The Temuka Leader SATURDAY JANUARY 27, 1883. ELECTION OF SCHOOL COMMITTEES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1060, 27 January 1883, Page 2

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY JANUARY 27, 1883. ELECTION OF SCHOOL COMMITTEES.

It is very evident that the modus operandi respecting the election of School Committees requires to be altered immediately. Wherever one turns the cry is the same. Every one condemns the system at present in existence. It seems to have no admirer, and therefore we think the Legislature guilty of negligence in not taking the matter up. Under the present law any combination of men can elect whoever they like despite the wishes of the majority of the people, and nothing can be more unsatisfactory than a law which puts power into the hands of a clique, sect or party. The object the Legislature had in view when this law was framed was to give minorities a chance of having representatives on the Committees. In fact it was framed so that Catholics could elect such persons as they saw fit to represent them, but it is a well-known fact that they have never made us of it, and it is ver? rarely that a Catholic is elected or seeks election. If the law were different we have very little doubt but that a, Catholic would bo elected, if the householders considered him eligible, as soon as any one else; in fact we do not believe that his religion would be any disability to him. When, therefore, it has been found that those in whose favor the law was framed neither make use of it nor care about it, and that it is very much abused by other parties, much to the displeasure of the general public, it is we think time that it should be altered. An effort in that direction was made by Mr Stewart, of Waimate, last session, but owing to the opposition ho met with he was obliged to abandon the Bill. There is no doubt but that the measure brought in by Mr Stewart was a moat cumbersome one. It proposed that meetings of householders should be held at a certain date each year at which members of the Committee for the ensuing year would be nominated. About a fortnight later another public meeting would have to be held, at which the Committee of the past year would submit their annual report, and a new Committee would be elected. We pointed out at the time that this was putting the cart before the horse. Before any one should be nominated for the ensuing year the out-going Committee’s report ought to be read. We grant that the public have generally a very shrewd notion as to whether the Committee has done its work well or not, but that is not the point. The object of the annual report is to give the public a resume of the year’s work, so that they may know what the Committee has done, and we think that it would not be right or proper that a Committee should be nominated until the annual report has been read. If the reading of the annual report took place on the same date as the nomition of members, and the date of the election were fixed for a subsequent time, we should find no fault with the proposal. We do not think, however, that two meetings are necessary. If the plural voting is destroyed, and each householder can give only one vote to each candidate, all that is necessary will be done, and there will be no necessity for having recourse to the roundabout way in which local elections are conducted. This is all the people require, and it is all that is necessary, We trust the matter will be taken up next session, and the necessary amendment made in the Education Act.