Greymouth Evening Star. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1945. PYROTECHNICAL!

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 September 1945, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1945. PYROTECHNICAL!

JT is not unusual for pupils of secondary schools to be taken to Courts, Councils, and similar gatherings in order to learn, firsthand, how these branches of public administration are conducted. Doubtless, the experience is instructive and this form of tuition deserves to be encouraged. As learning, like charity, should begin at home, representative pupils of the Greymouth Technical School might be permitted to attend the next meeting of the Board of Governors, especially if the proceedings were to be as novel as these were last evening. The scholars’ illusions about the dignity of a school Board might be shattered, but they would have good entertainment, and perhaps find unholy joy in the spectacle of their Principal being hectored by Board members.

“Manners makyth man’’ is the motto of Winchester, one of England’s greatest public schools, and the visiting Grey Technical pupils, remembering this, might be invited to suggest an appropriate motto for their own school —and Board. Civics is an important course in the school s curriculum, and the ideals taught and high standards recommended, might prompt the pupils to invite the Board members to attend some-of these classes. Had scholars been present at last evening’s meeting of the Board, they must have been puzzled, and wondered if they had strayed into the wrong meeting. The outside public will become perturbed about the welfare of the school, if its control continues to be in the hands of those, who, apparently, find selfcontrol somewhat difficult. As vaudeville, the proceeding's may have had merit. As example to the scholars, the exhibition was less amusing.

The meeting became a Kent v. Turley controversy, and neither of the principals is entitled to public sympathy. Air. Kent is becoming a monopolist where the chairmanships of district local bodies are concerned, and he might well give place to others. Mr. Turley has no inferiority complex in these matters, and many will think it sheer effrontery on his part, at his first return as a member of the Board —practically self-appointed, at that —to seek the chairmanship, and, generally, to attempt to take charge of affairs. If the allegation that “manoeuvring’’ was going on was not groundless there will be added regret that Labour comrades should be at variance, or have cause to distrust each other. Unless reconciliation is effected, the Board’s future meetings may not be so harmonious, —almost sleepy—as hitherto, and the school’s progress will not he helped. The regrettable exhibition, last evening, will serve a useful purpose if it induces the public to take a more lively interest in the Technical School, and in the constitution of its Board - of Governors. Some members appear to be little qualified for the high responsibilities undertaken, some do not display excessive interest in the duties they have assumed, and, of late, there has arisen evidence of a drive by one section to secure control of the school. It is the pupils’ welfare that is the main consideration. The school has a fine record, and it will be a pity if the Board becomes more hindrance than help in maintaining this prestige.