THE HIGH SCHOOL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 44, 14 August 1911, Page 8

THE HIGH SCHOOL.

t'IKNTITHTKIN OK TIIK HOARD. A I'llAMiK SIMiUKSTICD. A uptvliil niri'linjf of the board of jrovonioi'H o.f Mm N«*w Plymouth High School w»ifl liehl on Krldiiy afternoon to coimlili'i' a prop Mill by Mr, llutchen fhiiil, the oimlitiiMiiu of the board should 1m iilU'l'i'il. There ivwn picitcnl.: MeHHrs. N. K, MiielHiiiuild (I'hiiii'iimn), 11. JtyreKi'imiy. I), Hulelini, K. Dockrill, M. Knisor, and 8. Percy Ninlth.

11l i»|M,'iiliif{ Oil' Mifi'l.iiiK the chairman explained that n little dolay hud occurred In holding the mi'i'l.iiig. On tho Ili'Hl, ilnto for which it. Has hct down Mr. lluli'liiMi found Unit In' would be oul, of town. Tlii'ii notices were gent out culling thu uiceling for "Wednesday, Anigntl, II," wheri'im I'Vidny \vn,s the I Mil. Hi' hoped thn/(. members had not been inconvenienced by this mistake. Mr. Iliitchcn said he felt regret and annoyance at the delay. It was importmil, if hiH motion were carried, that the iill.nrn.liun in the constitution should hr carried out during the present session of Parliament. His purpose in bringiiijj; forward tho resolution was Himply to promote what hj« considered the wellbeing of the school. He had no intention whatever of refloating on the past management of tho board. The ground of his resolution wis that the public hud no confidence in tlic New Plymouth High .School. That went without saying. He knew that, pant monitors of the board had tried to get at the root of this want of confidence, but it appeared to be that there were several matters that wanted remedying in the school, but apparently there had never been any effort to remedy serious blots on the management of the school. One of the main causes of the want of confidence in the school was the constitution of the board. On the face of it the constitution for the management of the school was obviously wrong. It was a self-constituted board. Mr. Hutohcn then compared the position of the school with that of the Stratford High School, and read a public report on the latter. He believed he was right that the Stratford High School was attended by 81 scholars from outside Stratford. Of course, he know that the Stratford school had advantages over New Plymouth, having proper railway facilities that Now Plymouth had not got. But what about the children along the coast from Opunake to Urenui? They had no railway, but they did not come! to New Plymouth as they should. Considering that New Plymouth liad a fine clknaio and fine surroundings we should have here a high .school second to none in the Dominion, There was sufficient population in tho provincial district to support a first-class high school withou, the introduction of boys from outside at all. It seemed to him that the modification he proposed was a very moderate one. Mr. Hutchen then quoted the constitutions of the boards governing the other secondary schools in the Dominion, showing by whom they were elected, all of them having representative* of local bodies of the parents or guardians of the pupils. Not one of them had a constitution similar to that of the New Plymouth High School. Mr. Hutchen then moved the following motion, of which he had given notice:—"That the constitution of the board be amended so that it shall consist of (1) the Mayor of New Plymouth; (2) three member.? to be elected by parents and guardians; (3) three members to be nominated by the Governor. On the chairman asking who seconded the motion there was no reply. Mr. Fraser said that under different . circumstances he would have liked to second the resolution. But in view of the plans the board had now under consideration and the fact that nothin" could be done during this session of Parliament in the direction that Mr Hutchen pro]>oscd, he would like Mr. Hutchen to defer his motion for say ■six months, until such time as he would be able to judge the working of the school It wm, quite true that a section of the public had an idea that the school was going down steadily. Once people got an idea into their heads it was hard to get it out. The public, who had magnified that idea, had never gone to the trouble to see what work was being carried out by the preser' board For the last three of four years the board had had a great object "i view. It had been waiting until it was in a position to divide the school, and build a Girls' High School and a! commodious boarding establishment to be supervised by the headmaster and he second master. The board had felt that until it could do that the school would always be under a disadvantage. U had therefore been "cheese-parin> and economising until it hail accumulated a. very fair amount of money. Now that i was getting better rents it Had a surplus accruing to the funds of something like £SOO or £OOO a year and the board was now in a position' to take the matter up at anv time. Then dump the last two or three years the !»o«rd had carried out very important improvements in (he school. It had buUt a science room, and fitted it with appliances for the scientific study of chemicals and plants. Agricultural classes had been established, a nlot of ground had been laid out, and practical studies of fodder plants, chenSl analysis of soils, manures, etc., were now being earned on. It would be a pity if anything should spoil the hannony of the board while all these works were in progress. H e i\t r Fraser) thought that if Mr Hutchen would work with the board for the next s,x months and see what the board was doing h. might have an entirely d ITerent opinion. When the board's Pans were completed he, for one, would ''* * ,llln * t0 " tir « and allow new men to come in to the Ward It was not fair that one set of men should have to carry tho burden of the school for year after year. As far as the present board was concerned, whatever might be said about it, it had done its best for the school. When its plans were completed he wonM heartily welcome a change in the con ablution of the board. He would then be .ab!e_to have a rest.

Mr. Percy-Smith said that Mr. Fraser had expressed his sentiments in a. verv large measure. Ife thought it was { pih- that Mr. Hutchen had not waited until he had seen more of the inner working of the board. If at the end of. six months Mr. HuMien found that a I change m the constitution of the board'

was necessary he might lie ■willing toT support him. Jt would be rather a re- | lief'to give up a position on the board, j Some of the newer members did not j realise the burden that this work w:is, J especially to the cluiinian. lie would not regret a change that would relieve him of a burden, but it was not quite right ifor the board to commit hari-kari, to use a Japanese word, at this stage. He thought a good deal of what .Air. llutchen; had said, and of his proposal, Jmt it was rather premature. All the member* had the entire interest of the school at heart. The chairman said he trusted that Mr. Hutchcn would take his word for it that the delay in ho...ing the meeting was not intentional. Mr. Hutchcn: I don't suggest that for a moment.

Continuing, the chairman said thai the delay occurred through a mistake. As to getting a Bill through Parliament this session, there was no hope wkiuever. Mr. MacUiannid then read a letter, dated July 21, from Hon. T. Kelly, M.L.C., who said in the eour.se of it: "As I introduced the New Plymouth High School Bill of 1878 in the House of Representatives and got it passed Into law, I taken considerable interest in its success. At that period the High School could not have stood alone, as the prospective revenue was small, and I therefore placed it under the charge and supervision of the Education • Board. And as the revenue of the school was mainly to be derived from Crown lands situated in different parts of the provincial district and from publie moneys, (the constitution was necessarily vested in the Govornor-in-Conncil. I see by a press report that a. proposal has been made to alter tke constitution of the board. . . I think it would not be advisable to promote such a Bill this session, as the session will be a short one and mainly occupied 1 with Bills of a pressing public character. The general election will probably take place in November, and members will be anxious to close business in order to meet their constituents. If on mature consideration the board desires to promote a Bill I will, if you so desire, do my best to get the Government to undertake the duty."

The chairman added that after receiving that letter lie saw Mr., Kelly, who then said it was quite out of the question to get a Bill through this session. Seeing what Mr. Kelly had sakl, he did not try to rectify in a hurry the mistake made as to the date of the meeting. The delay was not purposely made at all.

Mr. Fraser said he approved the principle Mr. Hutehen wished to adopt, but seeing that it was utterly useless at present, and might divide the Voard, he hoped Mr. TTutchen would not force the resolution now. He thought the board would fall in in due course with the proposals in view.

The chairman considered that Mr. Ilutehen was to be highly commended and thanked for taking such an interest in the school so soon after joining the board. But he agreed with what other members had said about waiting until Mr. Hutehen had been longer on the board. The motion lapsed for want of a kecondeir. [We are indebted to Our contemporary for the above report.—Ed.]