Southland Education Board

Southland Times, Issue 19381, 3 September 1904, Page 4

Southland Education Board

FRIDAY, 2nd SEPTEMBER. The monthly meeting was attended by Messrs T. MacGibbon (Chairman), I. W\ Raymond, W. B. Seandrett, G. -MacLeod, J. Cowie, D. Gilchrist. The secretary, as returning o nicer, announced that Messrs Maet: ibbon, Seandrett and Gilchrist hnd been re-elected (members. — Mr Cowie said ii p-ive him much pleasure to welcome his former colleagues back to tlie tnble. The action of the electors, in his opinion, indicated that tho Board, ns constituted, had given general satisfaction, other wise seme changes might havo been made.—Mr-Ray-mond endorsed Mr Cowie's remarks. Although there had been a good amount of criticism by some of the school committees and onlookers, on account of work in connection with their schools that they, thought should have been done, ihoy evidently forgot that tho Board was not a taxing machine and that it had r.o power to levy rates. The Board had to make the money granted by the Government go ns far as possible and, it should be remembered, there were always gioat demands made on the limited amonnt nt their disposal. Mr MacGibbon thanked members for their kindly references and hoped the next three years would be as pleasantly spent as the past ten, during which he liid had tho honour of sitting at the table. — Messrs Seandrett and (! ilchrist also- -appreciated the hearty welcome oxtended by their colleagues, tho lVrmcr remarking that it was a pleasure to be a member -oi tho Board — everything being carried out so well. It struck him as a remarkable feature in the. British character that men wy.M'e always to be found willing to devote their time and labour to the carrying out of local L r n* ernineiii , without expecting to receive soui. -thing in return. THE EXECUTIVE CO.MMI TT'EE. reported as follows :— Thnt the following APPOINTMENTS. have been made : Longridge : Roberta C. V. Mitchell, h.t. ; Tishury: Sarah M Macdonald, mistress ; Winton : Jas. R Wilson, special assistant ; Montoono (Household school) : F..M. Wild, h.t. : Waimumu : That Mrs Jas. Shaw be recommended to the Department for appointment as sewing mistress : Waikaia '. that the p.t.'s terms of office be extended j till 31st October next ; Glenorchy : | Charlotte Evison, temporary h.t- ; Drummond : Violet Jamieson, temporary tnis* tress ;Te Tua •• that Miss Stevens be recommended to the Department for ap j pointment, as sewing mistress. ] That the following I RESOLUTIONS havo been adopted— Te Tua : That Mis'.-) Stalker's resignation as sewjing mistress be accepted, and that the committee bo nsk'ed to* recommpnd a suitable successor; Scotts Gap : that the teacher bo granted two months' leave of absence, on account of ill-health ; Invercargiil Park : that R Crean be granted two weeks leave of ab sonce, on account of ill-health . Grovij Bush .' that the teacher's explanation r« complaint of the removal of trees from tfie school glebe be received, and the school committee furnished with a copy thereof. INSPECTOR'S REPORTS Till? Executive reported that, ai intruded b.v the Board, they have examined tho Inspector's reports for the month, and wish to express their appreciation of the reports generally, more especially in respect to the Inspector's remarks re- | gx-T-dirifj t-hte conduct and munlins of tho pupils, while under examination ; Seaward Bush— Wendon Valley : that the l e-> signation of the sewing mistress in each of these schools be accepted, and the school committee in each case asked to recommend a suitablo successor ; Kennington : that Miss M. Wilson's application for an extension of her present, leavo of her absence, till Hist October next, be granted. APPLICATIONS GRANTED. Half costs were granted as follows : — Waimatuku : Supply of range, cost, not to exceed £(> ; Woodlands : fuel shed, cost not to excoed i-..c_ ; Waikiwi : fencing school grounds, cost not to exceed -'i ; Liongbwsh : tiruck of gravel, cost, not lo exceed -tt 5s 7d ; Arrow : repairs to teacher's residence. cost not to exceed £5 ; Otautau : levelling and asphalting school grounds, cost not to exceed .C.O ; also extra tank to bo supplied r.nd repairs to windows authorised ; Ryal liu/sh : supply of range, not to exceed ,_<i ; Papatolura : supply dumb-bolls ; Millers Flat : repairs to buildings and fences, cost not to exceed £12. The following further applications were granted—Hedgehope (Upper) : supply of new furnitwre, as recommended by the Inspector ; Waipounarnu : repairs to buildings, cost not to exceed £12 and that half costs le allowed for fencing and fuel sheds, cost not to exceed £19 15s ; Invwrcai'gill Middle : painting nnd repairs to school Inrldings. in terms of architect's report ; the work to bo carried out during the Christmas holidays. APPLICATIONS DECLINED. Oteramika Gorge : For an addition to teacher's residence, committee lo be informed that the Board regrets that it has no funds for the purpose ; Myross Bush : for grant towards cost of clearing out drain and trimming live fences. APPLICATIONS HELD OVER. Tussock Creek— South Forest 11 ill : (a) an oiTer to sell two acres as a school site ; (b) for repairs to teachers rivionco ; (c) a protest against the proposed sale of the present school site nnd buildings ; all pending receipt of reply to tho Board's application to the Minister of Education for permission to dispose of the property ; Pine Bush— Haldano : painting and repairs to buildings. ARCHITECT'S INSTRUCTIONS. Pembroke : Supply piping for water supply, as recommended in his report ; Opio .' report on applications for (1) repairs to residence, (2) half cost, draining and gravelling, (3) supply of furniture and apparatus ; Glenham— Wallacetown : supply of soil pan for tho school in each* of these districts, as applied for ; Queenstown : carry out certain repairs to buildings and excavation round 1 the addition to teacher's residctue. in terms of his report, cost not io exceed £X5 8s 6d ; Springhills : furnish a further report as to what is really indisp-msable in the way oi repairs to buildings ; Carrara Point : to Consider Carswcll's letter on this production. GENERAL. Kingston Vthat Thos. Phelan be granted a lease of the old school buildings in this district, for three months, . t rental of £5 per annum ; Waianiwa .' application of Robert Murray to transfer his lease of section 1, block 5, to Geo. King, be granted ; Drummond : section 7, block 1, be ottered for lease by tender, for seven years, on usual conditions ; Dacre : that tho Department be advised of the arrangement lo lease for another year, the building at present used as school, at a irental of £5 und that they be asked to refund the amount ; Kaiwera : that, in reply to his last letter, re conveyance of his children to Pukerau school, Robt. Young be infuirmcd of the Department's conditions iu making a grant for this service, and Ihat he be asked whether he is prepared to accept .same ; Dipton : that under section ae, of " The Education Act 1877 " a bousc'holcl school be established for ;he h.i.ehl of Andrew Christie's children on the following conditions (1) that capitation grant in aid of a toachor's salary ai rate of £5 per pupil in average attendance per, annum bo paid ; CJ) that the upplinxxnt subsidise the saUtiry so that it shall not be less than £30 per annum, villi free board and lodging' for the teacher ; Wairaki : that a letter from f>. Brighton re the proposal to establish a school be received, and that the writer be informed that the Board is prepared to appoint a teacher as soon as the buildiiifi, proposed to bo used as a school, is put in proper repair ; Waicola : that, in reply to their last letter, the committee be informed that, ln the 'ab-Mico of a ep-cial grant from tho Department, l.he Board lm. no

funds, wlioiowith fo erect, a school at prosent. Scholarship., regulations : that tho inspector's report, on coiiitmimciil i«>lif? from the Department. ro proposed revision, be adopted ; and that the secrelary Dp authorised to repres^ot the Hoard's views, us to tho clauses in tho draft regulations objected to by tiie Department. Technical school site boundary ' Hint Mr Hatch's letter of "st Sep- ' t ember lio remitted to tho Board, vriil-i a recommendation that tho oiler therein contained to Pell part of sec. B, Block 1.1, Tnvercargill, at a price to lie fixed by arbitration, bo accepted. Conveyance of children to school : that Ihe seovi-nry '"-' authorised to again write to the Department re terms of grant for this wrvice. as set forth in their circular. London School Hoard ro interchange- of letters : that the inspector's report ho adopted'; that the Department, lio informed that the Hoard heartily approves of the proposal : and that they bo asked tn supply the Hoard with 200 copies of the London School Hoard's circular for distribution to tchools in Southland. Hound Hill : that in reply to their letter re erection of n teaclnir's residence, the committee bo informed of the Department's decision to mako no further special grants for buildings. till a fresh appropriation b.v i'nrliament, for the purpose, is made. Waicola : that spocial representation!, bo made to the Department as to the nrf,<vnt necessity for mak.iiitf n special gi ant for the erection of a school building — Kc-pol't adopted. With reference to the Department's circular re MKTRIC SYSTEM. the inspectors reported— ( l ) That ihe system has ticMer been taught in schools in which there was no sixth etiindaiil ; (2) tho decimal system of ..'omp'.iLi'.ion has been always in schools having a sixth standard ; (M) in schools having a sixth standard, the metric sysU'ia. as such, was regularly taught until tho Department in its text cards overl iriKctl the matter altogether ; and then the subject was taken up, for the most part. * n the better schools only; (-1) it has I n our custom, ill sotting mental sums to standard six, to require from pupils the ability to decimalise pounds, shillings and pence, and we found on the whole a satisfactory amount of attention bad been given to the subject. Tlu-y added tlmt they hail with delight, the introduction into our schools, of a method of computation that will cause tho long and cumbrous processes involved in the compound rules to disappear — Keceived. copy of report to be forwarded to Department. TEACIIEHS* SALAKIKS. The Wanganui Education Board forwarded two resolutions passed nt i's L.. t meeting, and asked the Hoard's co-opera-tion ; the resolutions being — (1) That in tlm opinion of the Board, the inducement^ offered to males to enter the leaching profession arc inadequate, and that the Department bo asked to take into consideration the question of indicating the salaries offered to male teachers ; ('_) that th'e Department be asked to consider whether it cannot devise a more f-t^ii' able system of computing teachers' salnrio than upon attendance.— Keceived, \Y_\ni_ulitii Hoard to be informed that the Heard is in sympathy with the spirit of the reliol'M ions In response to a letter from the Southland NAVY LEAC.LK, it. was resolved that a circular be addressed to head teachers and school coinmil lees, asking their ro-oporati-.u in suitably celebrating " Trafalgur Day " and that the Navy League pamphlet be sent, at the same time Kek'l'ling to tho Departments query ato how the DISTRICT ITIC: II Si'MO.IL class ut Lumsden would be iwroinm-.xla-ted, the. inspectors reported as follows : — Room 1 j Infants and standards 1 and '_!. mistress and p.t. ; room 2 'the new room) : standards 3 ami l. special assistant ; room 'A : high school class and st-undards 5 and 0. in charge of headmaster and senior pt. The inspectors added that the hoadinuster is a iiian of unbounded energy, and they were certain that he could do ample justice, under the conditions sketched, to both the primary aad secondary pupils —Report adopted ; Department lo be notified of purport thereof The Southland branch oi 'he Educational Institute pointed out that a large quantify of APPARATUS is required to enable teachers to comply with the requirements of the :iew syllabus, especially in the teaching of the compulsory subject, " Geography, scheme A." The inspectors respectfully Miggesied that the Board ask the Department either to supply or make a special grant for the purpose of procuring the following :—(l > Sullicient apparatus for each school, having more than one teacher, to make it possible for the programme in Elementary science to be carried out ; < '- ) a globe for each school in the district ; <:.) maps of the district in whicli tic school is situated and also maps of ihe vholu of the Education district of -unit !iUui<l ; (;T) a set of metric weights and men mi res, which might be also examined by those of the public who may be interested The inspectors pointed out thai these ntcessories arc absolutely necessary, if thu provisions of the new syllabus are to be carried out— Report of inspectors adopted and copy, together with Institute's letter, to be forwarded to Department.