EDUCATION BOARD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 134, 24 October 1912, Page 6

EDUCATION BOARD.

MONTHLY MEETING. _ The Taranaki Education 'Board'mot yesterday afternoon, the. chairman (Mr. 11. Trimble) presiding. Other members present were:. Messrs A. Morton, W. L. Kennedy, W. Rogers, A. M. Bradbury. K. Masters, J. Young and G. A. Adlani.

ALLEGED MISCONDUCT. The report of the committee which enquired' into the charges' of misconduct on the part of the late teacher«at Tougaporutu was received and adopted. According to the report the charges of misconduct had not been sustained.—On the motion of Mr. Kennedy, it was decided to inform the teacher that he must in future refrain from such injudicious conduct as had been admitted by himself. PUNIWHAKAU AND MANGAEHU SCHOOLS. In a report to the Board, the inspectors recommended that, the schools at Puniwhakau and Mangaehu be converted into half-time schools under the temporary charge of Miss' May Moir. Tiie proposal was opposed by Mr. J. B. Norris (chairman of the Tututawa School). It was, he wrote, a great injustice to convert a school with ten children into a half-time school to suit the Puniwhakau School, where there were only three children in regular attendance.

Mr. Norris also waited upon the Board, in conjunction with Mr. A. W. Wood, and detailed the objections of the Tututawa Committee. It was decided to continue the schools as full-time schools, and to call applications for a teacher for the Mangaehu School. RAHOTU TRUANCY CASES. A report was submitted by the.chairman on the truancy cases from Rahotu, which | were recently, before the.Opunake Court, several of which were adjourned for a month.—The action of the chairman in 1 giving notice to the Board's solicitor (Mr. J. 11. Quilliam) to appear for the Board at the sitting of the Court at Opunake on November 7, was confirmed, and the chairman ' was asked 'to instruct Mr. Quilliam that, in the event of the verdict £iven against the Board, notice of appeal shall'be given.

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR'S REPORT. Mr. A; Gray, the' newly-appointed Director of the 'Technical College, reported that he took up his duties at the beginning of the month-. 1 During the month he had been engaged in conducting the day technical classes, supervising niglit classes, and generally getting into touch with thfe- work. In the woodwork room a temporary motor had been installed, and the pupils, under the supervision of the instructor, had fitted up framing and shafting, and had connected the' lathe presented to the College by the 'Sash ; and Tloor Company. He had to acknowledge donations of two lengths of steel shafting and' fast and loose pulleys. One of the girls .from the, commercial division of the day classes had received an appointment in .an .office irt-town. ' He would : be'glad to : hear from employers and others who might be in need' of apprentices br 'assist-

ants. At the end of the ydar he Would be able to recommehd b6j' - s or 'girls' for positions.

OVERSEERS. -PEI'QRT:'' In his monthly report, ..the overseer (Mr. C. H. Moore) "stated that the new residence at Whangamomona was completed and occupied- by the teacher. A considerable amount of repairs, including new drainage, had been attended to at the Toko school,- The outside of the school und residence were also being painted. General repairs, including drainage,"had been put ill hand at. Rowan, and repairs to the residence at Cardiff. Two sky-lights had been' put in at the Cardiff school. Repairs and other work were receiving ~ r attention, a r t' Stratford. He proposed to make 'a start ndx,t' week on tlie work at Warea, the new school at Iliaia, and repairs to schools doWn the coast. He submitted a list of 16 schools and 13 residences that required' painting. The total cost Would be £395./

STRATFORD SCHOOL: Messrs. Masters and Rogers tabled a *rfeport on the matter, of erecting a shelter shed on the .Stratford School grounds. The building proposed to be erected was 100 by 80 feet, and the estimated cost was in the vicinity of £7OO. It was proposed to raise £350 locally, and obtain a subsidy of that amount from the Education Department. The present shelter-shed was to be taken .down, and would serve as part of the material in the erection of the new shed. The.Defence Department was willing to take the building for a term of 21 years at an annual rental of £OO or £7O. The exact amount is to be arranged later. ;The extra amount of open, playground' that .would be taken up was about an eighth of an acrfe. Mr. Master? stated that he thought it was! harcjly advisable 1 at present to accede to the .request, but.; if at some future time the residence was shifted, it would then be a good idea ; as it would give a playground in wet weather. , Mr. Kogfers supported the proposal. 'Mr. Kennedy, said' that .'as the result of an inspection of the playground he could riot see' one redeeming feature in favor of, .the proposal. If,the sh'eji was erected} 'tilie -vVould'h'aye to. be fenced off from Other wise there , would be no, privacy! .The preSpnt shed. provided ample accomm'odatioti,land .the School grounds Ayere too limited; to accommodate t,he building. The committee seemed, said the chairman, to be thinking more .of their revenue tl>an the benefit of the school.

The (report was received', arid it Wiis decidedl to inform the Stratford School Committee that the Board could not at present approve of the proposal to huild a large! shed.'ort the school ground. , '' j .'SCHOOL FOR KIEL

The Chief Inspector (Mr. W. l A. Ballan.tvnd) reported on his visit, to the KM district to enquire into the request

of the settlers for the establishment of a school. Six families were concerned in the application, and the number of, children of school age was sixteen. When the roads in the district were improved and the supply of timber for the mill exhausted. the centre of population would no doubt shift, and lie did not therefore think that it would be wise to erect a permanent building. Provision should, however, be made to enable the children to have the advantage of an education, and he accordingly recommended that a temporary school be established. —The recommendation was adopted.

A SOUTHLAND RESOLUTION. In compliance with a resolution adopted by the Southland Education Board, when the question of the frequency in changes in its teaching staff was under consideration, the secretary of that body invited the co-operation of the Board and other boards in the Dominion in promoting a mutual arrangement to prevent changes of teachers, unless after one year's continuous service in one position, irrespective of the education district in which they might for the time being be employed.—ln the opinion of Mr. "Weston such a proposal might often hinder the Board from obtaining teachers, and the chairman moved that 110 action be taken.

According to Mr. Kennedy, the chairman's motion was not consistent with the resolution standing in the Board's books to the effect that no teachers be transferred until they had been at least twelve months in the Board's servi«e.

The majority of the members, however, favored the motion to take no action, which was subsequently carried,

SCHOOL SITES. An offer of a lease of the Oeo School site for a period of 21 years, at a rental of £2 10s per annum, was forwarded to the Board by the Deputy-Public Trustee. The lease does l not carry with 1 it any right of renewal.—lt was decided, ; to obtain a lease of the section. Notification was received from, the Public Trust Office, I-lawera,' that : it would be necessary for- the" Board %t> •. take the land required fdr> the Kin a. School under the Public Works Act, if they required the freehold <?f it,, and to. pay a fair compensation.—No action to : be taken. I * TRUANCY.' '

The Truant Officer (Mr. A. Hooker) submitted a report for the''quarter eiiding September 30, 1912. The weather had been exceptionally wet and stormy for the whole period, and numbers of schools had reported the absence of children through "weather." He had issued some seventy final notices; for■ the ■ quarter, and also thirty-eight final notices, of which twenty-eight had been, disposed of, fines amounting to nearly £9 being inflicted. At Opunake a number of cases still remained to be heahl, and others pending at Stratford, had beeji hold over.

GENERAL; '■ , 'Mr. G. de Baylis, Fields Instructor, wrote to the effect, that the:Departineht' was willing that its 15e|d instructors should assist in the carrying, out of experiments at' High Schools by providing instruction, seed and fertilisers where! plots were available, providing the local 1 Board .was agreeable to. ,th_e. same, and that the district yvas npt already catered' for by an instructor provided by the Board. The instructor added that he would be plrased to'render afty'assistance, in the direction indic&tedJ m ,

■ Advice was received from the Secretary for Education that a.,grai}t : ' of. £"5, had been made in aid of tlie' proposed Tikorangi work. ' ■■ The Inspector-General of Schools intimated that the application of; Louis Adrian Hudson to be examined for a senior free place had been accepted. The , Education Department 1 notified that under the special circumstances itwould provide salary, fpr a, malq, assistant at;the Te Iviri' School; The Norfolk Committee was granted permission to remov.Q. th.q"present partition. in ; their school'and to erect A' movable one, providing that no expense was entailed on the Board. The: Durham School Committee's application for extra land for a horse paddock. was 1 referred to the chairman to eriquird into. 'The' Ackland School Committee was granted a subsidy at the rate of £2 for £1 ..towards the erection of a.:sheltcr-shed ;; the Board's subsidy not to exceed £l3 13s 4d. The action of the Norfolk Cdiiimittee in appointing Mr. Thomas Cornery .a member in place of Mr. Jones,.was■ approved. Minor requirements were granted at Pukeho and Warea schools. Minor repairs-at the. following schools were referred to the overseer to attend' to: Warea, Tataraimaka, Stratford and Egmont Village; Accounts amounting to £2574 18s 9d were passed for payment. , -