New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4910, 16 December 1876, Page 2

New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16.

On the 3rd of November last an article appeared in these columns relating to the Wellington College. Among other statements that article contained the following passage;—“ But our chief object in referring to the mattter now is to notice another part of the same rumor. This is to the effect that the subsidy of £3OO which the University refuses has been, or is to be, recouped to the College, by a grant of £SOO from the General Government ; on what grounds given, or from what fund supplied, we are not able to say or to guess. It is also said that this money is to he appropriated to supplementing the salaries of the present masters of the College, and upon this point, if true, we are able to say something; and to say it plainly too. It this particular part of our information be correct, it will not surprise us; for it is only a repetition of what was done on one previous occasion with a sum of- the same amount, which was given by an extraordinary vote of the Provincial Council, and divided among the masters.” In our next issue appeared a lettter from Mr, Graham, the Secretary to the Board of Governors, the very first clause of which stated that “ your leading article of this day’s ■ issue is entirely at variance with fact.”

We certainly read this letter as plainly giving the contradiction to the statements in our article, and especially that chief one which we now quote. Notwithstanding that we pointed out, in our footnote to the letter, several self-contradictions of Mr. Graham, and some childishly reckless statements, we certainly concluded that the part of the rumor given by us which referred to the distribution among the masters of a second sum of £SOO was unfounded in fact. Any ingenuous person, we are certain, would have so read the letter of denial referred to. Now, we ask Mr. Graham is it the fact that since the conclusion of the financial year on 31st March last the distribution of this second supplementary sum of £SOO has been still going on 1 Is it not also the fact that Mr. Graham, at the time he wrote that letter of denial, was quite well aware of that fact ? We have good reason for asking these questions, and we should like to hear Mr. Graham’s answer to them. One of three things must necessarily he true : either Mr. Graham, when he wrote the letter, was simply' ignorant of ,the matter on which he assumed to contradict us ; or, again, he used certain language which, while apparently a substantive denial of our statements, left room for subsequent prevarication if the matter cropped up again ; or, once more, did Mr. Graham, knowing the true facts, deliberately misstate them 1 It is quite impossible for us, with what is before us, to say categorically which of these three supposititious cases may be the true one. But if the first be right, then, in that case, it . was weak and foolish of Mr. Graham to allow himself to he made the tool of others who had a greater interest than he in concealing the truth. If the second he true, it is a sample of curious disingenuoushess, - more contemptible even than a bold untruth. If the last supposition be the true case, we may safely leave that to the public to characterise as they think proper. Now, having said this much for Mr. Graham, let us state that we are informed, and fully believe, that this second supplementary sum of £SOO is actually in course of distribution, that several instalments of it have been paid to the masters of the College, and that another instalment is authorised by the Governor to be paid. Out of this ■‘£soo the second master receives at the rate of £250 per annum additional to his nominal salary of £4OO, thus making a total of £650: the mathematical master gets at the rate .of £l5O, thus making his effective'salary £SOO ; and the assistant master gets £IOO, thus making his. salary £350. Truly these gentlemen are well paid, seeing that the Professors of the Otago University get, we believe, only £6OO a year of salary. But now let us ask a few more questions on a point which at present. we confess we cannot understand, and which we think it quite essential in the public interest should bo made clear. In the report by the Principal of the, College, Mr. Wilson, addressed to the Superintendent,. and bearing date 19th June, 1876, we -find among the heads of income a sum of £IOOO granted by the Provincial Council; aad among the heads of expenditure we find the salaries of the three masters already named by us above

put down at the respective amounts of £4OO, £350, and £250. Now, in the first place/what became of that sum of £IOOO granted by the Provincial Council? Does any part of it go to supplement the nomimal salary of the Principal 1 And, again, how; come these masters’ salaries to be put , down at these amounts,/when they were and'are supplemented up to the actual remuneration, at the rate of £650, £SOO, and £350, respectively 1 But this is* not the whole of the case. Is it the fact, as we are -informed it is, that last year -the second master besides, and in.. addition to the supplementary £250, received a bonus of £IOO, thus making his effective remuneration the handsome sum of £750 1. Verily, if so, this gentleman’s services must be very valuable. o

These little matters certainly need clearing up;.-Mr. Graham is very prompt at dashing ( into , print—when it suits him or his friends. Perhaps he will clear up these pointsfor us ; but let us just hint to him that It is a very unprofitable game to play at fast and loose with a newspaper. A newspaper office is a place to which, by a 1 natural attraction, information on all subjects and from all sorts of sources is continually flowing, and sooner or later the whole truth is certain to come out. '

We may refer also to the letter of his Worship the Mayor published by us on Thursday. We think it is a serious matter in' itself, and one which we have heard parents complain, of. But it is chiefly noticeable as an instance of the pernicious way in which, as we have repeatedly said, this weak and ambitious notion of combining together in one institution two incongruous ideas, that of a school and that of acollege, prevails. If our information be correct, this is not the only direction this mischievous incongruity, which on a priori grounds we anticipated, is coming out in experience. We learn that some of the more advanced pupils complain bitterly (and naturally too) of the serious amount of work, properly and strictly collegiate, done for the and of the way it interferes with their proper school work. This is just what we expected would happen, and indeed, from the nature’ of the case, was certain in greater or lesser degree to happen. Boys, who need all their time and energy to learn things elementary of which they are ignorant, have neither time nor energy to give to' the studies which are proper to a college ; and masters, whose time and energy are expended in doing elementary work, are not in any sense in a proper situation to do collegiate work. The thing is unsatisfactory.