The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, MAY 3, 1879.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 150, 3 May 1879, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, MAY 3, 1879.

The Education Board of the Welling toil district lias .in its service a largo staff of teachers, but tlio number of really able men in its employ, men who possess knowledge and experience, backed by the weight of that personal influence which teachers of irreproachable character must necessarily exercise, is very limited. It is therefore a matter of regret when the services of such a man are lost to the Board, as is now the case with the master 01 the Mount Cook School. And as Mr Everissj has given his reasons for resigning his appointment under the Board, it is worth while to consider them. Mr Everiss classifies his grievances as follows 1. I find it utterly impossible to serve three masters, viz, the Board, the Inspector, and the School Committee 2. I find it utterly impossible to do proper school work without proper school apparatus. 3, I find ;it' utterly impossible to do good work with bad teachers, especially when kept on short allowance, and when teachers are encouraged to do bad work and set authority at defiance. 4, I find it utterly impossible to carry on the work efficiently when the interests of the school are systematically neglected by those who should be pillars of support 1 to the school. There are two more reasons even more weighty than these. They are 1. The ponderous mass of knowledge which the State now asks to be forced into the minds of children is an evil of alarming magnitude. The work of the standards which the Government require to be done is an insult to teachers, and a gross outrage against the common intellgenco of society, The work will never be done, because no ordinary teacher is capable of doing the work, and because the brains of children arc very fortunately not large enough to take it in. 2. Another evil of still greater magnitude is the tendency of the present age to cram children with nothing but secular education. I freely confess that I think the State should attempt nothing but this, but without the, cram. Still I think great efforts should be made by all Christians to bring God's Word prominently to the front by establishing day schools, or supplementary day schools, in which the Bible shall be read. The first objection is not a very strong one. Hitherto the v.oico of the Inspector has been the voice of tlio Board. The position, however, of School Committees has not been clearly defined, and it is quite possible for a teacher to please the Board and displease his Committee. The second objection is very frivolous. The; third one is perhaps the one. All schools have, more or less, to put up with inefficient teachers, because efficient'ones are not obtainable. On this point Mr Everiss has had no ground of complaint, On the question of discipline, however, lie may have had cause. His Committee intervened between the assistant teachers and himself- This was decidedly wrong. Subordinates must be responsible not to the Committee or to the Board, but to the head teacher of their respective schools. Any other rule will lead to inexplicable confusion, and it is, in our opinion, to the non-observ-ance of this rule that the Mount Cook School got into hot water." Objection four is too vague to be worthy of notice. The two last reasons are of - more im portance. The question of overtaxing the brains of children is a serious one, and should be the subject of a special inquiry, Mr Everiss is in a position to express a dispassionate and reliable opinion, The last reason is a somewhat curious one, Mr Everiss has had

tlie opportunity of exhibiting the picture of a Christian gentleman daily to sorao hundreds of children, If he has. done so, liis conscience on tlie religious question might surely be easy. An excliango gives the following figures to show the cost of making a ton of flour into bread £ s. D, Flour 910 0 Yotisfc' ' 0 7 0 Salt 0 4' 0 Firing 10 0 Labor 110 0 Potatoes 0 4 0 • llent 10 0 £l3 15 0 The estimated number of loaves which the above will turn out is 1,350, and at 5d per loaf (Masterton prices) would realise £2B 2s Od. As, however, flour is dearer here than in Wellington, we might estimate the cost at £l7, which would allow a margin of £ll for labor, delivery, and and bad debts, These would probably reduco the margin, to about £5. Even this would be a fairly satisfactory profit, which would be apt to make us think that baking was an excellent business were we not'aware that a baker in Masterton filed his schedule last week, If we had not a practical proof of prices of this kind before us we should be inclined to believe that the price of bread in Masterton ought to come down from' fid to 4d.