THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 1877.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2561, 22 March 1877, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 1877.

The hanging up of the Counties Act has given rise to dissensions and divisions in the County of Eden. Some of the rate payers have lately held a meeting in the Kyber Pass Eoad, and it has been decided that it is advisable to hang up the permissive clauses of the Counties Act, and " to express admiration of the bold and patriotic- manner " in which Councillor Wallis and the other representatives in the Council who supported -him have acted. Councillor Wallis is certainly bold, perhaps a little' too bold, as his opposition to the Education Tax testifies; whether he is 'patriotic is another matter. -Ifwhat he said at the. meeting be truly reported his patriotism "is somewhat of that kind which makes itself known by simply stating, I know best* and therefore what I say is best for the County the County ought to do, and I will endeavor to get everything I say is best done. There are _ a good many 1 " I's," 'it wilL- be noticed, but the use of | this pronoun is rather characteristic of 1 patriots. The reasons for not adopting the Act-given .by this bold and-p*triotic clerical politician whose conduct excites admiratjon are various. They are somewhat marked by assertions, and may bo .regarded, by' some as,'" afcleast'"oped to discussion. _ It is very easy, however, to convince an audience who were all along of your own way of thinking, and most things whicti agree with their sentiments are received without the usual grain of salt. One of these reasons was that the majority .of the members of the County Council were imcompetent for tha public position they "assumed " tooccupy. Considering all 'the - Councillors were elected in the same manner as was Dr Wallis himself it 'seems rather arrogant for him to take upon himself., to speak of them as having '• assumed" to occupy their present seats; certainly there is a good deal more of presumption in his say-. ing so, than there is of assumption on, _ theirs in not doing- sa. Dr Wallis then continued to talk, not of the objections to the Act, but of himself and his deeds, past, present, and to come. He intends, it seems, to make the Council pay for " that wonderful seal." We presume he means that the Councillors and not the ratepayers will have to pay for it. If that be the case, will he, as a Councillor, pay his share? The Bey. Councillor next states that he "had,.been born and reared in the very heart of democracy," with a view of explaining why he proppsed Mr A. K. Taylor as Chairman Of the Council', because, says he, he knew he .1' was acting up to the principles of democracy in recommending a highly respectable person to occupy the chair." Dr. Wallis did not say, or if he did it is not so recorded, where the very heart of democracy is. It is a pity, he did not, as it might have been rendered famous in after times in the same way as the birthplaces of other distinguished men have had honor conferred on them. It is doubles? desirable to have a highly respectable person to occupy the | chair but the principle is scarcely a purely 1 democratic one, as there have been highly , respectable people wlio have been, if not I paid chairmen, at any rale chief officers in 1 Oligarchical Councils. The intolerance of Dr Wallis's-speech was not manifested at Kyber Pass alone ; at a previous meeting held in the Parnell Hall the same spirit was hetrayed. Speaking of overdrafts he instanced the Tbamesashavingobtainedan overdraft of £5000,. adding that, no doubt, the Eden County- Council would'"follow our example, and when they got it they would have a riice opportunity of spending it among 1" their friends. Now what earthly right has Dr Wallis to impute such motives as these to any body of men who have not hart the slightest opportunity of showing how the y will fulfil their trust. The speech was impertinent as well as uncalled for, and as out of place as was the silly anecdote he tcld about a gentleman who dreamed that the devil gave him advice, and was told io go back to hell, for his gains. He (Dr Wallis) said he would not use the expression, though it was very, appropriate, and so .would simply I say " Off with the Act to Pandemonium." j This remark produced laughter.

Eveey now and then cases of assault are brought before the public alleged to have been committed by a schoolmaster on a pupil. Happily for the discipline of schools they are not of frequent occurrence ; still rthey do occur, and when peopie read them they comment on them, some sympathising with the poor boy who suffered the " brutal " treatment complained of, others thinking that the master was quite right iv enforcing obedience to His orders at the point of the rod. Much nonsense is written about corporal punishment being'altogefher if tbe master will ouly go the right way to win tho affection of his pupils, &c, and that it is much better to rule by love than fear,

and all that sort of thing. Do 'what you will with some boys, and these not always the worst, it is impossible, and has been found-to be-"so, to keep them to their work and school duties without-. the fear of a caning if they disobey before their eyes. Even Dr Arnold—who was, as the Victorians say of their bowler Allan, the .man "of.-.a century"—adminis-. tered corporal punishment, and that' of a severe ' kind,; whenever school rules were broken; but he was never interfered with by vexatious summonses, or complaintsof too '.lenient.purentsv ■-Had • he been, it is probable that Kugby School would not have had such a high reputation as fell to"its lot when he was its chief.* We do not wish to see our schoolmasters allowed to acfc like brutes, punish indiscriminately, and often for no cause at all, after the manner of Mr Squeers and others of that type, but it is necessary that they should have free permission during school hours to punish boys in moderation, and that too, without letting the boys be themselves judges whether they deserved punishment or not. They are, or should be for the time their pupils are placed under their care in loco parenium, and just as parents are liable -to punishment for iaving themselves cruelly punished their children, so ought school-masters to be punished if they cruelly punish their pupils.' It is wise to have a law to prevent cruelty, unwise* to attempt to wrest such law so as to bring necessary, or at any rate not undue punishment under its penalties. There is a good deal in that sentence about sparing the*rod, and though it is not the way to make boys learn merely to beat them, it 'is sometimes necessary to do the latter if ( they will not learn themselves, and moreover prevent others learning. If a parent cannot trust a master'to punish, his child on proper oocasions and in a proper manner, he had better not send 'him to school at all. At a case tried the other day at Onehunga a schoolmaster vras summoned for assault on a pupil. * The" case was dismissed" as many before it have been dismissed, with costs. . It - appeared to :be a case similar to one .in which £he .present - Bishop of Barbadoes, then head master of a school at Canterbury, appeared as defendant. The similitude, was this. In botb^cases .was the boy instructed by-his parents to resist the master's authority. The-mode of resistance advocated by the father of the boy who was beaten at Onehunga was, that his son if punished by his master should strike him in the face with his slate ! It appears that the boy was punished, and did strike with his slate. He was then further punished, in a somewhat undignified manner it is'true, by "'the master "going into him with his fists." The other head* master alluded to used* a cane, but the result in each,case was the -same viz., a summons ; the consequences identical, namely dismissal of the case with costs. '" It must' be quite evident to all who have any 'acquaintance 'with schools that a master if openly defied or insulted must take immediate and severe steps to punish the offender, or there would be an end of his authority. If in the heat of the moment the punishment be unduly severe the parents who instigated the boys to transgress are,'at -least, as culp* able as the master.