EDUCATION BOARD

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 68, 17 September 1936, Page 10

EDUCATION BOARD

COL MACDONALD'S POSITION

AN ERROR CORRECTED

-Referring to the report,1 'published yesterday, of proceedings at the Education Board's meeting on Tuesday night relative to Colonel T. W. MacDonald leaving the room, Colonel Mac* Donald writes as follows: — ■

"It seems strange that a journal, of the standing of 'The Post' would publish a report such as this without making every effort to ensure its accuracy. At least one would have expected that I, as the one chiefly concerned, would have been referred to before publication, especially as the information given must have been supplied by an unauthorised person, as there was no pressman present, and the board did not authorise anyone else to maker a report to the Press. This course should have been apparent from the-fact that the board now conducts''nearly all of its business in the Star Chamber method, the public and the Press be;ing excluded from its meetings for the most part.

"Such a report, if not_absolutely accurate, may cause serious injury, and the report under consideration is most inaccurate in one essential particular, namely, it states that 'Colonel MacDonald after making some comment left the room. . . . Colonel Mac Donald did not return last night' "The true position is that I left the room after the board adjourned and shortly afterwards I returned and remained in the board room until the meeting adjourned at 11 p.m. No member of the Police Force entered the board room either when I was present or during the meeting of the board. The police, even if they had wished to do so, as I am certain they did not, could not have lawfully interfered under the circumstances."

Inquiries have been made regarding, the accuracy of the report, and we have ascertained that it was erroneous in respect to the . statement that Colonel Mac Donald did not return. Wa regret this error.