CAMBRIDGE SCHOOL COMMITTEE. THE CHAIRMAN AND THE TEACHERS.-A PASSAGE OF ARMS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1788, 20 December 1883, Page 2

CAMBRIDGE SCHOOL COMMITTEE. THE CHAIRMAN AND THE TEACHERS.-A PASSAGE OF ARMS.

At the meeting of the above school committee held on Thursday evening last, several communications were read from the head teacher, Mr R. D. Stewart, regarding the njoonfc aotian of thfl Committee. One of those requested that the committee should supply the writer with copies of the complaints made by Messrs Clark, Gane and Nixon regarding the punishment of their children attending the school. Another communication asserted that the committee in jn'oceeding as they had in the matters of corpoial punishment find the sujjgßsfcqd removal of the present teaohoi 1 , had aated illegally, and thafe the writer would acquaint the Board of Education of this fact. — A discussion then ensued, regarding a statement which had been made by Mr Gane, relative to the punishment of his child, and his interview with the chairman on the matters. Mr Gane, it Heeingd harj wrjt£e,n "to M.r £)tewait; statjimp that the only Interview he had had with Mr Hosking on the subject of punishment was when lie (Mr Stewart) was present. — Mr.Gane, it seemed, in making this statement to Mr Stewart-, meant only official interviews, not private ones,.^-The ,meetiiig expressed a doubt regarding Mr GaneV. Hfcfttmneiit, and did. not iuid«pstand why ho, should have made such marked distlnctlrinV between official interviews a.nd privato onctf nvheii' the "same 'subject formed/the sub'jdet inatten, of ,b )th.-^Mf(Hou?htpn laconitjiatiin^tutura.i^^yight be as well for "tbo eh vinn m, \yhjgn,{hu n wpnt 'forth in,, the Ju» bis" ' official • , (hkWr* MtW s»t>} S'jffBft S 'jff8ftr I.iJV l .iJV- r diatinq'«ishi»jg „'b^dgd

im&r, which contaiu^pM^ QsP's~itat>^ lnent about his "onlj/f l inteisi6w ! '' with • fch'e chairman being in ',Mr*Ste\vart'B tj%^ev^r'£pewsbtiry remarked that it §f struck him -as, being somewhat^ peculiar/i Mr Stewart having ■ written when hd'was'perfootly cognizant that theseSalcalledl official conversations, had taken" place. A|Phe fact that he was well awar,e of *Ht wa* beyond question. In company with, the chairman he had told Mr Stewart that they had had the greatest difficulty in getting the children to go back to school, - and this, was. not strictly in accordance with the statement in Mr Stewarts letter. -rAs to the \lhvt which Mr Gane "had acted in the matter, Mr Hewitt characterised it as shuffling.— The Chairman said that Mr Stewart, having had an inten icw with Mr ■ Gane, they arranged between themselves ■ that Mr Gane's girl should go b.ick to school, and that an apology should be made to Mr Stewart, but that the apology should not be made public. Mr Stewart, instead i of keeping good faith with Mr Gane., had I gone to the school, and holding it in his I hand Avaved it as it weie tnumphantly ' before the pupils, informing them at the hame tim 3 of what had transpiied, but that if any other child in the school should be I guilty of a like breach of school discipline, I with or without an apology, he or she ) wtmld not be allowed t«. return to the - school. It was on this giouud that the 5 chairman, the teacher, and the parent had ) interviewed each other.

The Alleged Ahusivk Language.— The Chairman said that at the last meeting, they would remember, he had laid a chaige against Mr Stewart for abusive language. He would now submit to them Mr Stewarts reply, and then leave the room, that they might consider the matter unrestrained by his piesenco. — Mr Stewatt had made a request that at the meeting at which the chairman's charge* should be considered hi* solicitor, Mr J. P. Campbell, and the boy F. Higginson should be present. — The Chairman stated, on leceiving this request, as chairman of the committee, that he replied to Mr Stewart that no one should be allowed to be present, with the exception of the Piess lepiesentatives, and al&o that when the chaiges were considei ed he himself should withdraw from tho meeting. — Mr Steuait had again written, regietting that the committee had refused his request. He considered they did him a grave injustice. He would, however, submit the following reply to Mr lloskiug's charges :—: — Reply to the complaints of Mr G. F. Hosk ing and comments thereon, for the infoimation of the Cambridge School Committee and the Board of Education, Auckland. " On reference to the said complaint it will be seen that, although not directly stated, it is clearly inferred that the conversation between Mr G. F. Hosking and myself took place on the playground. It did not, but on the footpath of Duke-street. Further, it is inferred that the contractor therein mentioned was present during the conversation, whilst in point of fact I waited until Mr G. F. Hosking had finished his instructions, and tho contractor had left befoie speaking. Mr Hosking is also vciy anxious to appear in his official character, and that I should appear in mine, for the purpose, I presume of bringing the matter before the Cambridge Distuct School Committee and the boa.nl. As » matter of fact, I spoke to Mr G. F. Honking, not to the chairman of committee ; and as R. D. Stewait, not as head ina->tei of the Cambridge High School. Mr Hosking admitted this himself, when he said in lefeiling to the alleged complaints of Messi-> Clark, Gane, and Nkon : " Nor had I any wish to convey that any official complaints had been leceived by me fiom these gentlemen." Now, either our com citation dealt with official or unofficial matters. I am piopaied to accept Mr G. F. Hosking's own statement of the mattei ; theiefoie, cle irly our coin ersation was an unofficial one, and on unofficial matters ; and he wasnotaddiessed as chairman of the committee. This point, however, I sun prepared to waive for the piesent, only insisting that copies of mine and Mr Hosking's communication shall be sent to the board simultaneously. Mr Hosking's statement is incoirect lii thiee ways : — (a) That part of it which is true as far as the paiticular wo>'ds used are concerned, is not placed in its proper relation to the context, and consequently conveys a false impression ; (5) Mr Hosking does uot give his replies to me ; (c) He deliberately states what U untrue. I will now deal with Mr Hosking's com] 'hunt, sentence by sentence, for the sake of cle.uness, although it must be distinctly understood that some of the statements which are paitially tine did not occur in those paits of the conversation in which they aie placed. " Why had you not the manliness to answ er my letters, you sneak ?" The woids " you sneak '' weie not made use of then. " You are a liar." These words were not made use of in this connection, but in the following ; — Mr G, F. Ho-king : "Well you see Mr Stewart, it is one of those cases in which one must suffer for the public good." R. D. Stewait: '* Well the public do not give you the credit for such good intentions. They say you want to get your brother hero.', Mr G. F. Hosking: "It is not true they say so." R. D. Stewart : " I can prove it. Mr G. F. Hosking: "If you say that you lie. It is a base calumny concocted by yom self." R. 1). Stewart": "If you say 1 lie, you. are a liar." Previously to this, Mr Hosking had said, without any provocation on my part, "I have long known you for a trickster, saying one thing to ono person, and the opposite to another. " I will hold you up, &c," and " show you up." This statement is deliberately false. After this I accused Mr Hosking of going round the town and fishing for complaints, and told him he was a sneak to do so. " And the board will laugh, &c." The words should be, "Will give you a snub." Mr Hosking then said: "We mean to carry this matter through, and we will. " To which I replied : "Do your worst, I snap my fingcus afe the lot of you," Mr G. Y. H. ; "We will. I had no personal 1 eelings before, but I must be immaculate if 1 have not now." Our conversation terminated in this way, and not as Mr Hosking btvtes. Mr G. F. H. ; "I think very little of you for coming and speaking to me in this way." R. D. S. : "Sir, your good opinion is not valued." The following is Mr Hosking's charge against Mr Stewait, as laid before the meeting of the committee held, some time back, and which haw since been reserved from publication :— " Gentlemen, — I have now a very unpleasant duty to pei form in laying before you the gross and wanton manner in which Mr R. D. Stewart, as headmaster of the Cambiidge High School, insulted your chairman on Saturday la&t, while your chairman was showing an intending contractor what was necessary to be done in repairing the girls' playground. He (Mr Stewart) rode up to him in company with a lad and said : " You are the man I want to see. Why had you not the manliness to answer my letters, you sneak? You come to me professing friendship, getting information from me, and now you are playing into the hands of your greatest enemy to work against me. You are a- liar. You said at the meeting that Messis Clark, Gane, and Nixon had otn plained of my whipping their daughters. I have letters from each of them denying the statement. I will hold you up to utter contempt in the public jivbhs, on the public platform. In public and in private I will show you up. I will snap my fingers at you and your committee, and the boaid will laugh at you in this case as it did when your committee recommended that my salary should be reduced by £25." He left the chairman by saying, '" I hold you in utter contempt. In order to give the committee an opportunity of considering the matter I will lay this complaint on the table, and will ask the committee to take such action, and make such repi'eseutations to the boaid at its next meeting as it may see fit to meet the case. In the meantime I will forward a copy of this statement to the head teacher, and inform him that if he tenders a suitable written apology I will recommend this committee to tak.e no further action in the matter,— Mr J). Hwiohins, who was working near by during the scene, wrote endorsing the chairman's version in some particulars. —Mr Nixon interrogatively I remarked that Mr Stewart had stated that the committee refused him permission to be present. — Mr, Hosking replied, stating that as chairman of the committee he had told Mr S,tewa.rt h.e, gonM not be present at the meeting. — Mr Nixon thought the matter should nave been referred to the committee. Itrwas a matter f<)r it to decide ; v aud the reply which Mr Hosking had taken upon himself to.make Mr; Stewart was not the unanimous ,yoice of the body wjhich he represented. ' , Mr Hoaxing having retired . from the meeting,- Mr Sai-gent ' was voted to tho 'clnii\ v~ l "J '-."..'iv ■ - '=> •" Mr, Nixon then proposed t " That as the cOavort-ationbotween the'ehairmn-n and the teacher a* oohtiuueO in the'foregoing* statemonts'ihiid;?taketi,J!placti- on the public IfiOUjm'ittee, Sjiould take \\s ppgquiaqgejif'ttig impute. I|sfcsimori thosa If )utlainQJ^jaHilfc'ii|}naavßd ti)jbij:t)f a priyatu

ffi.sin o£ the school committee. The matter had originated through certain statements, Which had appeared in Thk Waikato Times.— Mr Hewitt endorsed Mr Wrights; opinion. He would propose the following* resolution :— "That this "committee deeply regrets that Mr Stewart (according -to aii& own representation) has made tug oj|, language to its chairman very little "teni; with the position of a gentleman an 1 a' scholar, and is of opinion that its dignity and its right to administer the affahs of the school can be ventilated only by Mr Stewarts removal from hisjpresent po .ition, and that this Resolution, together with the correspondence nn-the subject, be forwarded to the Board of Education." — The words of the foregoing resolution "can be ventilated only by the Mr Stewarts removal from his present position "' were subsequently altered to read " ought to be vindicated, and requests the board to take such steps as it may deem necessary for that purpose." — Mr Nixon contended that they had no power to deal with Mr Stewart's* dismissal as suggested by the resolution hi its original state.— Mr Hewitt commented strongly on the language made use of by Mr Stewart. — Mr Houghton thought it was necessary to support the chairman when he was in the right. He believed few men in that town would have carried through the affairs of the school as Mr Hosking had done. It was their duty to show that they had every confidence in him, He would, therefore, second the resolution.— Mr Wright expressed extreme regret that this had occurred. The publication of this matter, he held, would be very damaging to Mr Stewart, with whom he sympathised. If they could see their way clear to deal with the matter in a lenient way, so far as thejspirit of justice would allow, they should do so. Mr Stewait had acted very ungentleinanlv in making use of such language —Mr Houghton thought Mr Stewart would have acted more manly had he brought a man and not a boy to witness his interview with Mr Hosking.— Mr Wright thought the boy was not likely to rcniembar all that had transphed, and which lie had certified to as couect in every particular. — The Rev Mr Do'Vsbury said the affair was one of an exceedingly painful character. Mr Stewait, acooi rfiHg' i<> /«'•>««'« ac?raK-.Ki«, li&d ««acte < use of language of a '•crious nntmc. He should have sent some expression of regret, giving in o\teuu.ition that he had made use of the language when in the heat of temper. It would not have been undignified on his part to have sent an expression of regret. He felt sorry that he had not taken such a step. Mr Stewart, in fact, had taken the matter of dealing with the question out of the hands of the committee. He had addressed his communication to the Board of Education, and they had not the power to stop it. He would aik the chairman to waive his own personal feeling on the matter. He would suggest that the whole correspondence be forwarded to the Board of Education without comment, and leave it to that body to assort the dignity of the committee.— Mr Wright thought they should take some moans of showing to the Board of Education that ill this matter the committee wore in no way actuated by animus. Tim was necessary, as animus liad been alleged against the committee. — Mr Nixon thought Mr Stewait should be allowed to be picocnt to defend himself. — The Rev Mr Dewabui y considered that Mr Stewait had made use of language, whether officially or unofficially, unbecoming a gentleman. If a teacher were drunk outside of school hours it would not matter w hethor it were an official intoxication or an unofficial one. He would propose, "That the further consideration of the matter be defened till the following Tuesday evening, and that a committee, consisting of Mesbi'n Sargent and Wnght be appointed to interview Mr Stewait, with the view to amicably settling the matter." — Agreed to. The meeting then adjourned till the evening named, a resolution having been passed lequenting the membeis of the Picas piesent not to publish the discubsion on the matter until the adjourned meeting should have been held, and Mr Stewarts reply ascertained.