Director of Music Rebuked by Minister

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 700, 27 June 1929, Page 1

Director of Music Rebuked by Minister

MR. TAYLER’S ERROR NEEDS OF BLIND INSTITUTE (THE SUN’S Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, Wednesday. A strong rebuke to a Government servant for having urged people not to contribute to a deserving public institution has been issued by the Minister of Education, the Hon. H. Atmore, in connection with the Jubilee Institute for the Blind, Auckland, which is under his control, as far as education questions are concerned. In the May issue of the New Zealand “Education Gazette,” Mr. E. Douglas Tayler, supervisor of musical education, Education Department, wrote an article in which he stated that the .Tubilee Institute was not in need of donations at present, and that contributions could be better made elsewhere. The statement was brought under the notice of the Minister during his recent visit to Auckland, and he has written the following letter to Mr. Tayler: The authbrities in charge of the Jubilee Institute for the Blind at Auckland have drawn my attention to a few lines written by you in your official capacity, in which you are reported to have said that the Blind Institute in Auckland is so heavily endowed that it Is in no need of donations at present. The authorities inform me that your statement is incorrect, that they are in need of funds, and they naturally object to a New Zealand official asking that prospective donations should be diverted to institutions outside this Dominion. It will probably not be necessary for me, as Minister in charge to say that I hope ;\u will refrain‘from making any such statements in the future, as they are calculated to injure the institution, which has done, and is still doing, such excellent work in this Dominion.