The Temuka Leader. THURADAY, MARCH 30, 1882.

Temuka Leader, Issue 932, 30 March 1882, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. THURADAY, MARCH 30, 1882.

The Timaru Herald of the 28ith contains a very reasonable article on the Temuka School Committee. The relationship between the Chairman of the Education Board and the present editor of the. Tim,am Herald gives to that pappr something of the of an official organ, and;, therefore, it is not too much to assume that it has be. n inspired. Indeed, anyone reading the article could not come to nny other conclusion, as that deep interest which the Chairman, of the Board of Education takes in educational matters can, b? traced through it from beginning to end. It would seem that the. writer^ . felt sincerely his expressed regret at the turn of affairs in the Temuka School Com mitl ee and woujd gladly puit matter. 3 right if he could, bu.t the extraordinary [osition of matters puzzles him,. He sees no way out of the difficulty without straining the law to a degree that ife will, not bear. We have the greatest respect for everything contained in that article on account of- the. source which we believe.it to.come froin, but at the same time we must point out we. think it in, error. It says that under Clause 66, which provides that every dispute as to the validity of. any election must bo submitted to, the. Education Board, whose., decision on,such mittens.will be final, the- two, remaining members- of the. Committee., might meet.quorum, or no quorum, and elect five o,the,r : members, snbtm,t thm names to the Education.Board:in. ease of a dispute when, the could decide whether they were legally elected or not. Now this is giving tw> m?n power which the Act has made no provisions for, and if such a course is adopted .the Board will have to. declare the. ejection.of; the five null and void. Clause 70 distinctly states. that three members shall torm a quorum, and therefore any business, transacted, by by two members must bt invalid. A more reasonable way suggested by the Herald is thatthe householders should elect five members and apply to the IBoard to,,give the. legal, status. This would be right enough if ; it were legal, but it is not. The elections, can , only take place on the fourth Monday in the month of January eash year, except, in, cases where. the householders neglect to elect a Committee •on that day, when it becomes, lawful for the Board of Education ,to fix another day for the election. It is only under such circumstances a Qommi.ttee . could be elected; and'therefore, any other-elec-tion would, be invalid. The Herald winds up by hoping the Board will hit upon some plan, We hope so too, and we. now.suggest what the Board ought to do. It ought to refuse to accept, the resignations., of Messrs Mackay, Mendelson, Hayhurst and Russell, and call upon them to perform their duties. It>may be- an- erroneous opinion, but stijl wabalieve. that as_ a matter of law persons elected to fulfil public duties who accept.; the said election, cannot resign any moment they please. They know the duration of

time for which they have been elected, and they contract, so to speak, to perform,the functions required of thenv for that time. Is it not a breach. of> con-, tract on .their part-not to perform these functions? Do they not break the contract which they enter into. with the householders at the elections by resigning before their successors are

elected ? It is a novel point we know, and one which we have never, heard tested, bnt at the same time wa think there is.something in it. The way to test it is. to app'y for a. mandamus calling upon. the. retiring members to perform fcheir duties. Ait any rate' wo think the proper coarse for the, Education Board sto,,take is not to accept the resignations, andto.use every,means in. their power to induce if they, cannotcompel the Committee to carry on, the the school.