The Patea Mail. Published Wednesdays and Saturdays WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1875.

Patea Mail, Volume I, Issue 71, 15 December 1875, Page 2

The Patea Mail. Published Wednesdays and Saturdays WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1875.

At the meeting of the Education Board on Monday, the Reserve question Was definitely settled, as much to the comfort of the general public, as the Janice of mind of individual members, the Chairman more particularly. Direct votes of want of confidence are not pleasant stumbling blocks for the beads of public bodies to break their shins ami lose their tempers over, and Mr Middletons, we are sure, is exceedingly well pleased to have got through his somewhat unpleasant baptismal ordeal as Chairman. Happily, for him and the Board, the reserves fetched good prices, though at the Sami' time not so much as would have been the ease had they been submitted to auction. Jii proof of this, we could quote two special cases, in one of which there were people ready to give double the sum that the laud was lot for; and in another, where the section was withdrawn, when a townsman would have hid fifty per cent over what was apparently a high reserve. Still, on the whole, we must admit that the tender system, if not the success anticipated by its supporters, at least was not a failure, and a large sum will be annually gathered for educational purposes from the result of the proceedings of Monday’s meeting. At lire same time, we must, in fairpiay, bear testimony to the perfectly upright and straightforward manner in which things were managed, and it is satisfactory to know that an attempt to obtain the sanction of members to a variance in the conditions was put down at once. If these bad been departed from in one particular, the whole might as well have been set at naught, and, in adhering strictly to them, members only did their duty. Having admitted so much, there is another pleasant trait in the proceedings of the last meeting. That is the tacit agreement to work in unison with the wishes of the public, as far as the disposal of remaining reserves go, by adopting auction instead of tender. As will be seen by the report in another column, a further batch of reserves are placed at the disposal of the Board for the purposes of Educational revenue, and, though nothing was said as to the past, it was agreed without discussion of any kind, that those leases should be sold by auction on the Bth of next month. These, by the way, are likely to fetch high prices, and the Board are likely to have large funds at their disposal from all sources, reserves, taxation, &c. All’s well that ends well, we are told, and the hurly-burly that has been raging for the past few weeks on this subject seems to have come to a termination, agreeable to all parties. On the one hand, the lands have fetched very fair prices, and so one of the greatest dangers is swept away, whilst the utmost fairness characterised the whole proceedings, so that the greatest caviller could not complain. On the other hand the Board has yielded to public opinion, and adopted the system that was agitated for, and may now be considered as permanent in future. Thus, to a great extent, both sides are satisfied, and both have won a victory ; it is to be hoped that nothing to create a similar breach may again arise. The question has been fully, and more than fully discussed, and thus is disposed of finally. Now, all the Board have to do is to devote themselves zealously to the duties they have undertaken, and use judiciously and to the best advantage in the cause of education, the handsome income that they find themselves endowed with.