SCHOOL COMMITTEES.

Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 88, 23 April 1901, Page 2

SCHOOL COMMITTEES.

The annual meetings of householders for ■the election of School Committees was held throughout the district last night. ' GISBORNE SCHOOL. Tlie meeting of householders for the Gisborne School District was one of the largest seen for many years. The High School room was crowded, and many had to be content with standing room. Three gentlemen were proposed as chairman of the meeting. Messrs Bushnell and Simson declined the honor, and on the motion of the latter the Rev. H. Williams was voted to the chair. In taking the chair, Mr Williams said that under other circumstances he would have declined, but as he did not intend to again seek office as Chairman of Committee, there was no reason why he should not preside over the meeting that evening. The Secretary then read the minutes of • the previous meeting, and at the conclu- ' sion Mr Symes asked If what the secretary had been reading was not the newspaper report of the proceedings, instead of being the real minutes of the proceedings. The Chairman: It is the newspaper r report. I Mr Symes :It is customary at meetings of this kind to put newspaper reports in as ' minutes. The Chairman : It appears from this - book to have been frequently done. The adoption of the minutes was put to the meeting, and was declared by ■. the Chairman to have been carried on the voices. 1 The report (already printed in the Times) was received from the Com--mittee. _ The Chairman said that, under the Act, it was not necessary to movo the adoption of the report, but if any householder had : anything to say on the work of the Coms mittee that was the time for it. Mr File thought that it was only right r t that the report should be discussed before the election of officers was proceeded with, h He referred to the fact that at the last annual meeting, he had made a suggestion that a cadet corps should be formed in 1 connection with the school. This had, 1 however, not been done. The speaker complained that the Gisborne School was r behind in displaying any signs of martial activity, and urged that it should follow g on the lines of other schools, and have a : flag-staff and a flag. He saw candidates I for municipal honors around him that n evening, and he hoped they would move in the direction of assisting the School in b obtaining a flag-staff'. He moved that the e report should be adopted, the motion ~ being seconded by Mr Edwards. I Mr Bright fully concurred in the f patriotic sentiments expressed by Mr File, a but thought that they had other duties to attend to that evening. He reviewed the e work of the School Committee and Education Board, and expressed pleasure at the good results obtained. Ho thought [ they should be proud of their High ’ School. s After further discussion the report was , adopted. The election of a Committeo was then proceeded with, the following nominations e being made: —Messrs W. Morgan, W. L. ® File, T. B. Sweet, A. Sawyer, Captain t Winter, A. F. Matthews, R. Cogar, C. H. a Ambridge, J. W. Nolan, W. Fraser, J. 1 Brown, J. W. Bright, A. T. Hookey, lan v Simson, G. Humphreys, W. J. Ranger, c C. A. DeLautour, H. Bruce, A. Graham. 1 Captain Whiter 82 J. W. Nolan -.. 73 A. F. Matthews 70 G. Humphreys ... ... 70 1 W. Morgan 66 I A. Sawyer 65 1 A. Graham 65 1 James Brown ... ... .62 r A. T. Hookey 58 3 C. A. DeLautour ... 55 J. W.Bright ... ... 51 3 W. File 44 3 W. Fraser 37 1 H. Bruce 35 5 W. Ranger 33 T. Sweet 31 t I. Simson 28 C. Ambridge 27 1 R. Cogar 18 l Informal, 4 . scribbling books. Mr Stafford raised the question of , scribbling-books, considering that it was 1 a great shame that so much money should , be demanded from the parents of the children for the purpose mentioned. He urged that the children should be allowed to use thoir slates, and, if this were done, ■ a great saving to parents would result. He moved a motion to the effect that it 1 should be a recommendation to the Committee to discontinue the use of scribblingbooks. . 0 This was seconded by Mr Yardlcy, who, in the course of his remarks, referred to the great waste .ef paper that resulted from the children being made to write on one side of the paper only. Mr Martin Smith thought the matter might be left to the discretion of the teacher. He moved an amendment to that effect. Mr Neild seconded the amendment. His remembrance of education in the Old Country compared to New Zealand convinced him that they should be only too glad to pay a few shillings for books. He considered that they should appreciate the advantages afforded them, and be content to pay a little, Mr Wildish had five children attending tlie school, and he found that it was very expensive to keep them going in books. Where it was possible they should have only 011 c set of books. Ho thought that the Committee should endeavor to help people who had large families attending school. Mr Maxted had only one child attending school, and he found it cost him a good deal for books. (Laughter). Almost every week there was a scribbling book , required. (Laughter). The children had ' to follow the example of reporters, and write on one side of the paper, and for not doing this his child was punished by its , teacher. , Mr Jamieson understood that the . headmaster was not to blame for serib- j bling books being used, instructions hav- { ing been issq'ed by'lhe'lnspectbV. c Mr Bull, headmaster, considered that a j book should last a month if properly used. J He pointed out that the use of these , books was in consequence of pressure put j on by the Inspector- and that often meant v a good deal. In using these books they 0 were only following the custom through. {, out the colony. During the present year a he had continued the use of slates much t more than they had done in the past. g Mr Stafford'expressed’himself satisfied t: with Mr Bull's explanation.'' .. ‘ -‘ 11 After further discussion, a vote was si taken, /inti the motion was declared n carried, ' ti

1 “ AN" OLD FASHIONED TIU-;.yiy’ Mr File sprang a surprise on the meeting by proposing that the incoming committee should see their way clear to have a good old fashioned treat for the children, somewhat similar to that held by other schools throughout the colony. The children were always asking “ why cannot we have a treat like other schools.” They idea was favorably considered, the motion being unanimously adopted. THE TEACHING STAFF. Mr J. Sheridan moved a vote of thanks to the teaching staff, and highly eulogised the work of Mr Bull and his assistants. The excellent manner in which they had carried out their duties had b?cn evidenced by the committee. The Chairman endorsed what Mr Sheridan had saicl, remarking that he would himself have preferred to have moved the resolution. Members of the committee had a better chance of seeing a little more of the work of the teaching staff than the general public had. Referring to the work of Mr Bull, the speaker said that the best interests or the'-j'.cljQpl were-ever in his mind.

Mr Matthews warmly supported the motion.

Mr DeLautour said that if there had been in any slight degree a falling-off in the school—which their position in the scholarship pointed to—they had not yet quite found out the reason for it. The Committee had been diligent'to find out the cause of the unfavorable reports, and he attributed it to the defective attendance of the children. The district being scattered, he contended they could never have a satisfactory school unless they had feeding side schools in Whataupoko and Haiti, (Applause). The teachers of the

school had no cause to take exception to anything that ho had said. The attendance that evening was, he thought, largely due to a desire to show an unfriendly feeling towards the Committee. He contended that Mr Bull was too anxious in regard to the school. T.lings would have gone much better h -..l the Headmaster been less anxious :d sensitive, and not minded fair critic! ~n. After further discussion the motion was carried amidst applause. • Mr Bull heartily thanked the meeting for the vote accorded to the teaching staff. It had always been his most earnest endevour to do his best for the school, although ho must admit that he was often disappointed. He wished to make a protest against the remarks from one speaker that evening which he regarded as a slur on the meeting. He personally had used no endeavours to get a large meeting, and the remarks passed wore very unworthy and uncalled for. They were only surmises at any rate. To pass to a more pleasant subject, he wished to move a vote of thanks to the outgoing committee.

The motion was seconded by Mr Dixon and carried. In supporting the motion, Mr Stafford expressed his deep sorrow that Mr Do Lautour was not returned on the committee. A vote of thanks to the Chairman terminated the proceedings. At the meeting of the new committee, Mr Nolan presided. Mr HumphV-eys proposed that Mr Matthews should be Chairman for the year, and Mr Morgan declining nomination, the former was elected. Mr Quigley was appointed Secretary at £ls a year. Mr Matthews was in favour of increasing the salary of the Secretary, who also gave his services as architect gratuitously, But Mr Nolan considered that it would bo wise to hesitate a little before doing so. The latter view was taken by other members, and the remuneration was allowed to stand at the old figure. ORMOND SCHOOL. There was a moderate attendance. Mr W. Graham presided. A very favorable report as to the working of the school was presented. The number required for the committee was seven, and the followiug gentlemen were elected unanimously : Messrs W. Graham (chairman), W. F. Hatton, A. Hatton, 0. Ncenan, James Benson, and Albert Newman. TE ARAL The meeting of householders to have been held at Te Arai last night fell through for want of a quorum It is to be regretted that the people of the district do not show greater interest in the working of the school. It is to bo hoped that this state of things will shortly bo changed. PATUTAHI. There was a good attendance at the meeting of Patutahi householders last night. Mr 0. Gallagher was elected to the chair. Mr Bilham, the Secretary, read the report as follows : —We have to report that during our year of oflico the duties of the school havo been «carriod out satisfactorily. The Inspector’s report shows the school to be in good working order. The committee have again to state that the attendance during the year has not been what it should be. This is to be regretted, as this indifference on the part of parents in not sending their children regularly to school seriously injures their prospects, as well as making it possible for the Inspector’s report to be unfavourable. We think this should not be. Parents who keep within the four comers of the Act and send their children only the legal times weekly, surely cannot understand how cruel it is to deprive their children of the opportunity of acquiring a good education, or that their conduct may seriously endanger the good repute of the school, and thereby deprive the teaching staff of their due share of credit and reward. We feel you all, in common with ourselves, regret that through ill-health Miss Pettcrsen felt compelled to send in her resignation. The school will lose an able teacher, as the work she has done during the fouiyears she has been with us amply proves. During the year we have received from entertainments and a lecture by Mr Hill the sum of £l6 16s. After paying expenses and cost of good attendance medals, this has been devoted to improvements, fencing,gravelling, etc,at the master’s house and round the school and grounds, etc. We have also from these funds erected a flagpole, on which flags have been hoisted, sometimes with pleasure, once with sorrow—the death of our Queen.. The school buildings and grounds are in good order. The Education Board three months since granted £2O for building a new out-office and draining the school grounds, and although the committee have frequently spoken to Mr Quigley about it, nothing has yet been done. The committee failing to get any satisfaction from Mr Quigley have written to the Education Board on the subject. The school picnic was very successful, and the committee desire to thank all those who in any way contributed towards it. Miss Cantle, of Hawke’s Bay, has been appointed assistant mistress consequent on Miss Pettersen’s resignation. In conclusion, we desire to express our thanks to the staff for thenwilling help in getting up entertainments for the benefit of the school funds, by which means we have been able to do much necessary work that would have otherwise been left over.

It was proposed by Mr Sadler, and seconded by Mr Ferguson, that the report bo adopted, and that it be considered eminently satisfactory.—Carried by acclamation. inspector’s .report. Staff : Mr Woodward, master ; Miss Petterson, mistress ; Miss Daisy Ferguson, P. teacher, third year ; Miss Alice Ferguson, trainer ; roll, 125 ; present, 123 ; promoted, 63. Remarks : This is a well-conducted school, and some of the work is of good promise. The pupils are well behaved and the tone is commendable. I was pleased with the earnestness shown by the pupils during the examination, and considering that the tests were of a more searching character than in previous examinations, many of the pupils acquitted themselves well: The paper work should be often taken, so that the pupils should get accustomed to express with ease and without error. I notice, for example, Standard VI. children are defective in the use of capitals, possessives, and punctuations. These, are aspects of training that should commence even in Standard 11., where pupils should be trained to write out sentences in grammatical form. All the standards below the

is sixth were exp.mined for promotion by the d master, but' 'my' tests were given to discover lines 6f weakness,' and during the coming year attention should he given :- to defects named here and in Form 22 i- under the heading “ Class Subjects.” e Throughout the school special care should - be paid to reading and writing, the latter y subject especially needing increased attene tion in standards below the fourth. As a - whole the school is working with diligence, ’ but the defects named arc pointed out 3 with a view to the further strengthening of the school. I have again to congratulate the teachers, children, and committee upon 5 the excellent state of the grounds and 1 surroundings. They constitute an example . showing what is possible under effective I management. It is worthy of recording that 22 of the 125 pupils belonging to the school here made full attendances during the year, The record is only' beaten as yet by one other'school in toy district. Mr Faulkner, in reierring to the report, spoke of its satisfactory nature, and concluded by proposing a hearty vote of thanks to the staff of the .school. This was seonded by Mr McKenzie and carried by acclamation. The votes for committeemen, the first j ; seven being elected, resulted as follows':— j Faulkner 18 | W. Sadler ... 11 G. Schmidt i 6 j Lyons... ... ... 15 j O. Gallagher 15 Hindrup 15 Rogers... ... 14 Bayliss 9 Scragg ... 4 KABAKA SCHOOL. b About thirty householders attended the meeting held at the Karaka last night, Mr Von Stein presiding. a The report presented showed that a b

very satisfactory year’s work had been dono ; a sum of £lB had been collected in voluntary subscriptions, and spent on improvements to the school. A great many nominations were made for the committee, the following being elected : « W. Oman 16 J. Barrington 15 Von Stein 14 J. Brown 13 W. Spence 12 J. Graham 12 John Morris 10

MAKAURI. A LIVELY MEETING. The annual meeting of householders for the Makauri School District was held in tho school-house last night. There was a large attendance, Mr Somerville presiding. The following reports of tho outgoing committee and tho Inspector were submitted by the chairman : “ In presenting to you their annual report for the year ending 81st March last, your committeo regret that the Inspector has had occasion to pass sevorc comments upon the state of attendance during the past year. Tjhat such a state of affairs should exist m a district like this, where all arc within reasonable distance of tho school, is in the opinion of your committee, as well as in tho opinion of the Inspector, inexcusable. As an opportunity of discussing tho Inspector’s roport will be given to you this evoning it is unnecessary to make any further comments on the attendance. Gentlemen, your school hits been opened 418 times during tho year. The number of pupils on roll at date of examination was 78 ; the number present at examination was 42 ; the number who passed tho necessary tests being 38, or very nearly 86 por cent, of those presented. The averago attendance for tho year was 54. Tho Inspector has requested your committeo to afford an opportunity for the full discussion of his remarks and suggestions re the poor attendance. Your committee therefore hope that you will decide the question among yourselves to-night, so that tho incoming committeo may be in a position to carry out the wishes of the majority. Sinco the last annual meeting a chango has taken place in tho education regulations regarding examinations. Under the presont system tho teacher classifies the pupils according to their several qualifications, such classification being subject to the approval of the Inspector, who holds the powor of veto, and considering the poor attendance during the past year it looks well for the work done by the teaching staff, when tho Inspector has been satisfied with the classification made by tho master. During tho year just closed your committee has paid considerable" attention to tho appearance and sanitary condition of tho school grounds, at ieast so far as their income would allow. The annual picnic was hold in Cameron’s paddock on March 7, and your Committee have pleasure in stating that it was very successful, resulting in a credit balance of £3 15s 3d, which has been allotted for the purchase of prizes. During the year the most amicable relations havo existed botwocn your Committee and the teaching staff, and any recommendations made have received attention. Your Committee mot for the transaction of business on twelve occasions, the average attendance being 6.2. While regretting tho apathy shown by parents regarding their children’s attendance, your Committee is of opinion that the year just closed has been fairly satisfactory.” Mr G. Jones proposed that tho report be accepted.—This was seconded by Mr Campbell and unanimously carried. The report of the Inspector referred to tho upper standards as being weak. With regard to Standards 1., 11., and 111., MiHill stated : “ Those are promising classes, and were they attended with fair regularity the results would have reached a high standard of efficiency. The number of pupils presented for examination was 42, and 36 passed, three of the failures being in Standard VI., one in Standard 111., and three in Standard I. There was considerable discussion about tho very bad attendance of tho past year, and also with regard to parents sending their children to other schools further away than the Makauri School. Mr McGregor, a now resident in Makauri, stated that, judging from the report, the school was in a bad state. lie proposed that a ballot be taken whether or not the incoming committee should request the teacher to tender his resignation.

A ballot was accordingly takon, resulting in the proposal being carried by 14 to

Eight members were proposed for the committee, and the ballot resulted :

T. McGregor 22 11. Smith 21 John Graham 20 W. Turnbull 17 F. Tietjcn 16 J. Campbell 16 Thos. Kane ... ... ... 14 Tlios. Finnucane ... 13 Ths first seven woro declared elected,

WAERENGA-A-HIKA SCHOOL.

The meeting last night was the largest over held at Waerenga-a-hika. Mr J. Hyland presided. Tho annual roport and balance-sheet wore read, and unanimously adopted. The result of a ballot for the Committee was as follows, the first seven being elected: — I). Brooking 25 H. J. Lougher ... ... 23 •J. Gordon ... 22 J. Higgs 22 J. Linklater ... 21 R. C. Miller ... 20 W. Barber ... 11 J. Fitzsimmons ... 11 R. Gordon ... ... 8 T. Gordon ... ... 7 F. Oxcnham ... ... 7 In the tie tho Chairman’s casting vote was given for Mr Barber. The Committee’s report is hold over. At a meeting of the newly-elected committee Mr R. C. Miller was elected chairman, and Mr John Gordon secretary'.

l ' MATAWHERO. >s ) There was a fair attendance at the mooting of householders. The Chairman I (Mr Birroll) read the report, which was of a most satisfactory nature, and was car- : ried by acclamation. The following were e elected a committee :—Messrs R. 'M. Birrell, John Allen, William Pieken, 1 Thomas O’Donnell, August Lange, Regi- !' nald H. Image, Owen E. Bertram. At a subsequent meeting Mr Birrell was elec--1 ted chairman. i 3 RE SCHOOL BOARD ELECTION. 1 (To the Editor of the Times.) 1 Sir, —Mr DeLautour’s defeat at last r night’s meeting cannot bo regarded as ’ anything but a calamity, and will be de- , ploroff by many even of those wh.o were ; thoughtless enough to omit hisnauic from , their voting papers. Men of Mr DeLautour’s intellectual ability and scholarly attainments have indeed cause for complaint when their valuable services are rejocted, and are apt to feel hurt when less prominent persons are selected in their stead. I, for one, unhesitatingly assert thnt Mr DeLautour is undoubtedly one of the most capable and suitable men in our district for membership of the School Committee. At the same time I cannot refrain from expressing my opinion as proposer of the vote of thanks to the teaching staff that Mr DeLautour was in error when he insinuated that the meeting had been packed by the teachers for the purpose of making a hostile demonstration to the retiring Committee. The real cause of tiie crowded -rqeefing was, .in my opinion, attributable to thio following gauses : The various candidates for municipal honors attended for tho purpose of displaying their real or imaginary interest ] in public matters, and with them naturally brought a few friends —tho election spirit is in the air. Again, had Mr DeLautour been a scrutineer, as I was, he would have v gathered from the number of “ plumpers ” ® that were recorded tljat aspirants to office had mustered up their friends, charged with selfish instructions.—Yours, etc., J. Sheridan. J