AN ACT TO MAKE PROVISION FOR EDUCATION IN THE PROVINCE OF AUCKLAND.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 31, 1 March 1873, Page 3

AN ACT TO MAKE PROVISION FOR EDUCATION IN THE PROVINCE OF AUCKLAND.

f Be it enacted by the Superintendent of the Province of Auckland with the advice and coneent of the Provincial Council thereof as follows : — 1. The Short Title of this Act shall be “ The Education Act 1872” 2. “ The Common Schools Act 1869” “ The Common Schools Act 1869 Amendment Act 1871.” “ An Act to appropriate the Grammar School Trust Funds 1868 ” and “ An Act to appropriate the Grammar School Trust Funds 1869 ’’are hereby repealed. 3. All property matters and things whatsoever vested in or acquired by the Central Board of Education the Board of Commissioners constituted under an Act to appropriate the Grammar School Trust Funds any Officer of the said Boards or either of them and the Superintendent of the Province of Auckland under any of provisions of the said repealed Acts shall be vested in the Superintendent of the Province of Auckland and his successors in Office to be by him and them held in trust for the purposes of this Act and all monies owing to the said Central Board of Education Board of Commissioners or either of them or to any person on behalf of them or either of them under any powers or provisions of the said repealed Acts shall be due and payable to the said Superintendent and all property matters and things hereafter to be acquired by the Education Board hereby constituted shall from time to time become and be vested in the said Superintendent and bis successors in Office to be held by him and them in trust as aforesaid. 4. Nothing herein contained shall prevent the collecting and recovering of any rate or rates lawfully imposed under the authority of the said repealed Acts or any of them. 5. The Superintendent and the members of his Executive Council for the time being together with the Speaker of the Provincial Council four persons to be elected annually by the Provincial Council and three persons to be nominated and appointed from time to time by the Chief Justice or other resident Judge of the Supreme Court at Auckland shall constitute a Board for carrying into effect the provisions of this Act which Board shall be called “The Board of Education ” and wherever in this Act the term “ The Board ” is used it shall be construed to mean the Board of Education con■stituted by this Act and in the event of any vacancy occurring by reason of the death or resignation of auy member of the Board such vacancy shall as soon as may be thereafter be filled by the election or appointment of some person in like manner as the original election was made Provided that in the event of any vacancy occcurring by reason of the death or resignation of any elected Member of the Board it shall be duty of the remaining Members of the Board to elect a successor to fill such vacancy forthwith Provided that such successor shall hold office only until the next annual election by the Council and the elected members of the Board shall remain in Office until the election of tlwir successors and it shall be lawful for the Board to act in the execution of this Act notwithstanding any vacancy or defect in its constitution. 6. The Board shall exercise a general control and supervision over all the public schools which have already been established under the Common Schools Act 1869 and over all schools which shall hereafter be established under the provisions of this Act and shall promote the establishment of Educational Distretis and define the limits thereof and shall have power to alter such limits and to divide any such School District into two or more districts or parts of districts and to combine two or more School Districts into one or any such district to abolish as they shall see fit and the Board shall have the management and control of the Auckland College and Grammar School shall have power to establish and maintain Industrial Schools shall direct the expenditure and due application of all monies that shalf be raised under the provisions of this Act or shall be appropriated by the Superintendent and Provincial Council for the purposes of Education or shall from time to time accrue from any lands or property received for the purposes of general education within the province and shall thereout provide sites for school buildings and defray the expense of erecting or erecting and furnishing schools and building or erecting teachers’ houses and fencing and improving the land thereunto annexed and pay to the teachers of the schools under their control such salaries as to the Board shall seem fit And the Board may make rules and regulations to provide for the general conduct of schools established under this Act for the examination of teachers and of candidates for scholarships as hereinafter provided and generally for the more effectually carrying out the provisions of this Act And it shall'be the duty of the Board annually to fix the amount of the rate to be levied by the Superintendent in pursuance of Clause 37 of this Act Provided always that it shall not be necessary in any proceedings to be taken for the recovery of any such rate to prove the fixing of such rate by the Board otherwise than by the production of the Gazette containing the proclamation of the same by the Superintendent as provided in this Act. 7. The first meeting of the Board shall be held at such time and place as the Superintendent shall appoint and thereafter the Board shall hold two General Meetings one in the month of March and the other in the month of September in every year and such meeting shall be convened by fourteen days previous notice to be published in such manner as the Board shall direct and it shall be competent for the Secretary whenever he shall see occasion nr shall be requested by the Superintendent or any two members of the Board to call a special meeting of the Board and every meeting shall be convened by circular or in such other manner as the Board shall direct and a quorum of the Board having duly met may from time

to time adjourn to meet at such other time and place as they shall appoint provided that all meetings of the Board shall be open to the Public. 8. All the powers given to the Board by this Act shall be exercised at meetings convened as aforesaid at which meetings three members shall be a quorum and the Superintendent when present shall s be ex-officio Chairman of such meetings and in his absence the members present shall elect one of their number to be chairman and on every question before the Board the decision of the majority shall be final and conclusive but in case the votes shall be equal the chairman sliall have a casting vote and no resolution or decision come to at any meeting of the Board sliall be revoked or altered at any subsequent meeting theredf within twelve months from the passing thereof unless notice of the intention to propose such revocation or alteration shall have been given at a previous meeting of the Board and sliall have been made known by circular to each member of the Board at his usual or last known place of abode. 9. Minutes of the proceedings of the Board shall be regularly entered in a book to be kept for that purpose and at every meeting of the Board the minutes of the previous meeting shall be read over and signed by the chairman of the meeting at which the same shall be read and the minutes when so signed shall be held to be a true statement and record of the pro- 1 cecdings of the Board fo all purposes whatsoever. 10. The Board shall cause its accounts to be balanced up to the thirtieth day of June in each year and shall cause a full statement to be prepared of all Contracts entered into and of all monies received and expended during the year preceding and of all monies due to and by the Board under the several distinct heads of Grammar School Trust Fund and Public School Fund which balance sheet and statement shall be laid before the Board at its general ; meeting in September in every year andshall be audited by the Provincial Auditor and shall then be forwarded by the Board to the Superintendent who shall cause the same to be laid before the Provincial Council at its next meeting together with the Annual Report of the Inspector of Schools hereinafter mentioned. 11. The Board shall from time to time appoint a Secretary who shall give such security as the Board shall direct and whose duty it shall be to attend all meetings of the Board to take minutes of the proceedings to issue all notices required by the Board to conduct the correspondence and to preserve all documents letters and papers relating to the business of the Board to keep accounts of all monies due to or by the Board and produce the same at all ordinary meetings of the Board to collect monies due to the Board and to pay the same as the Board shall direct and generally to J perform all such duties as may be required of lim by the Board to be performed for the purposes of this Act. 12. The Board shall appoint an Inspector of Schools whose duty it shall be to visit and inspect all schools under the control of the Board throughout the Province at least onte in every year and from time to time to investigate and report upon any matters relating to the educational condition of any school district and in such manner according to such directions as shall from time to time be given by the Board in.that behalf and every school teacher already appointed or to be hereafter appointed under the provisions of this Act shall whenever required to do so by the Inspector examine tbe scholars nnder his charge in the presence of the Inspector and it shall be the duty of the Inspector to take part and assist in such examinations and he shall likewise under the direction of the Board investigate and report' upon all complaints which shall or may at any time be made to the Board either by the School teachers or the School Committee relative to the said Schools or to any matter connected therewith and also upon any special matter upon which the Board may desire to be informed in such manner as the Board shall direct And the Inspector shall make an Annual Report to be presented to the Board at the General Meeting to be held in the month of September in every year as aforesaid or at an adjournment thereof containing an account of the transaction of the Board up to the 30th day of June immediately preceding and such annual report shall contain a statement of the number of schools in every/ educational district within the Province the statistics of attendance at such schools the proportion of such attendance to the population of such district the number of schools which hate been established under this Act and the number of additional schools which may be required in the districts or localities where the same have been established or are required and such changes or alterations as shall have taken place in regard to such matters since the last Annual Report so as to exhibit yearly complete statistics so far as the same can be obtained of education in connection with the Board within the Province, and such report with any resolution or resolutions of the Board thereon shall be forwarded by the Board to the Superintendent and shall be by him presented to the Provincial Council within fourteen days of commencement of the fission next following the said month of September or as speedily as possible thereafter should the Council be then in session and the Inspector shall further perform all such other duties as shall be required of him by the Board for carrying out the provisions of this Act. 13. The Board shall pay to the Secretary and to the Inspector of Schools severally such salary as the Board shall think fit and over and above such salary may make such reasonable allowance for travelling expenses to the Inspector of Schools as think fit Provided that the officers appointed shall 'hold office during the pleasure of the Board and further that it shall not be lawful for any minister of religion to hold the office of Secretary or Inspector of Schools nnder this Act.

14. For the purpose of this Act the Board may from time to time constitute Educational Distriete within the Province either of its own motion or upon receipt of a memorial as in the loth clause of this Act provided and such dis* t nets shall be constituted by notification in the Provincial Government Gazette setting forth the boundaries of the said districts and in like manner the Board may alter or amend the boundaries of any district or abolish such district. Provided always that the boundaries of any such district may be generally defined as the district comprised within a certain fixed radius of any given point or points within the province. 15. Upon the memorial of not less than ten of the householders residing in any locality or district within the Province not yet provided or inadequately pro vidcd with the means of common school education praying for the formation of such locality into an Educational District the Board shah forthwith ascertain fully the circumstances of the case and if it shall appear to the Board that there exists a necessity for better provision being made for public education in such locality or district into an Educational District within the meaning of this Act it shall be duty of the Board to create such locality an Educational District accordingly. 16. Whenever an Educational District shall be created by the Board as aforesaid the notification thereof shall also apjxiint a time and place of meeting at which time and place all householders resident within the said district being persons of twenty-one years of age and upwards may attend and the persons present at such meeting' being such duly qualified householders as aforesaid shall elect a chairman and shall thereupon proceed to elect five didy qualified householders as aforesaid and the persons so elected shall be called the School Committee and shall hold office until the election of their successors in manner hereinafter mentioned. 17. On some day in the month of January in each year except in the year 1873 a public meeting of the householders in every school district shall be held at a time and place to be fixed by the School Committee and notified by advertisement at least fourteen days previously in some newspaper circulating within the district and at such meeting a chairman shall be chosen and the School Committee shall give a Report of their proceedings for the preceding year and thereupon the householders present and qualified as aforesaid shall elect by a majority of votes a new School Committe for the ensuing year consisting of five persons duly qualified as prescribed by clause 16 for the election of the first School Committeee and may elect all or any of the persons going out of office to be members of such new Committee And if any vacancy or vacancies shall occur by death or otherwise in any School Committee the remaining members of the Committee whether a quorum or not shall be entitled and it shall be their duty to elect a qualified person or persons to fill such vacancy or vacancies Provided that at every such meeting convened and held for the election of members of a School Committee the chairman shall have a casting vote only and every voter shall be entitled to a number of votes equal to the number of the members to be. elected and may give all such votes to one candidate or may distribute them amongst the candidates as he shall think fit. 18. If any dispute shall arise respecting the validity of the proceedings at the annual or other election of. of any member or members of any School Committee the matter in dispute shall be submitted to the judgment of the Board whose decision thereon shall be final and conclusive and if in any case the electors in any educational district shall from any cause whatever fail to elect a School Committee upon the annual day of meeting as hereinbefore provided it shall be lawfid for the Board if it sliall see fit to fix another day for the election of a School Committee for such district and the same notice of such meeting shall be given mid .the same proceedings taken thereat as provided by_s2Sjtion 17 of this Act. vk