The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. TUESDAY, MAY 15, 1883.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4480, 15 May 1883, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. TUESDAY, MAY 15, 1883.

Some difficulty appears to have arisen be* tvreen the Board of Education in Auckland and the Parnell School Committee, owing to the Board having selected a teacher to fill a vacancy in a school under the control of the Committee. From the facts which have been published it will be learnt that the appointment of this wonderful Committee was made in response to a circular issued by the Orange Lodge, and an assistant master in the Grafton Road School, who is an officer in the Lodge referred to, was elected as Chairman of the Committee. This body, by some means, made things so unpleasant for the head master of the school above mentioned that he resigned his position, and the nominees of the Orange Lodge, of which —be it remembered—the Chairman of the Committee is an officer, immediately took steps to pitchfork their Chairman into the vacant position. The Education Beard, alive to their duties, got their Inspector to report as to who should succeed the master who resigned, and a thoroughly qualified person was named, a man of degree from an educational point of view, and the Board in due course informed this Committee of their selection. The Committee then refused to accept the Board's nomination, insisted upon appointing their Chairman to the mastership, and they have given evidence that they will not budge from such determination. Now, putting aside the qualifications of the two persons named for the position, one of which, by the way, was selected by a competent officer of the Board, while the other is the Chairman of the body which appoints him ; and not dwelling on the fact that the Board's regular action has been the means of securing a trained teacher, and a 8.A., while.the Committees appointee ha's been pronounced by the Government Inspector as not fit', or even competent, to fill the positioning brethren desire ; it is a matter not only likely to cause regret, but will likely be the source of a most righteous indignation, that, in the first place, any secret society formed for party purposes, should be allowed to so interfere with the rights of the people or; secondly, that any such manufactured body should be enabled to 'foist their creatures upon the community, more especially in connection with so important a subject as education. Internecine strife, has so long been an ingredient of school committees that most people have long ceased to regard their squabbles as of more consequence than a dog-fight, but when public rights are so grossly infringed, and when power placed in the hands of presumably conscientious men is so grossly abused as it would appear hag beea dove io this iustaoce; some

intervention is necessary. The incompetence of the members of school committees in educational matters has long been a bye-word, and the assumption of some of them in attempting to select masters without some professional aid has been so frequently prolific in examples of their ignorance, that it is a wonder they do not cease to travel o?er a ground containing so many pitfalls. Looal masters through social or other qualities, other than |fhose attached to their teaching capabilities, frequently become popular in a district, and with the members of the school committee, under whose control they are; thus they are frequently recommended to fill vacancies for which they are totally unfit. In the case of a master being required, who is so fit to judge of his excellence as the Inspector, who regularly goes over his work, and is without any doubt the best judge of his teaching power. To School Boards should be left enly the management of local affairs, deleting the important task of appointing teachers. Each Committee is represented on the Board, and the Board is the result of the selection of the whole of the Committees throughout the district. Surely some confidence can be reposed in its members. The Inspectors, acting according to its instructions, are men who have very responsible duties to perform, and one would suppose that some trust might be placed in them. Doubtless these inspired committeemen are more competent to decide so important a matter, but we —at present—^-retain an opinion to the contrary. There appears to be a dead-lock at present in the case referred to, but we hope "that the party who were elected in accordance with the circular issued from the Orange Lodge on the 9th December last, and signed by Mr D. Goldie, Grand Master—who is also a member of the Board of Education—will withdraw their opposition and allow things to progress in occordance with law and order, and so save their district from many unpleasant reflections and a certain amount of disrepute.