EDUCATION BOARD.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 February 1921, Page 6

EDUCATION BOARD.

The monthly meeting. CHILDREN’S CONDUCT ON TRAINS. The monthly meeting of the Taranaki Education Board was commenced yesterday, and will be continued to-day. Present: Messrs P. J. H. White (chairman), 11. Trimble, S. G. Smith, M.P., A. Lees, R. Masters, M.P , H. J. Eaves, F. Hoskin, and R. J. Deare. The board were engaged the greater part of the day in discussing the organisation and proposed improvement relative to manual instruction in the Taranaki Education district. A letter was received from the acting secretary of the Education Department stating that the General Manager of Railways had written to his department stating that instances had occurred of inconvenience and marked annoyance to the travelling public and railway officials owing to the behaviour of school children travelling by train and had asked that provision be made for proper supervision. Hence it was suggested that education boards should issue instructions to all teachers, head or sole, wllose children have to use trains for school purposes that arrangements be made for full supervision while children are in the train. In every case where possible it was recommended that ‘a teacher should travel in the same carriage as the children, especially where the children were travelling as classes to or from a manual training centre and that, if impossible to fsend teachers, a prefect should be placed in charge. It was urged that all teachers should be' infornfed to give children proper instructions in conduct on trains. In the course of discussion it was stated that the rather anomalous legal position was that children were under the control of the director of such a manual training centre when they boarded the train on their way to school, but were out of his control when they went out ,of the school gates. It was considered that a lot of the trouble was caused by children who attended no public schools at all. The ordinary business of the board will be commenced this morning.