BOARD OF EDUCATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10048, 7 February 1896, Page 4

BOARD OF EDUCATION.

The Board of Education of late has not been working very satisfactorily. It is split up into two factions, with the result that it is difficult to get really good work done. And we must say that the method in which the present election is being conducted does not promise amendment. The arrangement of the constituency is not a suitable one, and is not likely to result in a good Board. But when an election does occur, certain persons ought to stand out of the- contest. The candidates themselves should take any means they choose to recommend themselves to the members of school committees, who are the electors, but the other members of the Board should not actively interfere. On this occasion, Mr. Woodward, a member of the Board, has published several letters in our columns directed against certain candidates who are in the field. There may be some argument for this under the circumstances, but it is not to be encouraged. The members of the Board ought to be able to work cordially with eacli other, which they are not likely to do if the sitting members plunge into a contest when there is a vacancy and a byelection. In such a case, writing a letter for publication is a comparatively trivial offence compared with actual canvassing. And that, we are informed, has been done undisguisedly by one member of the Board. More than that, it is said that the teachers have come into the fray, or have been drawn into it. _ It is reported, indeed, that subscriptions have been collected from teachers for the promotion of the candidature of certain gentlemen. That some of the teachers have interested themselves in the election is, we believe, beyond question, and this is a still more mischievous feature of the contest, because it means that members of the Board incur obligations to particular teachers, which may lead to promotion when they are notentitled to it: or it may be that members of the Board get to know who amongst the teachers have subscribed to defeat their election, and so determine that these men shall not be advanced. And it is really a kind of blackmailing of teachers when they are asked to subscribe to some

organisation worked by members of tho Board. ' Tho country school committees have the election in their hands, and they ought simply to consider the question, who are the best men 1 Tho con ention that the Board has favoured He town schools, and lias oppressed and Vved the country schools, which h tMavourite argument at these electifijj is nob worth a moment's atten" tior, It is not the fact, and never haa Jee the fact. A good Board will never be instituted on a basis of mi o stattient.