EDUCATION BOARD.

Bruce Herald, Volume VI, Issue 402, 24 January 1872, Page 5

EDUCATION BOARD.

The adjourned half-yearly meeting w£H held to-diy. Present— His Honor the Superintendent, Mr Reid, and Mr Bradshaw. In regard to the deputation from the North Ifinst Valley, the Secretary stated that about fifteen months ago a difficulty occurred in connection with the appointment of a teacher* The local committee appointed a Mr Scholefield, who did not possess the certificate of qualification required by the Education Ordinance, but who had succeeded in ingratiating himself with the people of the district and the ommittee. Seeing that the feeling of the district was so strong in favor" of the teacher, be did not bring the matter before the Board at its hist meeting, in the hope that if Mr Sholefield were allowed to continue as teacher he might be able to give him a Certificate, provided that the school came up to the n-cessary standard. After Mr Scholefield had be.;n in charge of the school for about nine months, he (the Secretary) visiced and examined the school, and. the result of that, examination was, that on November 13 he wrote to the school committee informing th.3in th it he found that the school had gone back, especially in the upper classes the English and arithmetic classes in particular, and called upon the committee to proceed to the appointment of a certificated teacher. On November 16 the committee replied that, xt tei* due deliberation, and seeing that the attendance at the school had increased owing to t!ie master's exertions, that he gave nemjral satisfaction t«> the parents, and what would be the effect of making a change, th Q y recommended Mr Scholefield not to resign until they received a further Communication from the Secretary of the Education Board. So far a3 he (the Secretary,) was concerned, he did not feel warranted, knowing the feeling in the district, in proceeding further ; as a matter of mere feeling, and for thy sake of peace, he should have been delighted to have been able to have granted .ilr Scholefield the necessary certificate ; but knowing the state of the school, lie would be failing in his duty were he to do 3>.

His Honor said he had been waited on by a number of residents in the district, including Dr Buchanan .{imi others, who expressed great satisfaction with Mr Schulefield, and requested that he might not be removed. Mr Simpson, one of die. deputation, presented a memorial adopted at a public meeting of residents in the district, confirming the action of the committee He mentioned that the school had had eight masters in the same number of year 3 ; and it was the feeling of patents, that to have another change, seeing that Scholelield had only held the appointment for twelve months, would be to throw the school back farther than it had e.'er been. The present master had increased the atteadance at the school twofold ; and it was a matter of difficulty for him, having only 24 out of 112 better than children ] to get them well up in the work of the higher clasrß3. Besides, he was able, to very harmoniously with the committee// The Secretary, in answer to questions, said he had no reason to disbelieve thut Mtf Scholefield had been ekerting himself to acquire tho necessary qualifications. Three qualifications were required/ viz , sufficient scholarship, good character, and professional 'skill.' ThereisraSTniodollbt whatever that he had sufficient scholarship ; he was 'a?* well-

conducted young man, and, so far as he i knew, of good character ; but he had not yet had that amount of professional skill to enable him (the Secretary) to grant a certificate as a main school teacher. ..- _ ■ j . - After some discussion, in which at first j Messrs Reid and Bradshaw were disposed j - to agree to the Secretary's proposal in Ins " letter of November, to proceed to the election of a certificated teacher, it was resol ved i to extend Mr Scholefield's term of probation ; ■a special examination to be held within six months. •-. ; ■ , The Board "took into consideration (1) the ; report of the subcommittee of the , Pro.vin'jibial Council on the peritioris of Roman Catholic inhabitants of the Province, Session 29, a resolution of the ProvincilP Council, ■Session-29. relating to the said report and . petition; and (3), a memorandum on the subject- by the Provincial Secretary :— lt was .resolved: that the schoolmasters and other tearfiers employed under the Boar! be enjoined to adhere strictly to the terms of the Education Ordinance 1864, in regard to the reading of the Bible and religious instruction, to take care that both parents and children be informed that attendance at such reading •or, instruction is opfional ; and to avoiU the use of any lessons containing JJwords or exjpressioas offensive to Roman Catholics agr other de nom * uatx ? ns °* Christinns. That the SecroWy be instructed -ta take steps in connection with s;hool Mcommittees and teachers to secure the •use of such class books in the public schools

as shall give the least possible offence to Boman Catholics and other denominations of Christians. (3.) That the Board express their appreciation of the prudent and fair manner in which they believe the.school committees and teachers have generally acted in •the past, in. reference to reading the Bible. | <and the imparting of religious instruction in the. public schools. (4.) That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded to every school •committee and every teacher connected with the Board. i Mr Ferrier, of Blneskin, wrote asking whether it was the intention of the Board to •establish Provincial scholarships this year. Mr Reid observed that it would be a, pity to allow the thing to drop, and was understood to disapprove of the practice adopted last year of fixing the standard so high that none would succeed. The Rector of the High School (who was' present) said it had occurred to him for a long time that it was desirable to make i jsome arrangement whereby the Provincial scholars should not finish their education .at the Bigh School, bu<r proceed to the University. • It was agreed to establish three scholarships this year. A letter was read from Mr Hawthorne, recommending Mr Abram's application for :an extension of his leave of absence for six months ; of an increase of Mr Pope's salary to L4OO ; and recommending Mr Thomson s appointment in place of Mr Paterson, •whereby a saving of LllO a year would be effected. Consideration of the letter was •deferred till Monday. The appointments during the half-year "were approved, and claims for repairs I amounting to L276. 16s 2d were referred to the Executive. Waihola, Otepopo, Hampden, Waipori, Palmerston, and Maungatua, made applications "for teachers. They were referred to the Executive. All questions of repairs and applications for sewing mistresses were adjourned. A schoolmaster was appointed to "Waik?vi (Southland). Several applications were made for new schools; that of Out ram j "was referred to the West Taieri Committee ! to report. Purakanui ; referred to the Secre- 1 tary, to ascertain if it cannot be conjoined <with Saddle Hill. Walton ; resol ved to grant LSO a year towards the teacher's salary. Bfimm's Point (South Wair.ouaiti), L3O to be allowed. Stewarts Island : deferred. | Kyall Bush referred to Inspector, with a vieV to ascertain if the district can be conjoined. Brighton : postponed. Harrisville : subsidised for six months, at the rate of L3O a year. Papakio : existing arrangements to be continued in the meantime, pending Inspector's report. Evan's Flat and Dunkeld : LSO a year. Numerous applications for school buildings and for the promotion of side schools.. and the position of main schools, ■were referred to the Executive.

A deputation from Green Island appeared to support a reqnest by the local school committee that the Board should call upon Mr A. G. Allan, the teacher. "to substantiate certain statements made by him, or else to retract them and apologise for the same." We should have been prepared to have given a statement of the facts ; but in the face of the decision in Cameron v * The Otago Daily Times,' we feel shut up to simply recording the resolution arrived at, which is as follows :— r '

" Having read over the whole correspon dence the BoaTd regrets to find that there is a want of harmony between the committee and the teacher, which, if continued, must prove highly detrimental to the educational interests of the district. The Board regrets the more to find this, inasmuch as Mr Allan appears to be a good and efficient teacher. Under the circumstances of the case, resolved, that it is expedient that Mr Allan should be exchanged into the first suitable vacancy."