THE HASTINGS-STREET SCHOOL,

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 8221, 26 November 1888, Page 3

THE HASTINGS-STREET SCHOOL,

Sir,— l have no eager desire to dabble in troubled waters, but yet the circumstances in which the master of Hastings-street school has become involved are such that it would be cowardice to remain a mere onlooker. I have no doubt in my own mind that Air Goulsiing is in error in attributing malicious motives to Mr Hill s bnt yet I feel equally assured that our Inspector is even nlore soriouslv in error In the course he has thought it incumbent upon him to take with regard to the school in question. Knowing, as he mnst have done, that Mr Gouldint; is surrounded with circumstances unfavorable to good results, I submit that he is entirely unjustified in attributing failure to produce these results to the inefficiency of the teachers. The fact that lie has done so could not fail to be irritating to those teachers whose I reputations are so inconsiderately assailed, and who can remain altogether passive under' a sense of wrongful imputation? Not the chairman of the Board, at nuy rate, for my memory carries me back a few months to a time when, he was himself in the toils. The most villainous accusations (not always well grounded either) wfcre then the very breath of his nostrils. But we are all more or Jess apt at times to fall into these indiscretions ; and indeed the man who never loses hi 3 temper has been compared by soma one to the Caspian Sea, which Ueither ebbs nor flows, nor conI tributes much to the general good. I hold that where two errors of judgment have been committed the censure, if any, I tbould bo u i th the aggressor — in this case the Inspector. ' Some years ago I visited a school in ! Canterbury. Some three hundred chil- ! dren were there crowded together in a common room only adapted for half that number. Master, mistress, and several pupil teachers were jangling in emulation of each other, and the result was the nearest approach to a Pandemonium that I ever remember to have realised. The master of this school was Mr Hill, our present Inspector. To have looked for good results under such circumstances would have been arrant humbug. They were not expected. The Canterbury Inspector was an old teacher who knew very well that but few schoolmasters are heaven-bom, and that even those who were could not set all natural laws at defiance. If the deficiencies of the school had there been set down to the incompetency of the teachers, why one of two inferences must have held, either the Inspector would have been chargeable with malicious motives, or with an absolute want of common sense. Both issues were avoided. Mr Hill's capabilities were discoverable even under such adverse circumstances, and he was Boon removed to a sphere of much more possible usefulness. To Mr Hill's subsequent career I need not refer. Everybody knows tuat he has been highly successful both as teacher and inspector, and I for one have no reason to complain of his unfairness. I fear, however, that he has forgotten that circumstances were once superior even to his zeal and efficiency, and for such circumstances Boards and Inspectors are chiefly responsible. The sympathy of every teacher I have met are with Mr Goulding, although it is generally regretted that lie has allowed his mind to be occupied by a delusion. In the interests of education, our Inspector, and the teachers of Hawke's Bay, it is highly desirable that oil of some sort shall be cast upon the troubled waters. I am, &c, W. H. Wilson. P.S.— With regard to a remark made at the Board's meeting I am in a position to say that Mr Goulding, while iv charge ot Port Ahtiriri school, maintained the most amicable relations with his fellow teachers, aad that to this day his sayings and doings are remembered affectionately by both the parents and children of this district.