TARANAKI EDUCATION BOARD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIII, Issue 158, 25 July 1901, Page 2

TARANAKI EDUCATION BOARD.

The Education Board met on WedPresent: Mr. McAllum (Chairman), Miss Hey wood, Messrs Adkta, Allsworth, Kennedy, Faull, f>nd Hignelt.

The Chairman stated tbat he had bean obliged to appoint Mr. Bradbarj temporary t<ach»r at Norfolk-read o .ving to tbe outbreak of s arlet feve it the headmaster's house. His action was co firmed. L vo of a' eiv • w s granfetd to !Mr g j Wade : 11 Mac'- y. The Arc'ii eel's rep tt stated the contrac'or was nuking good progress with the ;Durham-rord rchool. He point d out tbe nec::s=ity of moving the old building to a spot indicated on a plan submitted, the Oomm'itee being willing to p»y half the cost.—The report was adopted. Tae Architect stated -that the contract for deike had expired.} Mr' Allsworth suggested calling for fresh tenders, , It was decided that fr.sh tenders be cilled foi desks, ersels, T squares, tables, and ether appliances ; specifications to b» drawn up by the Architect, The Tahora Committee forwarded a iequest fer out-offices; aho for house tllawance to the teacher. Th» Chairman stated that the Board had the msnev lor building a residence, but at present there w«s no site.

Mr. Allsworth strongly advocated granting house allowance, as at Poh#kur*. He pointed out tbat Tahora was she most outlying placi in the Boird's district, and the case deserved special consideration.

Messrs Hignett and Faullc n neurred. It d cided that the Archit c' forw,»id the Committee plans nf the ■build iu required, with a vi»w to ob tain an . s imate of > o^t; also that if house, a.lo '»ance be made the teacher as from July Ist. I'he qu"sti'>n of tha trar.s'er of the r ,eac!.er «t To!io to tbe Stratford District High School was discusied in i ommitte#. 0-1 resuminj; it wa- d>ciied that thi app, intmeut of an assistant m"ster at tbe District High School be left in the handa of the Chairman and Inspector. Ex ended leave of absence till 3rd w s, on the ground of ill health, granted to Mrs Satchell, t-ach'T at Bird r.md, and the Cbnirioan'a ac Ln in appointing Miss 'o p. r as t-mporary teacher was c>' firmed. A spifinl alio wane 3 of £1 10* was made to Miss Cooper for xpensts in travelling from Pohokura. O. Ti'inlinson's application for a lease of the Stanley-road R was reerrei to the Eesei vs Committee.

An explanation was received from d-e Chairman of the Pembroke-mad Committee stating that, the household ais were satisfied as to the legality of the eli-ction of the committee. The explication was deemed satisfactory. The New Plymouth Committee wrafe enquiring what action was b-icg taken r. 1 •. ive to the establishment of a Disr:"' High Sibo 1; also urging further ac'io-- tcwa' 's sacur' ig a technical, school.

Mr. Hign'ti consid red the enquiry as to a technic il school should wore properly have baen addressed to the Borough Council. Mr. Allsworth moved that the Committee be informed,that the matter of the Distriat High School is being held in abeyance pending the receipt of a •eply from the D'<partm c nt in reference thereto; and that ae io the si'fa for a •technical school, the matter has bsen referred to a committi e cf the Board. —The motion was seconded by Mr. Adlam and carried.

The High Sjhoil Bard tf Governors forwarded the following resolutions, pnßssd at a me6tiog held oa 19th in*t. : —(1) " That the Eduration B a d be info med that this Board is pre;a ed to join with it ia employing a te cher of drawing, the cost to this Boa d not to exceed ,£25 per annum." (2) " That tb© Education Board be inform*d that this Board is prepared Co give free secondary educat : oa to such puDils as may be recoramend«d by the Inspector, but not exciediag fift&en at pretest, and hereafter as the Board's funds will admit. In reply to Mr. All«worth, the Inspector slid that if the number of scholarships was limited to 15 it vroul i introduce the element of competition which it was the int*uti n cf the Department to eliminate. ; 'The Chairman stated that he had heard of many parents who woull 1 refuse to nl'ow their children to go to the Hifh Schoel, but would be glad to take advantage of a District High School. At the suggestion of Mr, Allswor hj, 'he matter was referred to the Finance Committee. Tbequestioa of exchange of trachva between S'anlay-roid and Hui raogi schools was considered. As, however, tbe Stanley-road tsacher declined to be a par< y to tbe proposed exchange, it was d cided that he bn requested to send in his resignation.

Mr. Faull dr®w attention to the provisoes of the Employers Lability Act and inqu'red as to the Board's position. The Chairman undertook to obtain all particulars. On the motion of Mr. Alkworth it was decided to leave ths matter in tho Chairman's hands on the understanding that he won' I take tV.o n' cessiry steps to protect the Boai d's in erests. |

the Returned Troopers Kecept'on Oommittte wrote askin.; the Boa'd to allow the schnn 1 childran to take part in fe' e proce sion on tha oceiision of the wi Lvmeto fi" returned men. It was de'ilel that the Bratd would not place any obstacle in the way of committees er-n'iog a holiday to the children in tfas date in question. The Stratford Bwo'igh Solicit®!wrote stating steps taken to give effe t to a proposed exchange of sections between tbe Council and tbe Board. Tbe muttar was deferred, pending receipt of the sanction of the Minister for Lands to tho exchange. • Tbe Inspector's report on tha expenditure of the .£IOO grant for instruction of teachers was r»fem-d to the Finsnco Oonamittso to report upon. Consideration of the Inspector's report on paying pupils at the Stratford District High School being »1 owed to attend fres of cost, th«y having qualified for free tuition, was dtferred. Messrs McAllum and Allsworth reported -,he result of their visit to Wellington to interview the Minister for Education. Ihey were e-eiveu by the Minister, Hon. W. C. Wa'ker, on Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Hogfce->, tiie Inspector-General, being present. In relation to general requirements they placed in the hands of the Minister the list of urgent works approved by tbj BearJ, and it was eary to see that tho total, amounting to over £12,000, fairly staggered him. He explained that his position was identical with that of tha Board, having only a fixed sum to divide Setwean the Boards, and he pointed out that in making tke division he bad treated the

Taranabi Board with special favour, 011 account, of its special difficulties. The deputation explained to the Minister that the Board had to mos)t exceptional demands for enlargement of existing schools, causud bj the rapid 'increase in emulation, also forereoting whjols in nswly settled distric's, and f. r gr#at.ly iucrtwsed domands for pain'iog i nd repairs raossd by th# ag> >f rnary of the existing buildings rho Minister promised consideration j f these matters when allocating the I ouilding grant this ysar. At a furthei | iu'erview or the following day the Minister stid it waj his intention to nterpret the t«rm " newly settled districts " in a reasonable manner, and in the widest po-si v, le sense c m istn it with the conditions aid down by Pur liament. The special ciscs submitted apie.T'.l to de?ervo his fiVourabl> consideration, and would eich be carefully considt-red. If the information supp'ied justified bim in doing so, a grant would be made for them.

The matter of the sinitary condition : of tha schools, particularly astosubica' air space referred to iu Dr. Valeniine's report on Leppertofl fchool, wan brought to the Minister's attention, ißd it was pointed out to him that in case of fire the Government r. built the schools, ai d he w«s a»k«d whether the Government would b) prepared to reinsta'e bu ldings condemned by the Public Health Officer. The Minister admitted that the question was of a very serieus nature, and would hive to be considered by the Cabinet For pressing t> qui'-ements he promised the Board from £4OO to XSOO oa account of the O'dina y bui'ding graut. In add'easing the Minister deputation had taken advantage of the opportunity of tendering »he congratu- j atioßS of the Board to him on thel honour conferied on him during tht late Royal visit, and in reply be reque ted the deputation to cjnvey to ,i>e Bo ird his heirty appreciation of it« congratulations. The repsrt alto rtferr-d to the interview, in conjunction with others, relative to the Op>ku Reserve, a report of which tug already bean published. In m>viog the adoption of the report, and a vote' of thanks to Messrs McAllum and Allsworth for the trouble they had taken, Mr Hignet rcfened to the fact thit l«st yeir the Eiuca'ioo Department had a ba'aaoe of £14,000,, and he considered the D>*p*itmont should' trfft*; Tajanaki; more liberally. At present it would seem that the b ilanre wfnt to swell the Government surplus, and he thought it was not right to curtail the expenditure on schools in this way, 1 The motion »ng seconded by Mr Faull, and carried. Is .vas resolved that the expenses of tbe deputation to Wellington should] be refunded.

Mr Allsworth, in thanking the Boird for its vo'e of thanks, exp'ained general matters not dealt with in the report. The Minister had < xpreised hw sympathy for' the Board in its efforts, and showed that he had allot ed to Tarmaki a sum of several hundreds of pounds in excess of what it was entitled to for building grant on tbe population basis. The deputation was satisfied that the Minister would do all he possibly culd for the Board. As to the balance of £14,000 mentions! by Mr Higoett, that was a very small item on the total expenditure by tbe Department. . Miss Heywood, and Messrs Adlam and Hignetc reported upon the pat.it,ion from Toko tettlers for the removal of the Toko school. The report was averse to the present schiol being removed, The report was received and held over for consideration at the next meeting, the members of the deputation being thanked for their services. A letter from Mr D. B. lMt.»y, late teacher at Kairoat", in reference to certain eharg> a alleged to have bean against him, was referred to the Inspector for his report. The following, appointments we:e mde : —Pohokura, M'S* llobb; MaImi and Purangi, Mr E.J. Humphries. Mr Hignett's notice of morion (alreidy published), dealing with the Inspector's annual report, was brought up and held over till next meeting, for consideration by a full Board, Accounts wtre paesed for payment. Mr Adlam reported on the rtquest for a school on the Kahui-road (Rahotu). Consideration of the matte's wag deferred. The Board then adjourned.