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Poverty Bay Standard, Volume 1, Issue 5, 2 November 1872, Page 2

We beg to call attention to the advertisement in our columns from the Chairman of the Gisborne School Committee. An earnest appeal is made to the well-disposed in the matter of education to guarantee an amount which will be liberally augmented by the Central Board, towards finishing the schoolhouse, and, if possible, to build a teacher’s residence. It is to be hoped,for our credit’s sake, that something will be done in this matter. Public i nstitutions require to be supported, and the advantages to be derived from those that give a liberal education to our children who are to take our places in the aftertime of life, beget a responsibility we cannot ignore with impunity, and which speak in eloquent, yet reproving terms, of our duty and indifference. Some time since an effort was made to obtain the consent of the settlers to a tax being levied by the school committee: this was resented on two or three grounds, the chief of which was that taxes were, unpalatable (no new theory, by the way) and that no difficulty would

be found in obtaining subscriptions for the necessary amount. This has not yet so resulted; for we generally find that promises are more abundant than cash, and any suggestion proves to be acceptable which will stave off the evil day, as some think it, of looking a necessity in the face. The committee resolved ultimately to petition the Board for leave to exercise their powers under the Education Act, and to levy a tax on the whole district; this, unfortunately, was a wrong conclusion to arrive at without knowing the extent of the authority vested in them to levy a rate. It appeared that the education district had not been properly defined and proclaimed, and their action was considered ultra vires. Our object is not now to discuss the amount of blame attachable to the Board for allowing any school to subsist in part on the capitation grants which are paid out of the Provincial Chest, without ascertaining from the committee that the Act has been complied with in every respect. We have, however, to deal with difficulties which are the outcome of the Board’s neglect, and we desire to do so as becometh men sensible of obligation. The committee find they cannot impose the tax, and have thrown themselves on the consideration of the Central Board, who have answered the application by generous proposals. .We should remember that as the district increases in wealth and numbers, our chances of remaining intact will be materially lessened year by year. Already the residents at Ormond have commenced operations for founding a local school there, with fair prospects of success, so soou as they can comply with the preliminary requirements of the Act. We cannot, therefore, reckon upon their further sunnort to the school £* Gisborne; and other c^9 t?icts nearer to us will soon have the same valid excuse. There is yet one phase of this question which seems to be too much overlooked. To obtain a schoolmaster fitted for his work, liberal in his ideas, sufficiently endowed with the dignified importance of instructing our youth in the laws which govern human life; one able to teach their moral susceptibilities the duty they owe to God and man, to impart an understanding by which they can appreciate their own being, and the value of their lives to others, to train their intellects up to a vigorous knowledge of, and intimate acquaintance with, the higher branches of education, to guide their tastes and mould their characters so that they may fill an honorable position in the world. We say to obtain such an one, demands that we should compensate him according to the expensiveness of his own attainments, the benefits of which we are reaping through our sons. Our duty then is clearly to provide the gentleman in charge of the Gisborne school with an accommodation more fittingly commensurate with his position and the positive requirements which press themselves upon our notice at every turn. The prosperity which is granted to us cannot be better applied than by conferring as a sort of fruits, some of the pleasures which accompany it, and hv those means raise up institutions, die memory of whose founders will evoke a blessing in days to come from the participators in their advantages, when we are no more to be seen.