The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1891. SNUBBING A MINISTER.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2168, 26 February 1891, Page 2

The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1891. SNUBBING A MINISTER.

The Otago Education Board has rendered itself odious in the eyes of all reasonable men. la comsequence of representation made to him the Minister of Education wrote to the Education Board making inquiries with regard to the books in use in the board's schools, and asking whether there was any reason why the board should insist on the use of Messrs Whitcombe and Tombs's books. The board received this letter with expressions of contempt, and declined to give the Minister any information. Indeed, the manner in which the letter was treated was most insulting, and none but ill-bred cads could have behaved as the members of the Education Board did. The secret underlying this, we presume, is that members of the board aimed at giving Mr Beeves a snub. Mr Keeves, as is well known, supported the trades unions who aimed at compelling Messrs Whitcombe and Tombs to comply with trade rules, and this pitiable exhibition of bad manners on the part of the Education Board was intended to snub him. And what is the result? Nobody thinks any the worse of Mr Beeves because the members of the Otago Board of Education snubbed him, but everyone thinks that the conduct of the members of the Otago Education Board is not the conduct of gentlemen. The Evening Post, the New Zealand Times, and other papers have condemned them in round terms. Now, why should not the Minister of Education make any inquiries if he deems fit ? He is at the head of th e department which finds the money. Ha is responsible to Parliament for the management of that branch of the public service, and certainly ought to bo treated with due courtesy and civility. If he were fco meet with such conduct as this everywhere it would be impossible for him to administer the Education Department to the satisfaction of the public. For a long time frequent demands have been made upon the Department to adopt the same kind of books in all the schools of the colony. At present each Education Board selects its own '• books and makes its own rules and regulations, and, instead of having a National system of Education, we have several systems directed by the whims and fancies of Education Boards. The Minister of Education contemplates complying with the publie demand for uniformity, and in pursuance of that object wrote the' letter referred to. The Otago Educa-1 tion Board, regarding the affair as a 1

trades-union effort to attack Messrs Whitcombe and Tombs, thought to ' snub Mr Beeves, but have made themselves ridiculous. The New Zealand Times called upon the Minister to strike the books in question off the list of books which the board may use, " not because they are unsuitable but because the board must be taught a salutory lesson." The Board deserves getting &f severe a reprimand as could I be given it, but we hope the Minister I will not take this advice. "We hope, 1 and we feel certain, he will ignore such mean pettinesß. Mr Reeves is well accustomed to hard knocks. Toung though he is he has already provoked bitter opposition, and there is no one in Cantarbury more thoroughly hated by the monopolists than he is. He is hated because he is clever, and has employed his great abilities to the advantage of the people against what monopolists mistake for their own interests. He is hated by the classes in proportion to his' strength and to his popularity with the masses, and so anything the Education Board of Otago may do is not likely to disturb his peace of mind to any great extent. Stili we trust he will pursue the even tenor of his way, and effect such reforms in the department as appears desirable. «. .. THE KAKANUI DISASTER. - It is very seldom a disaster occurs out of which some one does not escape to tell the story. The Kakanui disaster, however, seems to have left no one, and we shall neyer know, in all probability, what happened to that vessel. The short story of the whole affair is this: In April last Mr Joseph Hatch, ex-M.H.R. for InTercargill, sent a party of nine men (two of them being youths), and one woman to the Macquarrie Islands to collect sea elephant oil and penguin oil. They were deposited on the island, together with six months provisions, and left there. For some unexplained reason Mr Hatch sent no vessel to ascertain how they got on at the end or the six months, and in December last the public demanded that the Government should send a steamer to rescue the people who were supposed to be starving. The Union Company wanted £SOO to perform the journey to and from the Macquames, and the Government thought that teo much and hired the Kakanui for £l5O. The Kakanui was a little steamer of 57 tons and 22-horse power engine, the owner of which was Mr Keith Ramsay, of Dunedin, She left the Bluff on Christmas Day, and reached the Macquarries on the 2nd of January. Eight of the men on the island took passage in her for New Zealand, the married man and his wife —Mr and Mrs Mellish deciding to remain where they were until Mr Hatch's vessel called for them. She left the Macquarries on the 3rd of January last, and has not been heard of since. When the vessel did not return in due course the people again clamored for a vessel to be sent in sesrch of her, and this time the Government sent the vessel they ought to have sent in the first instance. The Hinemoa has made a diligent search for the Kakanui, and no trace of her has been found anywhere, so the conclusion come to is that she is lost. Besides the eight men taken aboard at the Macquarries the crew of the Kakanui, which consisted of 11 men, were on board, so that 19 men in ail have perished, There is very little room to hope that any of them have been saved. The only hope left is that they may have been taken up by an English vessel, homeward bound, in which case they would not be heard of for Borne time yet. It is stated that immediately after the Kakanui left the Macquarries a terrible gale was experienced, and the supposition is that she foundered in it. The Government has been blamed very much for sending such a small vessel as the Kakanui on such an errand, and it is alleged that Captain Fair child said, when he heard she had been sent, he would have to go after her. So he had, and has returned with the sad news that no trace of her can be found,