TEMUKA SCHOOL COMMITTEE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 921, 23 February 1882, Page 3

TEMUKA SCHOOL COMMITTEE.

X x The usual monthly meeting of the above Committee was he'd last night. Present —Messrs D M Mackay (Chairman), Mendelson, Harrop, Bolton, Russell, Davis and Hayhurst. The minutes of the previous meeting having been read.

Mr Hayhurst wished to raise a question of privilege before proceeding with the business. The report published in the Timaru Herald of the last meeting was not a fair one. He objected to it very strongly, and if reporters attended here not to give a fai” report, but to represent their own views, the sooner reporteis were excluded the better. The Chairman had been taken to task very unfairly with regard to a certain gentleman who was nominated to the Board of Education, and the late Secretary was charged with neglect of duty. He was suie all the Committee would agree that the late Secretary did his duty better than it was evei done before. He (Mr Hayhurst) had been reported to have said that he did not want to go near the school or see the teachers. He "was sure everyone present could say that was not true. Such statements as these would not tend to make the Committee unanimous. He had heard it spoken outside, “Mr Bolton will set you right.’' He did not want Mr Bolton to set himself right. Mr Bolton said that according to Mr Hayhurst’s statement, reporters were to put in whatever the Committee approved, and leave out whatever the Committee did not like.

The Chairman said Mr Hayhurst never said any such thing. Mr Hayhurst said ho did not ; the Committee was not a debating society.

Mr Bolton said that was the drift of Mr Hayhnrst’s words He could not not deny it. He would defy him to find out a word wrong in the report, every word of it was true.

Mr Hayhurst said it was all wrong ; the statement that he would not go near the school was wrong, and the statement about Mr Diddams was wrung. It was a most one-sided report.

Mr Bolton ; I defy you to prove it, Mr Hayhurst; you said you did not care to go to the school or see the teachers, Mr Harrop said he objected to the unseemly discussion which was going on. fie did not blame Mr Bolton for feeling wa" mly on the subject when he found Mr Talbot, the gentleman he proposed himself, omitted from the list. He thought it was due to the public to know why that had been done. The report was correct so far as it went. * The Chairman said Mr Bolton had no one to blame but himself. Mr Folton had made a very unmanly attack on Mr Diddams. Mr Bolton : I don’t think so. The Chairman ; Then yon ought to know better. MrMende/son would rise to a point of order. The less Mr Bolton would try to justify his action the better. The first thing he (Mr Mendelson) did when he met Mr Talbot was to apologise to him. Mr Bolton made it appear as if the Committee wanted to suppress Mr Talbot’s name, while he was sure there was no member of the Committee had the slightest objection to him* Mr Talbot might well say “ save me from my friends.” He considered the reporter who would come here and report in that: way, would be acting as a spy on the actions of the Committee. Mr Davis said the impression the discussion and the report had left on his own mind was that Mr Talbot had not been dealt fairly with, Mr Mendelson said that the last Committee worked amicably with the Board of Education which was not the case with the former Committee of which Mr Bolton was Secretary When Mr Bolton was Secretary in 1879 he wrote only two leters to the Education Board during the whole year for wlroh he received £lO, and now he accused a gentleman who was doing it for nothing of neglect of duty, Mr Bolton said Mr Mendelson told an untruth. He would not listen to Mr Mendelson telling untruths about himself Ho produced the book to show that 14 letters had been written in 1879. Mr Harrop said he could not sit there and hear Mr Mendelson making misstate, rnenta about the Committee of which he had been a member. He would deny the Committee referred to by Mr Mendelson were at loggerheads with the Board of Education, He would object to any report being suppressed. The public were clamoring to see the reports in the papers and he for one would do his best to have everything reported, He thought the report sent by Mr Bolton to the Herald was correct so far as it went. Mr Mendelson wished to correct himself ; | it was in 1880 and not 1879 that Mr Bolton [ acting as Secretary, got £lO, and wrote

only two letters during the year to the Education Hoard.

Mr Bolton said he would report every i thing that occurred in the Committee. | The Chairman said if that was Mr i Bolton’s intention the sooner he resigned the better. Mr Bolton said lie would not resign. At this stage the storm rose to hurricane force till the Chairman tried to throw oil on the troubled waters, and moved “That the report in the Timaru Herald of the 13th inst, as a report of this Committee, is a onesided and biassed report, and does not meet with the approval of this Committee. Mr Mendelson seconded. Mr Harrop moved as an amendment “ That the report so far as it went is a correct one.” The only thing he objected to in the report was that Mr Hayhurst’s explanation of why he did not wish to be put on the Visiting Committee was not full enough. Mr Russell said the only objection he had to the report was the way it was made to appear that the Committee wished to suppress the name ®f Mr Talbot. No member of the Committee had any objection to Mr Talbot. Mr Harrop said the reason lie himself got so warm was on account of the slur thrown by Mr Mendelson on the Committee of which he had been a member, He was in favor of everything appearing in print. The Chairman said it was not always judicious to publish everything, Mr Harrop’s amendment having been ruled out of order the original motion was put and carried by the casting vote of the Chairman. The Headmaster’s report showed that 179 boys and 167 girls, a total of 346, were on the roll the average attendance being 112.9 girls 91.2. It was agreed to grant the use of a room to Mr Edmonds as requested. On the motion of Mr Hayhurst, seconded by Mr Mendelson the request .of the Secretary for the Sunday school was granted. Drs Foster and Hayes, and Mr BAfield were chosen as repsesentatives on the Education Board. A letter was read from Mr Spoonercomplaining that his daughter was kept in a class below her attainments was referred to the head master for his explanation. Mr Hayhurst and the Chairman said that a great many parents complained of their children being neglected in the school The Visiting Committee for the las month reporced that on the morning of the 17th, when they visited the school, the attendance in the higher classes was poor owing to children being kept at home during the harvest times. Owing to the Inspector’s report not having been received many children were detained in classes below their attainments, the writing of a few of whom was really good. Fair work was done i.i the infant school but there was a necessity for an infant mistress. The Committee suggested that a concert and entertainment should be got up in aid of the funds of the school. As regards the suggestion to get np a concei’t, Mr Hayhurst thought the teachers ought to train the pupils to take part in the concerts. A discussion arose on this subject, in the course of which Mr Mendelson said that if certain remarks made were reported they would lock very bad, Mr Bolton : I suppose (he reporters have common sense as to what should be reported as well as you, Mr Mendelson. Mr Mendelson ; I know enough of your ruffianism. I never saw such ruffianism in my life. You called me a liar. I was never treated with such scoundrelism in my life. Yon are a scoundrel, sir. You wrote two letters for the whole year, and got £lO for it. I never heard of such meetings as these in my life ; they are only fit for highwaymen, I have a good mind to give up the Committee altogether. The Chairman called the meeting to order, and asked what it was intended to do with regard to the Visiting Committee’s report. The report was adopted, and the Chairman and Messrs Hayhurst, Russell, and the mover (Mr Harrop) were appointed a Committee to carry out the suggestion in reference to getting up an entertainment. Tr.e Inspector’s report was read, and a resolution carried calling upon the head teacher to give an explanation regarding the lowness of the number which passed. [The report, whcih we are compelled to hold over now, will appear in our next issue.]