A TRUANCY CASE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1726, 29 March 1905, Page 25

A TRUANCY CASE.

AUCKLAND. March 24. The prosecution of two Riverliead residents in the Police Court to-day for neglecting to send tlieir children to school revealed the fact that what amounts to a strike has developed amongst, a number of settlers in the district, who object to send their children across the water to school. The defendants were Frank March, a former member of the Riverliead School Committee, and Charles Louis Weber. Mr J. Small, truant inspector, informed the Magistrate that tbe attendance at the Riverhead School had been Gradually going down, and a numbed of parents who lived on the opposite side of the river now declined to send their children at all. They sent across the river for groceries, and could just as easily send the children across to school. “It is a bit of a conspiracy not to go to this school,” he concluded. Mr March informed the Court that the wharf had been under repair, and it was impossible to cross the river except at high-water. He lived more than two miles from the school, and was therefore exempt under the act. He had obtained an exemption certificate for the future. They were endeavouring to secure a school on their own side of the river, and he had offered to-give a site. Weber produced an exemption certificate in respect to liis children, but admitted that one of the signatures was recently written. though the document was dated March. 1904. The Magistrate said that this was not a certificate, and he fined the defendants 5s each, with costs.