EDUCATION BOARD.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1314, 6 May 1897, Page 35

EDUCATION BOARD.

The monthly meeting of the Education Board was held last week. Present— Messrs J. R. Blair, W. C. Buchanan, M.H.R., F. Bradey, J. Robertson, A. W. Hogg, M.H.R., W. W. McCardlc, J'. Young and the Rev J. Paterson. Mr MoCardle proposed that Mr J. R. Blair be. re-elected as chairman for the ensuing year. Mr J. Young seconded tho motion, and Mr Blair was unanimously elected. It was decided to get the land reserved by tlieSGovernment for a school at Levin, which was in the hands of tho Land Board, dedicated to the Board. Payments amounting -to <£3764 Vs lOd were passed. The following changes of teachers wore agreed to : —Miss Cowles, from Mangatainoko to Porirua, to Relieve Miss Evans, who is promoted to assistant at Johnsonville in place of Miss Draubridge, who resigned at Easter ; Miss Robertson, from Paraparaumu to Kilbirnie, aud Miss Walton, who is now at,Kilbirnie, to go to Clyde quay; Miss Willis, from Khandallah,to go to Johnsonville to replace Mr W. Anderson, who opens the Hukanui school ; Miss Woodward, from Mauriceville, to go to Te Aro Infant School, in place of Miss Jacobs, who is to relieve Miss Wiltshire for May and June at Rintoul street; Mi McKinnon to be appointed to Clyde quay, where a vacancy has been caused by the resignation of Miss Lewis; Mr Feist to take temporary charge of the Mikimiki school; and Miss Milner to take temporary chapge of Wairere, as recommended by the settlers. (This school is 'an aided one at present.) , -s'" 7 " The resignations of Elizabeth Allen der, pupil teacher at Petone, and Ellen Jane Levy, head teacher at Mangaone, were accepted. Florence Watson was re-appointed a pupil teacher. Petitions for schools at Worser Bay and Roseneath were granted. A. R. Joplin was granted <£2 10s in payment for tuition of pupil teacher. Iff was decided to paint the Makara School. The following candidates were selected for pupil teachers : —Sydney Dempsey, Annie Smyth, Mabel Roberts, Daisy Cederbolm, Enid McCaul, Ada L. Howden, Emily Oliver, Catherine Armit, Enid Williams, Thirza Caverhill, Hilda McKenzie and Eva May Holm.

The attitude of the Tliorndon School Committee with regard, to the introduction of physiology and cookery into tbo school was discussed at the Board yesterday week. Inspector Lee reported that the head teacher (Mr Mowbray) was a popular teacher with the best interest of the children at heart, and he was naturally anxious to follow out tho lines of teaching laid down by the Board. The school was suffering from, the want of sympathetic aid, which tho staff should have received from the committee. The chairman paid the committee had Eaten it upon themselves to judge the action of the Board . Mr Robertson sriid tho general feeling of the whole community was in favour of ime advancement of education, and the Board uiusi carry out that wi-b. Maine persona continually harped on the fact that there were less subjects in their day. Ml- Hogg ihoug.it it was very much to be regretted that any committee should have set itself against .-uch a step. It was decided to forward tho committee a copy of the inspector’s report In speaking of the scholarship regulations at the Education Board meeting, Mr James Robertson said he thought the time had arrived for the Board, to declare tho t echnical Schools in Wellington aud Masterton, educational institutes where scholarships could bo taken no. The tuition at the secondary school was, ho said, a general knowledge training, and the subjects taught were determined by the requirements of the Ujuvers ty and Cud! •- ei-vido examination. vVifU tho execution of mathematics this con ran was u, no Vpeciil value .to ytmf h* mix* vin.rmecha.hiea! ooctipatio, s ft;. fr. quer.uy au-penc-: that -.viuner.-- -v'-r • 'iir.abio to fake up Ho scholarships, huvu g to go lo worn, and r j** award ted to oxe: lower on cue art, “if. who had choßen a. mo-e clerical occupation. .Lms unfair to % v.-‘ h*&nxc3 9/rid Mr

| Robertson proposed that it should be competent for a scholarship winner to take up tho award at the oveiling cluss-..-s, above mentioned,, during the apprenticeship period. He pointed out that at the last meeting of the University Senat e >ir Robert Stout had diverted a lite r ar3' scholarship to a scientific one, and Mr Kobe: t.-on. thought the Board might now establish, technical scholarships. The Truant Officer' reported to the Education Board last week that ho had calh d on 17 children during tho past month who were absent from Mount Cook School, on 37 absent from Rintoul street, on 6 from Mount Cook Girls’, on 11 from Newtown, on 14 from Te Aro, on 3L from Te Aro Infant School, on 12 from Vogeltown, on 15 from Kilbivni», on 7 from Clyde quay, and a similar number from Thorndon and Mount Cook Boys’, and on 1G from Ohau, or on a total of 176 pupils. As a result of his efforts 14 children wh > d d not preriuu.-ly attend school are notv in attendance. Referring to t£ie reason for the absence of three children from one famil -, iio said they were so badly off that they could not dress thorn sufficiently to send them to school. ’ ' < - Mr D. Robertson moved at tho meeting of the Education Board hist week, That in ordor to facilitate the appointment of teachers in the country schools, the Board increase tho number of pupil teachers in training within the country districts. The motion he described as an attempt to deal with the embarrassment which the Board suffered under through the difficulty in getting; expupil teachers to take small country positions. The Chairman said in theory Mr Robertson was right, but the matter could not be dealt with practicably. Mr Young referred to the rule in force in Auckland, where & refusal to accept a country, position was tantamount to a resignation. The motion was eventually withdrawn. Sixty-nine applications for positions as pupil teachers were dealt with by the Education Board last week. Of these 39 came from Wellington, and the remainder from all parts of tho district under the Board. In connection with tho proposed alteration of the scholarship regulations placing the Masterton and Petone Schools on the same • footing as tho city schools, protests were received from the above-named schools at tho meeting of the Education Board last week, first, on the grounds that the scholars had none of the advantages of the . town scholars, and secondly, that the marks obtained by scholars at these schools were not nearly as high as in the city schools, consequently they would be unable to compete. The Khandallah School Committee wrote and pointed out that an present Masterton and Petone had an immense advantage in competing with the small country schools. After a long discussion the matter was' deferred until the next meeting. We have received from the Wanganui Education Board the annual report of tho inspector of schools for the year ending 31st December, 1896, From it we learn that ah the close of the school year 123 schools wera in operation in the district, as against 116 at tho close of 1895. For the last quarter of the year the average weekly roll numbers were : —Males, 5190 ; females, 4887 : total, 10,077. Reference is made in the report to the universal bete noir, irregular attendance, which, hampers the operations of tsachers in Wanganui as elsewhere. Ifc is remarked that there are “ over three times as many female pupilteachers as male pupil-teachers, though tho salaries of the latter exceed those of the former by (a whole) £5.” The work of both ordinary and scholarship pupils displays considerable improvement all round, bur dissatisfaction is expressed at the deficiency of pupils in a number of salient subjects.