Masterton Public School.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3453, 7 March 1890, Page 2

Masterton Public School.

Meeting of Householders.

A meeting, convened by resolution of the Mastodon School Committee, was hold in the State' School last niglit.about twenty-five parents being present, Mr MoEwen was voted to the chair, and aftor reading the invitation: to parents to attend, called upon Mr Hogg to address the mooting,. ' Mr Hogg-stated the mooting had originated from. tlio members of the School Committeo. Being one of those members lie considered it his duty as representing the Committee, to place the difficulties recently ariseu between the Committee and the Board before tiieni. In doing so he would refer to tlio absence of members of tho Board, who had been invited to attend, and-would endeavour to place things before thorn in an impartial niamiei'i His solo dosiro was to appeal to tbo people as a tribunal, to whom tho Committee were indebted for their position. ' It was for thorn to express an opinion 011 the conduct of tliftvpommittee. The principal difficulty was in connection with tho water-supply.' About this tiuio last year the Mastertoii School was hi a deplorable'state,as regards water. There wore two ;wells and two pumps. The pump on tho girls' l side supplied tolerably good water j but that on tho boys', was so bad t'natthey bad continual complaints', from parents and others. Tlio water on being examined was impure in taste, of had Bnioll,and had the appearance of beiiig stagnant, It wasprenouneod by members of the Board as being utterly unfit for use. The result was that they ultimately decided to close tbo'well, and tho question then, arose as to wether thoy should use on Abyssinian well or'get water fromiiuother source. : A happy suggestion was made by a moinher of tlio Committee that they might geta supply of'water from springs at the hack of llie school. : The springs were examined,' and it Was found'that they produced good water, audwero sufiioiently elpyatetl'to;get:a good supply by gravitation,.. it was ostimated that a woodon ; fluniing would; cost - ; from £BO to £3l. The ; Board:iva3 written to on May ; 2nd, aiiil askd' if thoy would assist. Thoy replied that they Would put the closots in proper order conditionally, but would luive nothing to do with tho_ water.;..ln Jimeyfr further letter was written to theßoard stating that tho Town Lands Tnist would provido £ls (half the cost) if thpißoardwould.find the balance. Tho reply- was-,-received, stating--that. the - = Bpard would contribute' a similari amount oil condition'that the ! water was provided free and the -'work 'ipa t'Hrtflertlje'iiiiperyisibn'-1 ofi;thjp . ! On- .July- - 'v]o)yfidf tlje BoardAvas \yritien to and •' ih|)fmijd; that arrangements had bea'n'.niliflß.ioVit'gupply-of:W#'Qn a 1 lease of '999 yoars at one shiliing per year,: They naturally thought that I the.Board would jump, 'at.thispro ; j posal, and the^also.statedilhat.thß^. 1 bio 1 -• wpps^B|.ip v ;k; MsiJjriiin''

wild.', would carry out tlio. wori Under.the same cover thoy forwarde a :dtaf(i io'f, tlio lea'so from'.Mr. W Pony. ."They did not think i 'desirable V.to. go. to tho expense o employing'Mr Turubull. Mr Kinj bad offered to supervise the worl if. necessary; Mr King hail, ii August, mado an. ostiraate, an< Btated it would cost .£4510 a. Thi excess.on the ostimato of the Com mittee was through their having ti go inrther back than they Jiai anticipated..: The same month the; received a reply from the town Land; Trust, stating thoy wero perfect!; satisfied with the'arrangements made and tlio money voted, il», .wii: available, On September Ist JI: Turnbull visited Masterton and in speoted the springs with raemberi of the Committee, and pronounce! himself highly satisfied. On ..tin same day they wero iuforrned by thi Board that the Chairman had beei appointed to deal with the questioi of .tlio lease. On tho 19th tho; received a letter from the lieai teacher stating that "a now wate supply was urgent. They decided however, tohold over tho matter til heaving from tho Board. 'Oii. thi 2(ith.they received a reply from tlij Board stating that they had decidei to hold over the question till thei J meeting noxt mouth. On Octobo 12th they received another,, urgeii letter from the head teacher, and'oi tho 17th a resolution was passed b; tho Committee that water.be pro cured from Mr Perry's spring; and sub-comiuitteo was appointed to fi: up the matter.: Private tenders-wer subsequently' called for, the worl payment to be by results. Tho rosul was as follows :-Z. M. Hoar, £% wood; W. Blinkhorne, £35 10s wood; D. Pickering, galvanised iro: pipes, £O(3. After mature considera tion, tho tender of .Mr.. Piekerin: was accepted,., as they lj 'considorci galvanised iron pipes would bo thi better, and tho difference, betweei that and tho lowest tender woul only be £l7. Ou the night of til meeting lliere was: a fluctuation ii tlio iroii market, and it wasneces'sar to let Mr Pickering know the result so that ho could forward llis orde without dolay, At any; rate,' the) acted iu the way they thought wa for tho best, After the letting of th tender he was informed,by M Eenall that tenders had not tez\ invited publicly. Ho did not knoi how he, 1 himself, could have over looked this, As a newspaper pro prietor it would have been to hi interest to soo that tenders wer publicly invited, But it was too late tenders having boon opened and th prices disclosed. He.could ,seo i would be very unfair to'interfere although there was some irreguluntj This was on 22nd November,. Oi Decembov 9th, a letter was receive; from the Board, stating they coul not agree with tho work being don unless it would bo continuous, an asking if there was not a probabilit of a high pressure watersupplybeini introduced to tho town.'' This cam upon them as a surprise, after seve; months negotiations'. They coul como to no other decision but- tha the. Board was slighting them Having no one on the Board to stud the interests of the schools in th North Wairarapa/he suggested 'tha a deputation of himself and M Darnells be appointed to go to Wei lingtoh and interview the Board This transpired, and the Board havini heard their statements'appointed i committee consisting of the Ghair nian, Dr Newman, and Messrsßunn, iind Buchanan to visit the. school mako an inspection and report. Thi committee, visited Masterton' Janitor 18th, and they (the local committee naturally expected that their repor would bo brought up at. the nex meeting of tho Board; But for sonii reason or other it was adjourned, On February 26th they received a report which-- stated that..the committee had visited Masterton, and were satisfied with tho water supply but deprecated in tho strongest torms the letting of the contract privately, and without consent of..the Board, as establishing a prec'ikleht'. 1 On these grounds they 'would only vote'l2o. In short, the ; Board stated they., wero only willing' to give £2O for a work that cost £OO. Having put the whole matter before the meeting, the-:question • arose, " Has the Gommitteo done its duty to parents and children ?" (Mr Kingdon : No I), He would. ,be glad to hear any remarks later'on, The members of the Committee were, quito prepared to defend their action, Thoy .'could see that had they waited for the Board's permissions it would be ten years before tk9 wotk would be completed, and it was then a question whether Mr Perry, if alivo, would 'be'of.the •.same opinion 'as'at present, seeing tho mulish attitude the Board had taken in throwing every .obstacle in their way (but he did not' blaino ■ the individual 'members' of the Board), thoy had decided to take tho bull by tho horns and get tho supply. It remained for parents to say whether they had done right or wrong.- Ilo'Jwould admit, for his part, that an error had' been made m .not calling for.; public tenders. (Mr, Kingdom Rather!), but apart from that he was not prepared to take tho slightest blame from the Board's committee, or from the Board itself for undertaking a work which was for the benefit 1: of the district, and which was recommended as so urgent' by the head teacher. Before concluding ho would refer to it statement winch had frequently been made that the Masterton Committee wore at loggerheads" with the Boar!.; They werei--.represented is Peck's Bad Boy—thoy were never it homo unless thoy wero doing mischief. This ho could deny, They bad nevor asked for anything from »he Board (and this could bo home )ut;,by his fellow committeemen), .mless it was urgently reVJiiir'ed. He lid-not know how they would have ?ot on without thojassistanco of the. CownLands'l'rusV The Board h'a'd' lot.contributed a penny towards mch necessary'work as'tllO metalling if the school.grounds, The Town bands Trust had voted tlioiii £IOO, md had it not beon. for this they . voiild have been placed iu a peculiar losition. He did'not blame'the 3oard, but in speaking with a memier. he' l|ad Stated .'that, they: were' n fault in not having a gentleman m tho Board from the; North Vairarapa. Had there been a repreentativo mi' the Board, 'instead "of' ecpiving a, paltry £l6 0s JOd they : ro'uld have''deceived something moro ' theif, requirements... The joard had been gfiierous 'enough to i ;ranjf ifr'6.' Beetham, M.JI.R for l Jdsterton,, leavo of absence.' No . im'o was stated,'',a»)djhii presumed it i /is;..pefpetual,' tim Seathad never i icen ques|ioned,, r Tl)ere. r Syere s,up-. j lOsed-tQM nine members 'of the I !oar4 -br. fcji Wellington, ,two for I outhWaimrapa, and one for North, ' hp was at; pijisent pdyocatingftheir j ails on the other side of ttie globe, i \q P pavel QQiUd iiofci tUoroC^r© i lie)

altogether blamed./.'■■' Last yearfho. Committee bad spent^6sol4s K»d fii ; repairs, and put of 'this sum £lB Of) 10d had boon voted by tho Board.. The amount expended on deputations on the question, including porsonal : saoi'ifices, would nearly ropveseiit the • cost of the contract. . He tlieu : referred to the contrasts of tho liber- ; ality of the Board, A grant of £ls .had been made to the Inspootor for a fow days' extra work, and to Messrs Blair a'ud Bunny for a pleasure trip to Alfredton to inspect a site for a ' school. Ho merely stated' this to show that the Board, to uso a scriptural phrase, "strained;.at a gnat 1 and fallowed .a camel.":He did not desire to attack the Board, for in ' [Messrs Bunny and' Buchanan they had genial; good.hearted representatives. Notwithstanding, they could not get a, vestige of;mouoy from them,; aiid.in Masterton they were left, as far. as the Board was concerned, to pass round the hat. Wore they to tolerate this kind of treatment? The Board received an annual grant from the Government for distribution, and he would like to know what became of the monoy. In Mastertifli they had tho largest school, in jtlie .district—6oo, children attend-; ing-and hs asked, therefore, wero they being treated right in getting £lB for a year's repairs? He .was ojvaro that; when ;'applicition was made to' Hie Board for "inoney the latter pleaded impecuaiosity, but if they had read the reports of their monthly sittings they would find that they had & 6000 or £7OOO to the good.:; In Masterton. they were not alone as regards such treatment, for in Pahiatua and Alfredton they had been . harshly. treated, whilst .at FoatiiOrston, which spot had two representatives on. the Board, they could get a fence erected arcund their school irpmediatoly. on. making application, This, he maintained, was partly their own faults, as they had not a representative on tho Board, They should take decisive steps to have the vacancy on tho Board filled,.'and later on he would probably make a proposition in this direction. It was for those presont 1 to say if they approved of tho attitude of tho Committee, ,'lf tboy did, then the Board wero open to censure, and if not, the only comeo he could see 1 was for the Committee to resign, and allow a moro capable set of meiv to be appointed. In conclusion he expressed a desire to hear discussion ou thematlor. ■-,,.: r i -Mr 0, Piuliertbn said,' after what i they bad beard from Mr Hogg, the , hearty thanks of the community were i duo to the Committee for the action i. they bad taken in providing such an , adequate and'needful supply of water for their children, Ho had much i pleasure in moving accordingly. I Mr Books seconded.

Mr Mawlhnay said on this pavtieular occasion he" cousidercd'thoro wasno necessity for people being shy.! He would, theroforo, like to say n'l few words on the matter. The statomenfc made by Mr Hogg was, to his mind, straightforward and impartial, 'When tho watersngplyquestion was taken up, it was. time some, thing was done, for the head teacher was going about the town with a bottle of the wator under his arm, which, on being : smelt, was pronounced on all sides.' utterly unfit for use. By the present supply they had oscellent water, but he did not think it had been got in the i-right manner. The Committee had taken tho advice of the hoad teacher instead of that of the Board, arid had become impatient. " Tho Board, however, had not treated them right, or they would have taken action immediately on hearing of the impurity ot the water, and before the summer weather set in, The Board, if left to itself, might have taken.' no action whatever during the summer, and he could not say what calamity would: in such a case have befallen the children. On these grounds ho heartily agreed with the action takon by the' Committee Theyliad', been treated badly by the Board, not only on this question, but in regard to tho removal of teachers, and he considered that the Committee, when defeated on all points''by the Board, had taken the only, alternative, 'and deserved the thanks of .thocommunity; at large, :A mistake 'had, however, been made in not calling for public tenders, but they.all-kw that wh6n men waited and waited tbey too, bound to take some action themselves. Notwithstanding that an architect had been sent up from Wellington to inspect, tho matter had- been continually shelved. He again repeated that the Committee had done perfectly right, and. were desorving. of! their hearty thanks, ■',(Applause), "..■

' Mr Koynolds, 'who next assumed possession of the floor, said bo would, in reply to Mr Hogg, answer his last .remarks first. •■ Ho had himself been a school committee-man, and he considered this matter was ono between the Committeo awTthoßoard, and if the committee and tho people did not think they liad been treated right they should resign as a protest to the Board, and not as a protest to the people. Mr Hogg had told'Hiem about the .£lB Imping been voted by the Board for a year's repairs. But this was not the 'whole of the mattor. They should have been told in what direction tho capitation had been expended. There, was not ground for the making of harsh statements against the Board* -Everything should be done straight and aboveboard. Ho found Mr Hogg's statement in respect to contracts rather misleading* .After. waitiii" J for mouths, and knowing that tho Board wore to meet in three days, why did they not wait till after the meeting of the "Board-before dealing with coii-' tracts? It was a.well-known fact that Government money should'be tendered for above til). There was 110 competition at all on this.occasion for tho piping; and for-the wooden fluming thore wero onlytyo tenders. In thus dealing with tho contract the Committee had departed, from • an upright course. Had public tenders boon called, lip for one would have made application; ; . The Committee had taken upon thorhsolves to depart entirely. from the original designs suggested by tho.Board..ilo-knew what'tliey liad done in the matter, but did not know.what they proposed doing to get out of the difficulty, He certainly did not.think-mucn credit was duo'to the Committee. (Applause 1 ;) Mr S.;Eingdon said he had' ventilated his' opinion beioro, forbally pd through tho'DAiLY. As a resident and citizen of eleven years' standing' ho would raise Ms voice against ;tho, action of t,hp, CpmiMtlce. iu ( ;tlie 'Way' they had jet. tlie; tenders ;refeiTea' .tp'.j Ho admittedthe wator.; supply'.was iiceflcd, but he couiplained of the way. in which the : Committib- lujd gone; aliput the business, 'and shown such favolittsm-tbons^mlieabid^ln^j^r. he thought the action,w'as'il|ega-i;: He was not surprised to see suoh a sparse attendance.- : The public i>f SI faster toiv liked fair play. A comifittoisiijanJld' «dwiKod toliiia tlioy liit^Qiipwgr

btit had stated tbatxmder tlio oiroum- ;' stances thoy wore justified, fle tkon roferrod to tho report appearing in the ; J)ailywith rofcrencototliodeputation / ;, to Wellington, and as the report was . '; not' publicly, contnulictod ho pre-, samed it was lobo taken as true. This report contained a statoment made by one of tlio deputation that tenders had been called, and that the lowest - y had.bcou.accepled..,,Wheutbeinem~ ~ hers of the Board came to Maaterton to inspect tho work hp bad spoken to:, ■ '■ the Chairman about the matter," and' Mr Hogg, wild" was'- present''a'nhb"'.''"'- ■' ': time, had been careful to sneak away as soon' as opportunity pressed iitsolf, (Mr Hogg: I object to these remarks, I am not a sneak, and would not sneak away from you or a hundred i like you. t hurl back the insult in the teeth of the maker), Mr Hogg was at any rate careful to clear out, and he, himself, was not satisfied with the action of tho Committee. . MrA.W. Eenallsaid that when the resolution regarding tenders waß put at the meetiug of the committee lie had no idea but that tenders would be called in the usual way. During the meeting he was interviewed' by Mr Hoar, and informed' that tohdera. had not been, publicly called. Hfl'thon saw the Seoretary and suggested that the arrangements bo quashed, Ho afterwards interviewed" Mr Hogg and others with reference to the matter, but they had committed themselves tot far, in opening the tenders, to withdraw. . He had ; stood pretty well alone in opposing the work as arliie would ask them to give' Hid { '■ credence to statements bearing on his action which might have .appeared in the Daily, He wShtedj lyooden fluming, but the committeoVdecjde'd on iron. There had been a good deal of mixing 'iivjnii; reference to the tenders,;but-lie'did-not' think they should blame the Secretary, who had been misled. Mr 0. E. Danielle said he was perhaps more talkative against Mr Reimll tlmu anyothercomm.i|teemaH, He wanted iron and Mr Eenall wanted wdotl. D.urmg the Chairman- ( \; > ship of Mr Foist ho had visited tlir ;■' l •■ springs; and made an estimatoas to what would bo tho cost of a supply, . through a one inch iron pipe, from tho acclimatization grounds to the school • which was £BO. It was on this basis they had got a;promise /of bajfry the cost;from.'the Town'lands ffustf l Mr Reiiall had considered thaWodd 5 -* i.would bo the better, but ho preferred iron, (Mr Kenall; You know nothing 1 about it!-Laughter). He thought he knew what' ; he i\:| about, The committee decided that as tho work was so urgent they I would proceed with, it, and a sub'coimmltoowas appointed, consisting of himself, Mr fienall and the Becro-':, -. toy. Mr Eenall suggested that they should sec Mr Hoar and ouo or two others priyaicly'about thb ,hiatteiv'Y/'. He had, however, beon interviewed by Mr Pickering, and he told him to send in a price for the work. The tender was let to Mr Pickering for XSC for nineteen shains, and it was ■ afterwards found the..correct distance was twenty three sand; the: ■ contractor was paid pro■ rati,' tlio"'-' wholecost being £6B. MrKingdon stated bo thought it was hardly - satisfactory, t0...1et i & -\: ■ ,; w contract subject to conditions to bo afterwards drawn up, That course | by tho Committeo probably accounted for the extra .charge. . Mr Danlell made an explanation : ' li * '•'* of tho-matter,

. Mr.Keynolds again spoke, referring to the statements, of Mr, Hogg, and. ■-, ;-.. Mr Sellar, the Scorolory, thenmade an explanation.': Thero were two'. parties on the suh-cominittee, one wooden, and the other iron, and of 'course,ho could not get-the two to >'■ ' : J agree. Ho asked Mr M'Ewon to call at his office to. draw np speoificatious, but Mr. M,«Ewen objected, ;dnd^ '',. referred him to : Mr Renall, who' suggested that two or three men who kuow tho work should go over it and give particulars, amongst the number being Mr Hoar. Tlio result 'was that he asked that private tenders be Bont' in for tho wooden fluming. He was waited on/aboutitbisitimo by Mir',;'!' Pickering,' who "asked why 'tlio "'"' toudprs should be limited to wood, Mr Pickering thereupon wa's invited to.send in a tender. At the meetiug tlicy decided in favor of .iron.- He nthought the" way in which ho bid' *'' called for tenders was in tho best interests of the town. Ho bad after* wards been 4 waitcd 'on by r Mr'Bonall v • i who said, "'Why '• don't yon call: \ ■ public tenders." Ho replied, " Oh, you told .mo .to ask these,,men to ........ send in their tenders." Mr'Rbiiall "' afterwards wished to quash the proceedings, but >was decided to MccpfcMr Pickering's tender, This was bis explanation of the matter.

Mr il'Ewen then explained Mb. position as a Committeeman, He was away in Canterbury, on .a holiday, and only returned thb'ilight' -'<'''■ bofore tho meeting of the Committee. Ho knew nothing about tenders not having boen called for publicly, but • as he considdred : it -best lie 1 ' voted for' iron. He had been given to,understand by Mr Be.mll tberd'were'o'nly.' two 'orthreo men in tho town who could do, tho work, mid ho; did riot !-*; ['./ <" thorofore consider ' advertising " necessary,

At tho request of Mr Eonall, tho Secretary here road tho,resolution passed at the meeting, wliich stated that tenders should be called for the ■work,, : ; Mr Hathaway.-;.: !-'J!ondew\ were , called r; H.'i 'M. ;Urt

'; Mi'Eemill; Oh, you've'got iron on tho brain, (Ho then proceeded to relate how, -twenty-six years ago, he fluuimgs.) '*•"••"■• ■''■'■■' '•.•"-''"-i^A

! M'rKingdon asked if Mr M'Ewon had not visited thejchool with tho contractor and Mr Dameir'oiitho day of the meeting. *** Mr>M'Ewen; No, I disclaim it, Mr Pinkerton then,, .wished.,(p.* propose a had already prepared, bat was informed amidst considerable uproar that his first proposition had not ' been piit, .'*.'.'. i-v 1 .:. Mr Reynolds; Oh, it's cut and dried?:

'■■ A goncnl disordot thou ensued. ',, Mr, .Hog», as organise!', claimed tljo privilege of replying/in respect to g f? bis own coniluct. Ho ivas glad that " * Messrs Kiugdon and Reyuolds had unburdened themselves of their grievance, as they would feel jtlie better for it. As far as ho was concerned he stood quite clear in the matter. Tho report in tho Dailv of ■the deputation to Wellington, ho might say, was remarkably correct. $0' again said he had no desire to exoiferatc liiniielf from blame. With inference to tho accusation of Mr ,Kiugdpn that ho had "sneaked away;"ihe thought he had been most 'grossly.', misrepresented. He had u'eyei' had the term applied to biin 'before.; He thought Messrs Kiugdon ; hfi'difiieyuolds, who.-; had spok'-n■';,'. j interestedly, having unburdened" i I

My H&thaway reforredbriefly to' tlio Mason why- tho ;Comtoittoo, had taken aotion in ; skoh a' hurried iiiannor, It was simply bocauso it was known, the: piico of iron was going up. s ' ' ' Mr Keyuokla': That's all very good, bat if iron had gone up 10a a ton, only Ca would havo beon added to the price of tho contract. Mrllathaway informed Mr lloy-i nolds that ho;waa in error, and a! general "corroboreo" took placo, terminating with theroniarkfrorn Mr Hnjkway "Oh, it's no use arguing willyou."'' ''.■'.•.' Mr Piiikertou saiM appeared to; him a great boon haTbcoii oonforrcd on tho children attondiug tho school ,_by the' introduction' of the water' Bupply, and the Committee should be applauded for tho action they had taken, Ho considered tho' present meeting should never havo takeu placo. Tho Board should have given them their rights, Ho thought, fiujher, that the Government should bJSkoinmunicated with, and the Education Board, if possiblo, done away with altogether! The original motionof MrPinkerton was then put and carriod, there being only 0110 or two dissentients. Tho S°cvotary then read a statement of how tbo capitation grant had been oxpendod, which showed that there was not sufficient money to undertake tho necessary works connected with the school. Mr Hogg remarked that the statementreadby Mr Sellaronly confirmed his opinion that the Committee had beon likolly starved by tho Board. Hereiifaled his former sentiments, andafterreferringagam to the abseilco' of Mr Boethum, M.H.R., moved, " That the Board bo advised without delay to fill the vacancy caused by the prolonged absence of Mr G Beethain,' M.11.K." Mr Pickett seconded. _ The motion was, without, further discussion, put and carried .unanimously, Mr Hogg slated there was another resolution ho had to bring forward, He did not know, however, that 1 it would bo in touch with tho feeling of the Committee. This resolution was, "Jfctthe Committeo be authorised liroSp the water supply and close the • school if the amount required (£10) • is not voted by the Board at its special - meeting on the 12th fast., and that a copy of this resolution bo sent to the Board," This, he contended was ] taking decisive action, Ho had. had tho adoption of such a course in view for some time, He found it was neces- [ sary to take some Btep of this kind, v- otherwjll' they would be trilled with by the Bflaid. After making further reference to tho action of the Board in dealing with the uorthern district, lie concluded by stating that it would g bo most objectionable to take round ' I tb.3 hat to pay for what they had done in the best interests of the school, Mr J. G. Mackay: Does the ' Education Act give tho Committee ji | power to close tho school ? Mr Hogg and the chairmanassu red Mr Mackay that it did, I Mr Hathaway stated that ho } I did not think they had the power. ■ Mr Hogg asserted emphatically ■ ; that they had, whether they had a , jußt cause or not. Mr Daniells seconded the motion, ■ pro forma. Ho asked parents, how- ( ever, for the'sake of themselves and 1 ' their oliMren, not to support such an (> ■ outragsfEs etep, as it was an insult *' to tho community ,at large. (Hear! ( ■ hear I), Thoy had thomselves made : the mistake, and ho admitted it ~ . (Hear! hear I); and they had no right j '.' to accuseWhe Board. The .interests , of the school and the children were V ; at stake, and ho again' appealed to them to, resent the insult on their I intelligence. .... ; ' ; \ Mr Kingdon called attention to the , I fact that thero were ouiy sixteen or t , seventeen parents present, and it \ would be altogether out of placo to E take a voto on such au important I question. . a TLe Chairman: That's, their own s ; faults, they've been notified of this : meeting. J Mr Reynolds endorsed the remarks made by Mr Ddniclls. I Tho motion was then put, and on n a show of bauds being takoiut the ( request of Mr Hogg, was. declared „ lost, only three voting with the ayes, . A vote of thanks to tho Chairman " terminated the proceedings,