The Telephone. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1884. BOARD OF EDUCATION.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 58, 5 February 1884, Page 2

The Telephone. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1884. BOARD OF EDUCATION.

In our last issue we drew attention to reprehensible proceedings on the part of the Committee of the Newton East School, Auckland, in conjunction with the mean action of the Education Board of that district; but enough has not been written on the subject, and we now recur to it, as there are yet a few features of the case unnoticed. It would appear that a Mr Cooper has been acting as the champion of the Education Board, and writing to the -Vew Zealand Herald on the subject; but his statements and excuses do not tend in the least to exonerate the body he attempts to defend; in fact, his correspondence only appears to have made matters worse, if anything, as showing that a gentleman occupying a leading position can be induced to countenance acts of a contemptible character. Mr. Cooper was, it appears, a silent member in the matter—his sin was one rather of omission than commission ; nevertheless, he stands associated with men who are a disgrace to the position they occupy. We find that the Board was in the habit—when it had auy discreditable work to do-—of “ going into Committee and excluding press reporters,” for which the Herald brought that body so smartly to task that a resolution has since been carried that the representatives of public journals shall be admitted during any of the proceedings of that body. So far so good ; but the fact that the members of the Board have acted in a diabolical manner, and shown the “ white feather" when their mean schemes were found out, is quite sufiicient to cull for an enquiry into their conduct. With respect to the rejection of Mr. O’Donoghub as Head Master of the Newton East School, we find that a pupil of his, a lad named Parb, has been dealt with wrongfully and cowardly—inasmuch as the name of the boy—a successful candidate for a scholarship—was kept back, lest the success of the youth should militate against fitor plans, The Herald explains that by the word “their" it means “ wire-pullers, because some of the Board seem to be only dupes ; but they are quite as reprehensible in indolently allowing this intrigue to govern the proceedings of the Board. Instance the case of this suppression of the name of the lad Pabr. When the ‘ mistake ’ was disclosed, what did the members of the Board do ? Nothing Not one word of enquiry ; not one word of censure. Nobody wanted to know who was responsible, but the Board coolly and irfdolently acquiesced in granting another scholarship of £l2O and free tuition at the Grammar School, all at the public expense. No thought of making that £l2O come out of the pocket of the person who perpetrated the so-called ‘ error.’ No, the public’s back is broad. It can bear the penalty for the disgraceful trick that was exposed ; and all the while the Board seem to think that the public are even stupider than themselves, and do not see what they are doing.” Again, we find that “ very little of the actual proceedings of the Board of Education are done in open light, the system of going into Committee, which, despite the quibbling disclaimers of the Board, every member knows was expressly and admittedly for years only done to signify to the reporters that the Press was to retire—this system of going into Committee having been always resorted to whenever anything was to be done, whatever its nature, which it was not

deemed prudent for the public eye to see.” Now, it is very evident that the adoption of this privacy was caused through a desire on the part of some members of the Board to keep the proceedings at their meetings a secret from the public, and no other conclusion on this point can be come to than that the acts of the schemers would not bear the “ light of day.” But, this is not all the contemptible acts perpetrated by the association of choice and agreeable spirits ; for we learn that the salaries of the officials of the Board were “ raised 20 per cent., under the cover of darknessand it may be presumed that friends of members of that body were thus benefitted nt the public expense. The Herald further says, after referring to the advance of salaries; — " Yet even this we do not regard as comparable to the underhand intrigues which are the method in which the Board now carries out its purposes, and which every member of the Board must be regarded as conniving at, even though he be not actively participating. Some time ago there was avast parade of the Board’s resolution, to give all power into the hands of the District School Committees. That is now shown to be all a sham, and the manner in which the Newton East scandal has been worked affords a perfect illustration of what the object seems to have been. It was nothing more nor less than to facilitate intrigue, it being apparent that by working individual members of the Committee those who move the wires can effect their will." Then, as to the working expenses of the Board we find that the Auckland schools, with a roll of 16,101 scholars, cost in supervision by that body no less a sum than £1,04-1 ; while, in comparison, Olago, with a roll of 19,665, only costs £1,321 ; therefore, the management of the Auckland Boards entails an outlay of £320 per annum more than Dunedin, although the latter has 3,500 pupils in advance of the former under its care. Other examples of the extravagance, inconsistency, and nolle conduct of the Auckland Education Board could be cited ; but we think that enough has been produced to show that that body, in conjunction with the effeminate gathering styled the Newton School Committee, do not merit the confidence that has been unwisely imposed in them by the general public ; and that one and all of the ineapables should be called on to resign the positions they have, unquestionably, disgraced.