BOARD OF EDUCATION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4791, 31 July 1876, Page 3

BOARD OF EDUCATION.

The adjourned meeting of the Education Board was held on Saturday at half-past ten a.m. There were present—Messrs. Pharazyn ■ fin the chair), Gisborne, Beetham, Toomath, and the Bev. J. O. Andrew. Mr. Asdeew moved the following resolution, of which he had given notice at the previous meeting;—“That the Board, having understood from his Honor the DeputySuperintendent that it is contemplated to propose or sanction a grant of £SOO, or some such sura, for school buildings to a religious body whose schools are not under the control of the Board, the Board cannot approve of such a disposal of the funds available for education.” In moving this resolution he would state what was well known to the Board, that at last meeting Mr. Bunny had come in, and, in an off-hand way, made a sort of suggestion to the Board that they should approve of a grant of £SOO to be made by the Provincial Executive to one religious denomination in Wellington. He (the speaker) was entirely taken by surprise, but on going home and thinking the matter over he had come to the conclusion that it was an attempt on tho part of the Provincial Executive to take part of that s vote of money by the Provincial Govem- ' ment to the Board, and give it to ;the Roman Catholics, towards the cost ■ of the new schools which that body proposed to erect. If that principle were once admitted, however, there could be no reason why the whole of the ■ £6OOO grant to the Board should not be given to the Roman Catholic, English, or any other church schools. In the last speech made by his Honor the Superintendent he stated that tho sum of £IB,OOO would be at the disposal of the Education Board. The estimates were brought down in accordance with that speech, and it was clearly understood that the vote was to be administered by the Board. According to the arrangement made by the Government, the provincial votes were to be continued pro rala, and therefore the last vote of the Council in - ,-sid was subject to the same-condi-r’ liois as the money held by the Board for educational purposes. But it was now proposed to - - take £SOO of this sum and give it to a body with which the Education Board had nothing whatever to do,andinto whose schools thoy could not enter. The Board in defence of its own vote ought to take every means in its power to prevent the resolutions being carried out, and as a first step to that end, he begged to move the resolution standing in his name. Mr. Gisbop.se seconded the motion, and said whatever sympathy they all might feel with religious bodies who had to pay education rates and yet had conscientious scruples about permitting their children to attend the public schools, it was perfectly clear to him that tho giving of a sum such as that proposed by Mr. Bunny would be repugnant to tho Education Act, That Act certainly contemplated giving

money to church schools, but only on the fulfilment of these conditions, which were—that the Board should approve of the teachers in those schools, that it should approve of the made of teaching, and that the schools should be subject to inspection by the Board from time to time. None of these conditions were secured in the grant now proposed to be given. Another thing, he did not think the Act contemplated giving a lump sum in aid of building schools. It simply meant a grant from time to time in support of such schools, and according to the number of teachers attending the schools ; but in this particular case neither the public nor the Board could have any guarantee of the way in which that money (proposed to be voted unconditionally) would be disposed of. So far as the Board was concerned, the proposal was actually repugnant to the Education Act, and that should he clearly understood. Another question that might arise was whether the Provincial Government could legally divert this money in the way they proposed, which he very much doubted. The spirit of the Act was that the money voted for schools in the province should be paid to the Board, and dealt with by it. He was surprised to hear that such a grant as the one proposed had been seriously contemplated by the Deputy-Super-intendent, Mr. Bunny, and still more surprised to learn that it had received the concurrence of members of the Executive. Mr. George Hunter (who was a member of the Provincial Executive) had at the late ■ general election most strongly insisted that there should be nothing like grants of money for strictly denominational education. What, he would therefore ask, could be more inconsistent with such an expression of an opinion, and what could he more repugnant to the spirit of the Education Act, which went a good deal further than the majority of the electors approved of, than concurrence in the proposal to grant £SOO to a strictly denominational body. The Board had no security as to the manner in which that money would be expended. It might even be devoted to proselytism, or any other object than education. Whatever sympathy they might feel towards education undertaken by those schools, he felt it was quite impossible to sanction such a vote as this, and he thought it proper that the Provincial Executive should make that grant of its own accord. Mr. Andrew said as soon as he found there was a danger of this money being immediately paid, he at once addressed a strong viva voce protest to members of the Executive, Messrs. Hunter and Pharazyn. Those gentlemen did not expressly state that they approved of it; but he gathered from the remarks they made, that they certainly did. He had also gone to Mr. Pearce, being nnder the impression that he also was a member of the executive, and found that that gentleman sympathised warmly with his views on the subject. He at once communicated with the General Government, to prevent the sunr being passed by the auditor, and they did take certain quiet steps which delayed it. He had also introduced a Bill into the House of "Representatives to amend the Deputy-Superintendent of Wellington Bill, his object being to place it out of the power of the Deputy-Superintendent to deal with the public money in such a way. That Bill had been read a first time, and he hoped to see it carried, but technical difficulties might prevent its passing. But the Board ought to take some active steps to prevent the grant being made, because, if this money were diverted as proposed, the Board would have no security whatever that they would have one single halfpenny of the whole vote. The Chairman said it was an urgent matter, and he thought the Secretary should be instructed immediately to enter a protest on behalf of the Board. The resolution was then put and carried. Mr. Beetham moved, and Mr. Toomath seconded, —“ That the Board protests against the grant of any money by the Provincial Executive, as proposed, out of funds appropriated by the Provincial Legislature for education, and intended, as the Board believes, to be administered by the Education Board solely.”—Carried unanimously. Mr. Toomath moved, and Mr. Andrew seconded, —“That copies of these resolutions be forwarded forthwith to the Provincial Executive and the General Government of the colony.” Mr. Beetham remarked that as a member of the Provincial Council he felt justified in saying that the Council certainly understood that the money voted for schools would be spent through the Education Board only. He could not believe that the Deputy-Superinten-dent would persist in the plan after receiving the Board’s protest. The Board generally concurred that in the expressions of opinion given with regard to the action of the Provincial Government there had been no feeling about the grant owing to its being a Catholic school which was concerned. The Board merely contended for the principle, and were the same proposal made in respect to a Church of England or any other school, they would have felt as strongly on the subject. The Secretary was instructed to write to the General and Provincial Governments, forwarding copies of the above resolutions. routine business. On the recommendation of the Chairman of the Waverley Local Committee, the tender of Mr. Ross for some fencing round the school was accepted. The tender was for 12s. fid. per chain. The consideration of offering examiners remuneration was postponed. _ Mr. Gisborne raised the question, and ■ considered that the valuable services of Mr. Wilson should not go unrecognised by the Board. THE REES’ BEQUEST. With regard to the above, which has so often been before the Board, the following letter from Mr. Brandon, solicitor, to the Board, was read : “In accordance with the desire of the Board, that I should report on the Rees’ bequest, I forward herewith a copy of the judgment of the Chief Justice in the case of the Board against Harrison and another, by which it will be seen that the Board virtually succeeded, since his Honor decided that the Court would execute the charitable intention, and ‘ treat the institution specified in the will, not as the ooject, but only as the favored mode of carrying out the object—that object being the instruction of European children at Wanganui,” to the exclusion of the heir-at-law and next of kin. In the judgment of Harrison v, the Solicitor-General and the Board tho Solicitor-General has coincided with the decision of the Chief Justice, and has suggested that the real and personal estate, when ascertained, should be administered by directing that the same should be transferred to any educational establishments which, on enquiry, may be found to be existing at W and which in its constitution and character either corresponds, or nearly corresponds, with the educational institution indicated by the terms of the devise mentioned in the first paragraph of the declaration.— A. De B. Brandon. Wellington, July 21, 1876.”