MR. GIBSON'S REASONS FOB RESIGNING.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume I, Issue 40, 28 August 1880, Page 4

MR. GIBSON'S REASONS FOB RESIGNING.

The following copy of a letter, addressed by - Mr. C. E. Gibson to the Secretary of the Education Board, has been handed to us for publication: —

"Normanby, 19th August, 1880. " The Sectretary, . " Education Board,

"Wanganui. " Sir,— By this mail, I send you a copy of the Hawera and Normanby Star in which you will find a report of the last meeting of the Normanby School Committee, also ; in the same paper, two letters, a local, and a leading article, all upon matters connected with the school committee. You will observe, on looking over the report of the meeting, that I have resigned my seat upon the committee, for certain obvious reasons. I would like, however, to draw your attention to the action of the chairman, Mr. Qnin, who has allowed personal feeling to get the better of his judgment, taking action without first consulting his committee, and making statements, hoax which you have drawn the inference that the teacher's residence has been rented. I will now review the whole matter as briefly as possible, going back to the time when Mr. Hill sent in his resignation to the committee, whereupon a meeting was called for Saturday evening, the 7th instant, to consider it. It having become known in the meantime that Mr. Hill had tendered his resignation, Mr. McCutchan, a former teacher, applied in writing to the committee for the vacancy. Mr. Hill's resignation was first considered, and from the manner in which it was worded, the committee understood that he was anxious to get away without any delay, and having Mr. McCutchan's application before them at the same time, they could see no obstacle in the way of Mr. Hill leaving as soon as he liked. The committee therefore passed a z'esolution accepting Mr. Hill's resignation, and also fixed a day — Tuesday, 10th instant — not later than which Mr. Hill was to hand over the property of the committee to the chairman, Mr. Quin . Mr. McCutchan's application was next considered, and it was decided to accept his offer, subject, however, to the approval of the Boai'd. On Monday, the 9th instant, without any previous notice being given to Mr. Hill, Mr. Quin, accompanied by Mr. McCutchan, proceeded to the school-house during school hours to take over the property. Mr. Hill remonstrated, stating that he never intended the committee to take that view of his resignation, and that if he was turned out in that hurried manner, -without any warning, it would appear to the public as though he was being- dismissed under a cloud. Mr. Quin made use of the word ' fool.' Mr. Hill requested him to make use of more gentlemanly language, or leave the place. Mr. Quin waxed wroth, and ordered the children to leave the school. Mr. Hill ordered them to stay. The end of it being that Mr. Hill refused, to hand over anything until he received an answer from the Board. Here, then, commences the chairman's action of which I complain in the first part of my letter. Without referring the matter to the committee, he immediately writes to you, and in his letter leads you to draw the inference that Mr. Hill had been letting the residence to certain occupants, the result being a telegram from you to him to draw the rent and remit to the Board, and also to give the occupants notice to quit at once. I would here like to state that the only occupants of the residence, besides Mr. Hill, are his brother's wife and little child. Every member of the committee has known that they have been staying with Mr. Hill, and have regarded them simply as visitors ; no question of reut ever having been before the committee. In his next telegram to you, Mr. Quin keeps up the misrepresentation, and asks, ' Will Board fix rent?' You reply, ' Committee must fix rent.' Here, again, Mr. Quin acts without consulting his committee } fixes the rent tiimself, at 10s per week •, writes out a notice, and serves it upon Mrs. Hill. He then, without givij]g the necessary three days' notice required by the Act, calls a hurried meeting of the committee together, and fov the remainder, I must refer you to the report of the meeting in the Star.

*' With regard to Mr. Sisley's i-e-solution — 'That this committee is quite willing to take charge of the Board's property, but decline to interfere between Mr. Hill and the Board about rent : as this committee did not let the teacher's residence, it is considered that tbis matter is outside their duties' — I contended that the matter was quite within their duties ; that if the committee did not let the residence, and knew that the teacher bad not let it, and.that the occupants were simply visitors, it was the duty of the committee to inform the Board that tl\o matter had been misrepresented,- and not to try and shuffle out of the mess by decliuing to interfere between Mr. Hill aud the Boai'd, leaving them to fight it out when a word from the committee would set matters right. " I cannot conclude without referring to Mr. Quin's conduct at the meeting. The manner in which he addressed Mr. Hill before the members of the committee was most ungentlemanly and offensive in the extreme. A man could scarcely., address a cur dog in such a style. The members of the

committee were also, in my opinion, coerced into obedience by Mr. Quin's overbearing action, which was certainly not compatible with his position as chairman. In fact, Mr. Quin seems to have been actuated by highly personal feeling against Mr. Hill, and when that feeling was shown so plainly before the committee they should not have tolerated it for a moment.

" Trusting you will be good enough to lay the copy of the Stab and my letter before the Board at its next meeting, — I remain, &c, "Chas. E. Gibson."