TARANAKI EDUCATION BOARD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIII, Issue 220, 26 September 1901, Page 2

TARANAKI EDUCATION BOARD.

The Education Board met on Wednesday. Present: Mr McAllum (chairman), M'ss Messrs Adlam, Wadp, AUsworth, Mackay, Keanedy, Fauli and Hignett. The architect reported that it had been found recess ry to excavate the | site for the Pohoku 1 a School, and he advised that (ho excavation should be extended at a c st of a v out 25*.

Mr Hignet moved that the work be doue, and that the committee be re-1 qursted to have logs removed, and a tree felled aa suggested by the architect,—Carried. Mr Tarrant wr</e inquiring if the Board intended to proceed with the erection of a school at Puniwhaka. 'i Mr Kennedy explained that the, site was not yet ready. It w»s decided to refer the letter to Mr Kennedy fjr his report. i The chairman's a'tion in granting Miss Dent luave of absence was confirmed. The action of the committers in c'osing Oakura and Opunake schools on account of sickness was confirmed. | I Miss Grant was given ttmperary

: leave of absence. I 1 Tbe Waitara Committee wrote calling the Board's attention to the Inspector's report as to desks and forms ac Waitara tchool, and asking tbat the fame be supplied at the earliest oppor-1 tunify. I Considerable discussion took place on the question of desks now available, also as to tbe damage done to desks through being pat outside on the occaeion of entertainments,, and as to supplying suitable desks,instead of the old ones. Eventually it was decided that the Inspector report on the whole question of school furniture, especially with reference to t£,e stock in hand. The i of v Miss Blake o (1), ar.d Misi Dent (Stratford) \ve. e accepted, and step 3 are to be taken to fill the vacancies. The Town Oojimi t e forwarded « copy of'-* If '- r w the Minister of, Education rel tive to constituting the Central School at- a, District; High S2LOOI, whertin it was urged that no further de'ay should take place in constituting such District High School. —To be acknowledged. Notification was received that a ropy of Hansard would be forwarded to the Board, as from tbe commencement of tbe sissior.--To bo acknowledged with thanks. The Inspector recommended the following pupils, who had parsed Standard VI with crei it, for free tution in secondary subjects: —Frank Marfell, Amelia Smith (the latter having passed Standard VII), Frankley-road school; Alfred Spango, Alfred Honnor and Florence Old, Huirangi School.—A copy ot the Inspectors letter is to b9 sent to the Department, and other j action is to be delayed pending a reply! as to the general question of these scholarships. The Inspector reported with reference. to Saturday afternoon classes for teachers, that Mr, 0. Johnson, who had been to Wellington for instruction, bad offered to give teachers twelve les• sonsin bush workfor J5lO. It was also reported* that a large proportion of the feachers wishing this course were willing to pay fees. ;* Tbe Chairman said the question was whether the Bmrd wished to pay the £lO for the instruction, or whether the teachers should pay for their owni lessons'

Mr. Hignctfc would like to encourage the teachers in taking lessons, and he moved that a letter be s^nt : to the Department, pointing out the success of the classes, and icquiring if the grant of .£IOO for this special work would' be continued. Mr. Faull pointed, out • that, the teachers ought to help themselves by contributing to the cost of their own special instruction, as it Was to their advantage to acquire knowledge of these subjects. ——- ■; : ( Mr. Mackay "supported the suggestion to .inquire of the Department as to the probable continuance of the grant of £IOO. What with technical training, kindegarten, etc,, he doubted if the Department knew where it was. 1 Mr. Allsworth thought that it was rather unfortunate that the Board did not possess full information when it started to spend the special grant of jS 100. It was never anticipated that (here would be such a large response, and as the a-\nngements for giving the lessons were on a capitation bisis it was by no means certain that instead of ha,ving £lO to spare there would not be a deficiency of quite that amount, if not more. . He was quite willing, in the event of a surplus of £lO being available, to pay that amount over to Mr. Johnson for giving instruction in brush work. At the same time teachers should not necessarily expect the Board to bear the expense of complet-j ing their qualifications as up-to-date teachers. He pointed out that the| greatest benefit of these special classes wou'd accrue to teachars in the larger 'school?, and that under present circumstances the teachers in the small schools would be unable to avail themselves of the instruction. He considered that the Boird should push on the establishment of a technical school. The Chairman agreed that teachers should bear the expense of completing their own armament, and that this was the course that had to be pursued in other avocatiocs. Mr. Wade, on the other hand, considered it was the Board's duty to afs'st the teachers by applying to the Government for funds, but fce would not countenance a grant out of the Board's funds. Mr. Hignett, replying to a remark of Mr. Allsworth as to the Board pushing forward the establishment of a technical school, said that the boot should be placed on another, and that it was the Borough Council who should ba urged forward in relation to the technical school. He considered that Mr. Johnson should be commended for his praiseworthy action. The mo'ion was carried. Mr. Mackay, pursuant to notice, moved that the salary of the ranger, Mr. Marchint, should be increased from £7 to £lO, but after some discussion, in which it was shown that he hid misunderstood the position under which the ranger was appointed to act for the Board while fulfilling similar services for the school commissioners, the motion was withdrawn. The Board went into committee to consider the Teachers' Selection Committee's report which recommended the followiog names to be forwarded to the committees named : —Stratfoul High School, W. R. Mechaelis, Thos. Blain, J. H. Baird; Cardiff, J. McKinnon, B. Bennington, W. Daveney, W. Sterling, E. Smith ; Wortley-road, B. O'Shaughnessy, W. Daveney, J. H. Buird, Thos. Blain, Miss Taylor. No applications were received for Ng»riki-road or Tongaporutu. On resuming, and before the recommendations were submitted for con-

firmation by the Board, Mr. Allsworth (referred to a teacher who had been I several years at an out-of-the-way j school, and wished a shift to a more centra) school, and whose name bad not been sent on to committees for selection. The teacher in question was an old servant cf the Board and should receive consideration.

) Messrs'. Mackay and Hignett supported the motion for confirmation, , which was carried On division, Messrs. 1 Allsworth and Kennedy voting against. I The Reserves Committee recommended that Mr. Kafski be grantid permission to erect a blacksmith's shop at Cardiff. Further inquiry was necessary in the matter of a reserve at Pukearuhe.—Adopted. , Accounts amounting to ,£1094 Oh 4d ' were passed for piynient.' ' i The Board then went into committee, to discuss reports by the Inspector on ! bis inspection of several schools, and on resuming the meeting was adjourned.