EDUCATIONAL AMENITIES. The Professor and the Inspector.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 82, 27 December 1884, Page 3

EDUCATIONAL AMENITIES. The Professor and the Inspector.

At tho mooting of tho Board of Education on Friday last, gome discussion was raised by the reading of tho fol-

lowing letters : — " Education Office, December 11th, ISS4. — To the Secretary Auckland Board of Education : Sir, — Will you please lay before the Board the enclosed copy of a letter which I posted to Professor Tucker last Monday week, and to which I have received no reply. As Professor Tucker stated his opinion so publicly, I cannot do less than point out to the Board that I was not an applicant for the position referred to in his remarks. At the time when Professor Tucker gave notice of his motion I was not aware that there was a plan to put tho College under the supervision of one of the Inspectors, and I was in- receipt of the Board's letter of 1(> — 9— 'B4. When an appointment is to be made the merits of applicants even — I was not an applicant— are discussed in committee with due consideration for the reputation of those concerned. Aa far as lam aware, Profe&sor Tucker had no means whatsoever of judging of my competency for the principalship of the Training College except hearsay. Professor Tucker, knowing that he was speaking to the press, and, therefore, I presume, speaking deliberately, does not seem to have hesitated before expressing an opinion of a man of whom he knew so little. It is still in Professor Tucker's power to say on what grounds he made, in so public a manner, a statement calculated to injui'e me in the present and prevent promotion in the future. — I have, &c, Wm, ITiuler, M.A., Assistant Inspector." — The copy of letter enclosed was as follows : — " Mount Eden Eoad, December 1, ISS4. To Professor Tucker : Sir,— l read in tho ' New Zealand Herald' of November 29 that you stated at the last meeting of the Board of Education, when the question of the appointment of a principal to the Training College was considered, that you would ' strongly oppose the scheme of putting the College under the supervision of one of the inspectors,' and that you 'did not think that gentleman competent for the position.' As it is generally known that I am the Inspector referred to, will you please inform me whether your words have been correctly reported, and, if so, upon what grounds you have arrived at that opinion ? The same publicity will be given to this letter and to your reply aa has been given to a statement calculated to prove co detrimental to me.— I am, &c, Wm. Fidlbr."— Professor Tucker said that no verbatim report of what he had said on the occasion referred to had been taken. The words he had used were: — "I shall strongly oppose the scheme of placing the Training College under ono of the inspectorial staff. Moreover, it seems to me to be a dangerous experiment to put such an important institution under the control of one whose only claim to it lies in the fact that he is already employed by the Board as an Inspector. The fact that a man is a suitable inspector is no proof of his competence for an entirely different position. Personally Ido not consider that gentleman's fitness for this position demonstrated." lie did not at all impugn Mr Mdler's suitability for the position. After some conversation the matter was allowed to drop.