The Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 1878.

Oamaru Mail, Volume III, Issue 651, 4 June 1878, Page 2

The Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 1878.

Whatever may bo »',.. merits of the disagreements which have lately arison between tho Otago Hoard of Kii>i-;ti.;:i and certain School Committees, then- ;•> one question upon which there cannot be Two. opinions— VHUJI'U IM EnUCliHo'lt 'ACf' provides that certain things shall be done, tho «»overning body appointed under the Act »MUM pTUtidu tlm fulida I" du Uiuia. - Thero is, however, n\tho presentnminent, some disagreement on' lliis point oCI ween the Otago "Board of Education and the Oamarn Schools Committee. It is laid down in the Act that singing and drill shall be taught in the Government schools, and, under tho anthority of the Act, the Oamarn Schools Committee, viewing that it was as necessary to teach the • children these branches as it was to teach them anything else, included them in the course of instructs ii imparted in the schools that are supposed to somn extent : to be under their management. In doing this, the Committee has incurred some I expense for salaries which they very ! naturally expected t» be met by the Education i;..:„rd in the usual way. The Board, however, says that it cannot pay the salaries of the-singirig master and the drill instructor, amount.iiig_x> "" total of Ti7s per anniun, ; and seems, ,to GJ.-.wt this to be done by the School The Act lavs down that singing and drill, .shall bo taught in the Ooverumoutschouls; but it does not suy .that .the expense of doing this shall be met by School -Committees. The amount is too paltry to make a fuss over; but .the. -principle involved is of more importance... I'eside3 this, the Board, being entrusted with funds for the administering • t»f '■ education "in the Provincial District, should fairly apportion- the funds at Us command. Country Committees, more especially, should—and lio doubt would—have the sympathy o£ tlve Board, wen- it not that that body is unfairly constituted. Devoid of representatives from the majority of the country districts, it feels that .it .is responsible only to itself, and that it can with impunity wink at tin: requirements of Country School Committees. It may bo argued that Diiticdin has no representative on tho Board. 'But Hm Board sits in Dtinedin, and under tlm searching eyo of the people of that city-ic is compelled to listen to their demands, and attend to their educational wants, whilst Vo cannot even obtain fuel for keeping tires burning in our chilly schoolrooms during the winter months. We are wrong. Fuel is provided ; but the Secretary (Mr. Hakw) was compelled to become personally responsible for payment for the same, .choosing father to do that than suffer the poor little school children to bo frozen. Mr. Uakdv will,, of course, go round with the hat, and the parents will have to pay for wanning their children, and making them capable of receiving instruction. Education is provided by the Government—that is; the three IV s; very little more—but, following the example of the person who invited a friend to ioa, and said that lie must bring his own tea and sugar, it is stipulated that parents must set'd their own coats to warm their children's hands, so j that they may be capable of using them, and to warm the schoolroom, in order that they may not catch cold. Then, the Board repudiates all expenses' incurred under the old system ; umd, whilst it takes over all Government school buildings.it refuses to pay any liabilities' that may have been incurred with regard to the samo by School Committees'" with the intention of meeting them out of school fees. The Oamaru School Committee discovered this, and i naturally felt very much aunoyod at the injustice of such conduct; and now we observe that tho Papakaio is in tho samo trouble, having expended Ll?4 jtiafc before tho Act came into operation in repairing their sclfaolhousc, with the intention of meeting the expense out of thw year's school fees. But the Government abolished the, fees with the illea of providing children with better education under a colonial system, and thus deprived the Papakaio Cominit'leo and others of tho means of paying "any sums due on account of school buildings, unless they put their hands into tlmir own pockets. This is ono of the effects of tho superior system of education over which the House wasted bo much time last session, and which was to have proved such a boon to tire Colony. So far as we can see, it i 3 nothing like so ' satisfactory a method as thv one that was discarded : in'fact, it is a great mistake. . ; The constitution of the Education Board is. however, one of the fertile causes of the difficulties and disagreements that have arisen. The Board, in informing the Oamaru Committee that it could not pay •pay for instruction in singing and drill, meant either that those two branches of education are unimportant, or that the Oamaru-School.Committee must pay the salaries of the instructors itself. The Board was; or should have been, aware that the Act mentioned these two branches of education amongst the things that are- to bo taught in Government schools, and, if it was not in a position to d-.fray the.expense entailed in imparting a knowledge of singing and drill, it should have iiouiisd the fact to School Committees. Nothaving done this,- whatever may be the intent!.>.'is of the Board with regard to ithe futnre, it is plainly responsible for the expense already incurred by School ■ Committees in teaching these tilings. We : f.i i'm-thei: - still, aud maintain that it. is , the duty of the' Board to see that vocal, music and drill arc taught in the Public , School;; tinder their supervision. There is something more to bo urged in favor of singing than that it is an accomplishment. The exercise alone necessary to citable ! children to acquire a knowledge of vocal music can scarcely fail to have a most salutary effect upon their moral and physical natures. Then, with regard to •drill, who is there who doubts for one moment that it will tend to make men worthy tho name—men, brave, strong, and expert—of our school-boys. It is no valid excuse that the Board has not the money to pay -for these things. If; it has not the 'noney to' enable it tapronerjv cam* out the most imppr:tel? provfslSir'oT .he" Act;"lt sftould either insist upon 'Jie Government providing the necessary funds, or resign. It must come to tlis, or the School Cotnmitteea will, in >iisgast, throw up -the

&pongjJ£\\Vhat would then be the use of Education Act, its advocates went into fits ; or, utility the patriotic and disintereJted Otago Education Roard that ho much took the fancy of Mr. Doxald Rkid % „