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Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4851, 15 October 1894, Page 2

The Minister of Education appears to have struck a cruel blow at the hearts of thousands of poor and struggling settlers in New Zealand by his arbitrary action in the conduct of school examinations this year.'We will give one of several instances that have como under our notice in this district. A poor woman who has to support six young children, said to us yesterday, " My boy has fniled,thc examinationwas too bard," and then related how she had been struggling' on in the hope that her eldest' boy would pass and become qualified to help her by starting as a bread-winner in a small way, and how she has now to wait another year before he can hope to get a situation. Under ordinary circumstances her boy, and a thousand other boys would have passed, but the standard has been suddenly and unexpectedly raised in a manner which is generally condemned by teachers and inspectors, No notice of this change was given, no chance of preparing for it was offered, A coup d'etat from the education department lias thrown back and disappointed thousands of children, and has discouraged and disheartened thousands of parents, This latest Ministerial freak is but another manifestation of the contemptuous indifference with which the Liberal despots rule the people of New Zealand,