THE BOARD AND THE INSPECTORS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 133, 7 June 1910, Page 4

THE BOARD AND THE INSPECTORS.

To-morrow the Board of Education is to select a Chief Inspector to fill the vacancy caused by the retirement of Mr. Petrie. We have no donbt that all the members of the Board realise their responsibilities to tte people of Anck.land in this matter; font in view of the great importance of t-he appointment and the influence which the man chosen to fill this post must necessarily exercise for good or evil upon the growth of our education system and the future -of our schools, we take this opportunity to emphasise the exceptional qualifications that the successful candidate ought to possess. The Chief Inspector of primary schools here must, of course, be a man of high scholastic attainments, who has had practical experience of the work of primary school teaching, and holds high, credentials as proof of his success in the service. But he must at the same time be a great deal more than an experienced teacher, or inspector of schools. He stands before the general public as the representative of our primary educational system, and he must be able to perform that duty with, appropriate dignity and impressivenftss. He must have been in sufficiently close contact with, tie higher grades of our educational system to appreciate the possibilities of the primary schools a& nurseries for the secondary schools and the University Colleges. He must be the type of man who, by hi 3 character and his past record, will command the respect of the teachers of Ms district, a man l to. whom they can look for guidance and direction,, and he should- be able to , impress upon them the TOlue of tiiose 'elements- of wider Eteiarjr knowledge and: culture without ■yhieh, tW best-rinteirtioned teaching must remain formal and barren. A man com-

.bining all these qualifications is T>y no means easy to discover; but what we wish to urge upon the Education Board is that it will lie tfoihg less than its duty to -our primary schools and to their teachex3 and their pupils if it fails to take all these considerations into account in making this appointment. Under any circumstances, we would have thought it advisable to lay stress upon the necessity for the exercise of care arid judgment in the choice of a Chief Inspector; but, as our readers are aware, certain difficulties arose at the last meeting of the Education Board, which seem to us fo demand special attention. We ; do not profess to understand the-.motives actuating the members who then took exception, to the course proposed by the Chairman, and ■we have certainly no intention of entering into <what seems to be, from the outside point of view, an exceedingly unpleasant controversy about the respective merits of candidates and the tactics pursued by their supporters. But we desire to impress upon the Education Board the fact that the eyes of the people of Auckland are upon them, and that the interest that would 'be taken in this appointment in the natural order of things has been vastly quickened and intensified by the mutual imputations and recriminations in which some of its members have publicly indulged- Enough has certainly been said to justify the conviction that it is more than ever necessary that the selection of the Chief Inspector should be conducted in such a way as to satisfy tne general public about the qualifications of the various candidates, and the value of their cl.-i.JTns upon tho position. The Education Board, for the sake of its own authority and dignity, should be prepared to make it perfectly clear to the teachers under its control, and to the people of Auckland, whose educational interests it its supposed to protect, that in making this appointment it is influenced solely by regard for the personal and educational fitness of the candidates for this position, and by no other consideration whatever. To secure this h%hly desirable end we would go even further than tho Chairman of the Board hae already suggested. We agree with Mr Parr that the voting ior the various candidates should be conducted publicly in open board: and we suggest also that in view of the importance of the post and the public interest aroused in this appointment, the qualifications of the competitors, more especially as reparda their personal character and their Tocord of previous service nndor the Auckland Board, be submitted openly to the Board and handed to the press for pirblication. In no way, we think, can the people of Auckland secure that full knowledge of the circumstances of this appointment that they 3ia.vc a right to claim; and the Education Board, in our opinion, will consult best for its own di<rnity and repute by acceding to what appears to us to bo, under the circumstances, a reasonable and legitimate demand.

Following is Mr. D. C. Bates' weather forecast for 24 hours from. 9 a.m. this day:—"Light and variable -winds, weather probably cool and changeable; probably a very cold night; glass little movement."

The yawl Pandora, a craft of only nine tons net register, has concluded the first stage of a venturesome voyage round the woiJd, having arrived at Melbourne on the 30th ult. The little vessel, which is only 36ft. long, was recently built at Perth, and started out from Bunbury on Hay 4. tjho encountered very heavy weather crossing the Australian Bighc, and about 6ft. of her port bulwarks were smashed and carried overboard. The Pandora will make a etay of two weeks at Melbourne, and ■will then leave for Sydney, New Zealand, Pitcairn Island, Juan Fernandez, Falkland Islands, United States, and Great Britain-, returning to West Australia by ■way of the Cape of Good Hope.

Accidents are constantly happening , , but very few people know how to render efficient "First Aid" pending the arrival of a doctor. The imparting , of this knowledge is the primary object of the St. John 'Ambulance Association. The lectures for this season begin this week at the office of the centre, 3S, His Majesty's Arcade. To-morrow (Wednesday) evening, Dr. A. Challinor Purchas will give the first Hectare to ladies, and on Friday evening, Dr. Cyril IL Tewsley will begin the course to men. At EHerslie there is a resident doctor, but, as he is at his consulting room in the city during the day, some of the lady residents wish to •have the lectures there, and have nearly sufficient members to form a class. At Onehunga also steps are being taken in •that direction.

A curious incident happened to an Auckland lady who arrived by the Ruahine from London recently. Her husband is an officer on board the Waimate, ■which sailed four days prior to the Ruahine from, the docks. As an officer's wife ds no-fc allowed to accompany her husband to- sea in his boat, the lady had to book a passage by the Ruahine. Shortly after leaving the Cape, the liner sighted the Waimate one morning. The two vessels immediately exchanged greetings, and passed each other sufficiently close to> allow of husband and wife to carry on an animated conversation by raeans of megaphones, much to the delight and excitement of the respective crews and passengers.

in opening the 43rd session of the Auckland Institute last night, the president, Dr. Briffauit, urged that, as the administrator of the Auckland Museum, the Auckland Institute should receive the active support of every prominent citizen. The library of the institute was the most important scientific library in the province, if not in the Dominion, and, thanks to the late Mr. Mackeehnie, it was constantly receiving supplies of the latest works in every field of scientific and philosophical literature. The aim oi the institute was. to promote by every possible means the interest of scientific, of philosophical, of all serious thought, and to form a bond that should draw together and afford mutual help and encouragement to an amongst us who were solicitous of those objects. If the community neglected scientific thought, the country, not science, would -sufl'er, and not only in the stuff and quality of their lives, not in mental development only, but in their pockets, in their most material interests. And let them put aside the delusion that technical education could ever operate as a substitute for pure science; such a fallacy was equal to the wisdom of the -one that killed the layer of the golden eggs.

A shipment of thirteen ptnre-bred Jersey cattle for Mr. W. J. Hall, of Matatoke. arrived in Auckland to-day by the s.s. Maheno. The consignment, which comprises, three 'bulls and ten hezters from the herds .of various wellknown ibreedexs in. N.S. Wales,, was taken down to Motuihi for the required period of quarantine.

The Commissioner of Crown Lands for Auckland went to Hamilton yesterday, to conduct an inquiry into matters connected -with the control of the Hamilton Domain Lands, which jhave been admiuiritered by the Town Council as a Domain 'Board. The inquiry is to toe made in response to a petition of citizens asking that control be vested in a, separate body. £Mr Gold-Smith was to consider "the question to-day. The following telegram has been dispatched by Mr. T. E. Taylor, M.P., to the Prime Minister (Sir Joseph Ward) : "I desire to enter an emphatic protest against the scheme for importing boy labonr. Thousands of boys are graduating from our schools every year, and work available in New Zealand belongs rightly to them. If the labour conditions and pay are just our own population will do all the work offering." A meeting of creditors in the estate of Henry Thomas Gaxratt, restaurantkeeper, bankrupt, was held before the Official Assignee (Mr. E. Gerard) yesterday afternoon, when about fifteen ' creditors were present. The meeting was for the purpose of receiving an accountant's report on the state of the business-wiien rnn as the firm of Whitehead and Ga.rra.tt, to see if the partners were solvent on 31st January, 1909, when partnership was dissolved. The goodwill of the business at the dissolution was set down at £560, and the report said the reasonable assumption from the figures as to the solvency was whether the goodwill was worth. £560. . •After considerable discussion, it was moved and carried that the creditors, after having heard the report, were satisfied that the firm of Whitehead aiid Garratt was solvent at the time of dissolution, and should therefore do nothing further. The creditors also recommended that the Assignee should facilitate the bankrupt's discharge. I

The new and powerful machinery which is being laid down by the Taupiri Coal Co. at their Extended mine to work the endless rope is Hearing completion, and should enable the coal to be moTe expeditiously hauled to the winding shaft. The plant being put down is intended to cope with a much larger output in the future. Extensive alterations to the machinery iat Ralph's mine are also to be made in the near future. The mines are at present working full time, the supply of wagons having been fully up to the requirements.—(Huntly Correspondent).

Notwithstanding the fact that entries for the Waikato Winter Show do,not close untii June 11, the secretary, Mr. Maxwell, has already received a great number. Schedules have been applied, for from all parts of tho Dominion, and it is confidently anticipated that the forth-coming show will be far and away ahead of any winter show in the Dominion.

At the annual meeting of the Waikato Licensing Committee, he'd yesterday, all applications for licenses or renewals were granted. In the case of the Franfcton Junction Hotel, complaints were made that the accommodation was insufficient since the Main Trunk time-table had been in operation. Mr. Gillies, who appeared for 'the licensee (Mr. E. J. Moriarty) sa-id that owing to the uncertainty of the local option poll his client only had an eighteen months' tenure. He, however, promised to provide a substantial increaso in the accommodation at once, and on this understanding the license was granted.

At a meeting -of the Cliristchurch City Council last night the ilayor brought forward a number of proposed remits for transmission to the Municipal Conference in Wellington next month, and they were discussed at some length. Three of them, relating to the- biennial election, of mayors, the payment of Councillors, and the election of Mayors by Councillors, being rejected, a remit was carried that in all cities and boroughs with a population of not less teim 30,000 the chairmen of committees should bo styled aldermen. It was resolved to move at the Conference that the King's Birthday should be celetai'ted on Empire Day. Dr. Thacker suggested the regulation of traffic an all cities possessing centre tramway poles, compelling slow and heavy traffic to go to the sides. The Mayor said the matter was being dealt in a by-law.

Tho weather is far too fine for the time of the year (our Ohristchureh correspondent telegraphs). Although it has given farmers a splendid opportunity to get their grain crops m, the grub is troublesome in all parts o£ the district, and farmers are looking forward to a little rough weather and some snow and frost, in the hope that it will destroy the pest.

George Jukich, a storekeeper, of Awanui, has been adjudicated a bankrupt on a creditors' petition. The first meeting of creditors will be held at the Official Assignee's office, on June 20, at 2.30 p.m. The adjourned sitting of the Hotel Employees' dispute will be held in the Commissioner's room (Government buildings) to-morrow morning, starting at 10 a.m. Mr. p. Hally, Conciliation Commissioner, of Wellington, will preside m the absence, through illness, of Mr. Harle Giles. A notice referring to the rearranging of the box office plan for the performance of '"Pete" at His Majesty'e Theatre, appears in. our amusement columns.

We give every man the right fit in black hard felt hats. Come soon and select from our full stock of sizes and shapes. Geo. Fowlds.—(Ad.)

Rugby Union Annual for 1910, price 6d, now on sale at all stationers, and at the "Star" Office.—(Ad.)