BOARD OF EDUCATION.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 8708, 2 February 1894, Page 3

BOARD OF EDUCATION.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRESS. Sir, —If our masters are to be held in that degree of honour to which their profession entitles them, they surely need to be protected from charges to which they are at present subject. The case of the master of View Hill school, Oxford, reported ih jour issue of last Friday, is one in point. According to the report the Board admits that the charge of severity to begin with, was nine months old, and that the charge of " brutality." could not be substantiated, yet instead of giving the master an honourable acquittal, it gives him" an admonition. But besides this, there are peculiar features about this case that demand public attention. 1. The action on which the charge was based occurred nine months, ago. 2. The Board heard the charges so far back as September, and \ decided that there was nothing in them.. So things stood till the elections drew near, when, lo and behold, the Board, ignoring its previous decision and the protests of the School Committee, insisted on appointing a commission to rehear the charges.; Comment on this course of action-is needless, and the fact of its occurring at an election time suggests that it is not desirable .that Education Boards should be ■ packed with M.H.R... . --""."-'" ,To remedy this state,of tilings the Board should halve no poyver to receive any charge of severity .'-against..a master" that has not first been proved; before the Alagisfcrate. The position of the masters is a hard one. j Their very livelihood depends, not on points /of law and justice, but upon the opinions I only of a majority on t_te Board. They are i like unfortunate travellers steering between I the devil and the deep sea ! Their position I urgently demands relief.—Yours, &c, Fairplat.

TO THE EDITOR OF THB PRESS. SiR,--Thi_ great body, brimming "full of administrative ability, might have at their last meeting gone one step further and made a regulation as to the weight to be applied with " regulation strap," seeing that all masters are not of equal strength. I would suggest that the Board summon all teachers authorised to use regulation straps, to be and apnear before them on a certain date for the purpose of a weight-striking test, and all those who can can strike more than one pound with regulation strap to have theirs tapered. It seems strange that owing to the indiscretion of one teacher the whole profession in North Canterbury are branded a brutal type, who require regulations framed for their preservation, and the inspectors a straight-jacket to keep them out of harm's way. A Butcher who has Old Traces for Sals.