THE FARNIE CASE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 545, 15 July 1882, Page 15

THE FARNIE CASE.

A fortnight since we devoted our leading column to the discussion of this case. In doing so we endeavoured to take a calm, deliberate, and impartial view of the whole case. We did not allow our sympathies with Mr. Farnie to Carry us to the length of justifying him on those points wherein he had, in our opinion, overstepped the bound of legitimate criticism. Since the publication of that article, the Otago teachers have held a conference. . The subject of Mr Farnie's dismissal naturally came under the consideration of that body, and a resolution was passed requesting the Board to reconsider the case, and reinstate Mr Farnie. The grounds set forth in the resolution were such as would commend themselves to any Board or other body composed of fair-dealing,honest, and conscientious men. They were to the following effect:—“ That Mr Farnie had been condemned upon a rule of the Board which was not in force when Mr Farnie’s letter re the appointment of Mr Goyen was written, and that it was unfair to make that gentleman amenable to a rule not in existence when the action complained of was committed," This protest was just and reason-

able. It is a fundamental principle of British Law, laid down by Blackstone, that ‘‘ No law is binding until its requirements are made known.” This all-important principle was ruthlessly violated by the Dunedin Board. Nay, more. It is well known they had no such rule. Consequently, they had recourse to the questionable practice of coining a rule to meet the case, and. made that rule retrospective in its operation. Their whole proceedings bear the aspect of vindictiveness. The outcome of the remonstrance sent by the Teachers’ Conference appeared in our columns last week, in a telegram from Dunedin. It ran thus: “That Mr Farnie should apologize for his attack upon Mr Goyen.” Had the Board stopped at this point, they would have taken up a strong and unassailable position, and Mr Farnie would have been bound by every principle of right, and upon the honour of a gentleman, to comply with their wishes. But the Board did not stop here. Let our readers take a good breath before they read the following “And also intimate your (addressing Mr Farnie) submission to the Board s ruling on the point of discipline which you have violated. That is to say, you will undertake that, as long as you remain in the Board’s service,you will not enter into the discussion of public questions, or otherwise, whether in your own name, or anouymously, calculated, &c.” The Board’s letter appears to be as illogical as it is unjust and tyrannical. How could Mr Farnie or any other person “violate a ruling” which was arrived at some days after the action complained of? We leave the wiseacres in Dunedin to answer the question. The whole production bears the stamp of an Imperial Ukase or an Utterance from the Vatican. No Shah of Persia ever issued a decree more dispotic. . The members of a learned and honourable profession are to be gagged, rendered speechless, in order that these gentlemen who constitute the Dunedin Board may trample upon the rights of the teachers, and elevate their friends to offices of emolument with impunity. And this is done in a land of liberty 1 This is the •utcome of our boas tad freedom, our equal rights, and impartial justice “_ Oh Liberty ! what crimes have been committed in thy name!” Teachers,then,are to be bound hand and foot, and unless they bow down and worship the golden calf of tyrany, which these modern Nebuchadnezzars have set up, they are to be cast into the burning fiery furnace. That is, if they will not forego and abandon those principles which are the birth-right of every man, they are to be ignominiously turned adrift to beg or to starve. And this from Dunedin! “ Oh, bastard sons of Scotia !” “ Oh, servile offspring of the free 1" Was it for this that the mighty sires of this degenerate race shed their blood? Is this the thing called Liberty,for the advancement of which the bones of our forefathers have whitened every Highland glen, and their blood has stained the heather ? Shame on you, degraded sons of noble sires ! We are not in possession of full particulars, but we take it for granted that Mr Farnie was willing to express regret for his attack on Mr Goyen. The Board were justified in demanding that much. -They were not justified in requiring teachers to abnegate their status as citizens of the commonwealth and surrender themselves, body and soul, into the hands of others. This indeed would be a Bortof subjugum ducere scarcely compatible with modern ideas.