letter from the settlers of Karori complained of the closing of the district school, and requested the Board to appoint Miss Stevens, of the Jolmsonvillo school, to the charge of the Karori school until the Board could appoint a master. Mr, Toojiath objected to the removal of Miss Stevens, on the ground that the people of Johnsonville had already been subjected to considerable inconvenience. He would propose that Miss Devereux be removed from the

Lower Hutt to Karori, and that Miss Sinclair, of the Taita, be requested to fill the vacancy at the Lower Hutt. The motion was agreed to. In accordance with a proposal from the General Government, the Board agreed to take over the control of the school at the Danish settlement, Masterton. Mr. Reynolds, chairman of the Local Board at Taratahi, wished to know whether the Board would be willing to purchase another site for a school at Taratahi, as Mr. Perston, who had promised a site, had died intestate. The matter was deferred until the views of Mr. Perston’s heir-at-law could be ascertained. Mrs. Wilkinson, of the Hopper-street school, was granted a bonus of £l2 10s., in consideration of the extra duties entailed upon her by the largely-increased attendance at her school. - A letter from Mr. Hannah, who demanded reasons for his dismissal by the Board, was ordered to lie on the table. In accordance with a resolution moved by Mr. Toomath, the Secretary was instructed to write to other school boards, for tho purpose of ascertaining how they fix the standard of their teachers, and by what rule they tested thenqualifications. The Secretary was authorised to incur an expenditure of £8 in putting up a fence and effecting other improvements, at Mr. Mowbray’s school, Syduey-street. Mr. Hutchison brought under the notice of the Board the fact that tho people of Upper Tutaenui were anxious to have a female teacher, hut"the matter was postponed. The Board then adjourned till next Monday, when the ordinary fortnightly meeting will be held.