The Clutha Leader. BALCLUTHA: FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 1894.

Clutha Leader, Volume XX, Issue 1031, 27 April 1894, Page 4

The Clutha Leader. BALCLUTHA: FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 1894.

The decision arrived at by the Otago Education Board at its meeting last week with reference to the Balclutha District High School will, we think, be generally be accepted as satisfactory. It will he remembered that at the previous meeting of the Board the matter was referred to the inspectors for report. There were those who thought that there was no necessity for this step, a definite agreement having been entered into between the Board and the School Committee on the subject, and the report presented by Inspector Petrie at last meeting of the Board goes a lonw way in the direction of showing that those who held this view were correct. The Board does not seem to have been guided by the report in any particular, but came to a decision in terms of the agreement existing between the Board and the Committee and entered into in 1891. Amongst other things the inspector's report says:— The attendance" at the extra classes has fallen far short of the estimate submitted by those who promoted the establishment of a High School and even the more moderate estimate of 24 pupils at which I arrived after enquiring into the matter in 1891." We do not know what representations were made to the board by the promoters, who no doubt made the best of their case ; nor do we know the conditions proposed when Inspector Petrie arrived at his more moderate estimate of 24, after enquirinto the matter in 1891. We do, however, know under what conditions the Board decided to establish a High School at Balclutha, and the inspector might have done well to make himself acquainted with these conditons before framing his present report. At the meeting of the Board in June 1891, the inspectors having already l-eported, presumably favorably, the application for a district high school was referred to a committee of the Board, who reported at the following meeting of the Board " That in the opinion ' of the committee the time has come for the establishment of a district high school at Balclutha provided an attendance of 20 pupils above the sixth standard be attained, but they thought it should be in the conditions that, should the attendance at any time fall below that number the grant should be withdrawn." The same report also directed the attention of the board to the fact that in the Port Chalmers District High School there were only 13 pupils above the sixth standard. These then [ are the conditions under which the board decided to grant a District High School at Balclutha, and, presuming that the high school would be equipped in the same manner as other, district high schools, the committee were satisfied. They were not yet out o£ the wood however. Pursuant of a recommendation in the report; quoted the Inspectors were instructed "to report as to the alterations and additions necessary in the staff\>f the school, and as to the qualifications of the present staff to carry on the work of the district high school." The report by the Inspectors was not presented to the board till the October meeting, and its contents as to the alterations and additions which Inspectors Petrie and Goyen considered necessary are still fresh in the minds of those who have taken an interest in this matter. In the face of the Inspectors' recommendations as to the alterations and. additions necessary the school committee felt that the conditions as to attendance under which the board had granted the high school should be considerably modified, and several members of the committee publicly expressed the opinion that the committee should not accept the high school under the conditions which the adoption of the Inspectors 1 report rendered necessary. However, a deputation from the school committee waited upon the board on N^ov. 21 1891 and requested that either a competent head master be appointed, or that the regulation - specifying an attendance of 20 pupils be relaxed during the two years allowed the head master to qualify. The board, after discussion, decided to allow the regulation to remain in abeyance. Such then are the amended conditions under which the Balclutha District High 'School has.

been in existence up to the present time, and yet we find Inspector Petrie, at last meeting of the board, stating tbat " it is evident that the representations by which the board was induced to provisionally establish a district high school. at Balclutha were very wide of the mark, for the atter.dance has not been half what the movers in its establishment expected, and it has even proved less than I myself anticipated. In these circumstances it seems to me that the experiment which the board sanctioned might well take end, and tbedistriet high school be discontinued." As we have said the Inspector would have done well to have previously made himself acquainted with the terms under which it was decided to establish the district high school. Had he done so the absurdity of his suggestion would have been patent to himself, when in another part of his report i.c says : " For nine quarters during which the school has been in operation the average number of advanced pupils has been 21. At the present time the j number is 26." Even supposing that the original condition of 20 pupils had not been relaxed the board would not have been acting within its rights in discontinuing the high school even had it only been an experiment as now suggested for the first time by the Inspector. But, in the face of the fact that J the school, by the adoption of the Inspector's recommondation in 1891 was as regards the teaching staff, admittedly not placed in the samp position as other district high schools, r or in the position intended by the board when they originally decided to establish a district high school at Balclutha an average attendance of 21 with a present roll numbering 26 must be taken as highly satisfactory, much more so than under the circumstances the promoters anticipated, or the Inspector had any right to expect. Given a thoroughly competent teaching staff present indications augur well for the realisation o£ the representations made to the board by the promoters, and even the more moderate estimate of 24 pupils arrived at by the Inspector after enquiring into the matter in 1891. As we have said the board at its meeting last week ignored the Inspector's report in arriving at their decision. It is not the first time the board has done this, and as far as the Balclutha District High School is concerned it would have saved a considerable amount of dissatisfaction had they done so in Oct. 1891, and simply adopted their usual custom as regards the teaching staff in district high schools. By the way it might be interesting to know what is the present position of the Port Chalmers District High School at which in June 1891 there was an attendance of only 13 pupils.

Mr J. C. Blackmore, the Government fruit expert, will arrive in Balclutha to-day, and will deliver a lecture in the high school in the evening on "General fruit culture, insect pests and diseases." This is a Bubject in which many of the community are interested, and -many more ought to be, and the lecture should draw a very large attendance. Mr Blackmore'B object in visiting this part of the Colony ia to see what the people here are doing in fruit culture, to find out the mistakes that are being made and to point out the remedy, to learn the difficulties that are experienced and to show how these may be overcome, and generally to assist those who wish to engage in fruit culture in a Bmall way or on a large scale. It is believed by some, ourselves among the number, that fruit culture will yet, and before many years are over, form a staple industry of the country, one of the pleasantest, most profitable, and most reliable industries.- We can ace no reason whatever to cast a doubt on this. Both soil and climate are everything that could be desired, while from the geographical position the fruit would arrive in the markets of Great Britain and the Continent at a season when it could not be supplied locally, and when the highest prices would prevail. The industry is one in which all classes of.the community could take part — townspeople and country people, leaseholders and freeholders — and it would afford remunerative employment for an unlimited number of people of both sexes. This, we know, is regarded by many as purely visionary, but so they long regarded the frozen meat trade, dairy factories, etc. , which have now been established and hive proved highly successful. So it will shortly prove, and even to a more appreciable extent with friut culture. We are aware many difficulties have been experienced in the efforts that have been made to grow fruit, but we believe such difficulties have arisen chiefly through ignorance and inexperience. Let those interested in thel matter attend the lecture and consult with Mr Blackmore personally, and we believe they will find their difficulties minimised if they do not altogether disappear.