SCHOOL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2284, 24 November 1891, Page 3

SCHOOL.

A public' meeting was held in the Winchester Public Hall last Saturday evening, to hear Mr Win. Page’s charges against 4 the teacher and committee of-the Winchester School. At the hour appointed, 1 8 p.m., only Mr Page was present, but in'a quarter of an hour afterwards a few'persona collected together, and some forty or fifty, most of •whom were young, put in an appearance. After considerable delay, during which the - juveniles present manifested some impatience, Mr Page stepped up the Hail, and, turning briskly round, said he came there to say he had never apologised to Mr McCarthy. Let him come forward | now and say he did. This was met by cries of “He is afraid,” “McCarthy is outside,” “Where is your chairman 1” and so on. • Mr Page asked someone to take the chair. , Mr Harrison : Why don’t you get the person who wrote the letter for you to take the chair ? (Applause.) Mr Page: The man who wrote the letter is a boy. (Laughter.) A voice: Big enough to be a man. ■Mr Page: He is not a man. A voice : Are youhia father I Mr Page: His father is here. A voice: Let him stand up. Mr Page]:'He’s got no legs. A voice: McCarthy’s outside. Mr Page; Fetch him in. All this went on amidst laughter and divers other means some of those present adopted to : show they were_ pleased with what was going, in the midst of which Mr Page sat down and reclined gracefully on a chair. There were a few moments of painful suspense, even the larrikin element seemed to labor under some depressing influence, and dead calm settled down 'on the meeting, which became as peaceful and quiet as a sleeping infant.. One looked here, and another looked there, wondering what would happen next, or whether this was all Mr ; Pag© had to say. Mr Page still sat serenely on the chair; our reporter deftly pointed : .J. his- pencil, and a number of persons i Bfcfowded in the doorway, stretched their : necks ; to a dangerous extent in. trying to ; look over the shoulders of those m front ; of them. A smile went silently round the room, then a titter; then somewhere ""-at. the back was* heafrd an unfamiliar ; n oise, and this was succeeded by a roar of i laughter,: which subsided on Mr Harrison ; getting up to move—“ That, as the subject is now- threshed out, the meeting feels perfectly satisfied.” Mr Page: But lam not satisfied. Let ; them say it is a lie. I am determined to ■ prove it. , : What was h lie, and what he was going j to .prove, did not transpire, for back he : sank into his seat immediately. Then somebody suggested that it took 1 two to make up a quarrel, but there was i only one present. There was therefore , no chance of a row, so they had better go home. ' ■: Another? said they ought to hear Mr Page, and' another pointed out that no ; one took-the chair. Mr Wreathall, of Gapes’s Valley, or somewhere in that neighborhood, took the chair and. introduced Mr Page, who proceeded: to say that about three months ago he .waited on the committee to complain about his child. Mr McCarthy .vas present and they got to liigh words, and they were put but. ' One of them was put out first,- and then they were put but together. The rest may be told in Mr Page’s own. words, as follows:—“When we we went out together Mr McCarthy says to'me: “Page.” I says “Yes.” . “ You wouldn’t do me harm, would you !” says he. I says “No.” “We’re neighbors, Page,” he .says. I say’s “ Yes.” “Then, why do you- make this charge against me ?’’ he says. I says “ Because you dragged me into it.” Then Mr McCarthy apologised to me, and he says « Page, don’t let them publish it,” and I say*; ‘“'l wont, and then the committee would not-let me in, but he edged me in, and I says: Gentlemen, this business is settled between'me and Mr McCarthy, and I. don’t want it published.” Mr Page then went on to explain that he went to .work at' Mr tripp’s, and when he returned he found a letter had been published in the Temuka Leader stating he had apologised. He handed the letter to the chairman, who said it was an anonymous letter, and of no value. Mr Page then went on to say that he had accused Mr McCarthy of having written the letter, but he denied it, and went oh to insinuate) notwithstanding the chairman’s remonstrance, that it was written by Mr McCarthy. , ■ Mr Twomey, who was present, said Mr I McCarthy was not the writer of the letter. .A Mr Page desired to find out who wrote it, but Mr-iTwohiey said no one knew who ■wrote it except the writer and himself, and no one else would know. Mr Page next produced* a letter from the Timaru Herald signed by Mr McCarthy, in which it was asserted that Mr Page apologised., . This by the chairman, and Mr Page called upon the master and the committee to come ; iforWArujSud prove of itj, and no one oom*in«- forward he once, more resumed his A ' '

i. The chairman said it was open to anyone to speak or move a resolution, i Mi? Harrison : Did you send the letter to the Education Board through the , committee! Mr Page said he sent it through Mr , Ensor to the board, hut he had sent another letter since. Mr Harrison said Mr Ensor was not chairman then. Mr J. M. Naughton : When did Mr Ensor resign ? Mr Page: I don’t know. In the course of replies to a few other questions, Mr . Page said Mr Ensor was chairman when he made his complaint, but he had sent the letter direct to the Board of Education. Mr Twigg moved—“ That Mr Twomey, the chairman, and Mr Page shout,” but this finding no seconder it lapsed, and the meeting closed without even a vote of thanks to the chairman.