EDUCATION BOARD.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 6590, 1 June 1882, Page 2

EDUCATION BOARD.

The monthly meeting of the Education Board was held at the City Council Chambers yesterday. Present—Mr J. R. Blair (Chairman), Rev. J. Paterson.;Dr. Newman, Messrs G. Beetham, W. Hutchison,?H. Bunny, W. C. Buchanan, and Mason. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed* Fiem the usual statement of the Board’s finances it appeared that the credit balanse at the Bank of the ordinary fund was £3218 14s 9d, and of the building fund, £176 16a lOd. The payments . made during the month amounted to £1750 5s 4d, and the estimated expenditure during the ensuing-month was £1532 9a lid. The masters of- several- country schools applied that the midwinter Holidays might he extended to five weeks, and that the summer vacation he shortened in proportion, the reason advanced being , that ‘ the roads were in an almost impassable state during winter. The Committees’ supported [the proposal. On the suggestion - of Mr Hutchison the' matter was referred to the Standing Orders Committee, and, a* the Chairman ruled that no motion

conld be considered without previously giving a month’s notice, Mr 'Beetham gave notice that at the next meeting he would move that the requests be acceded to. A request was received from a number of residents at Kilbirnie, asking that the Board might give their township the earliest consideration with regard to the erection of a school. A detailed statement of the number of children who would be likely to attend showed that there were 104 children of school age in the neighborhood. It was also pointed out that a site for a school had been presented by Mr J. C. Crawford. Mr Hutchison pointed out that the site was useless, and moved that the matter be referred to. a Committee, to re- , port at next meeting. This course was adopted. A request from the Committee of the Tinui School for the removal of a chimney, was, on the recommendation of the Inspector, acceded to. A letter waa received from the Masterton Committee urging that sheds be erected on the new school-ground without delay. It was stated that the ground was in a very unsatisfactory condition, and that as fully 300 children took lunch to school with them, the sheds were very much needed. lir. Newman said the sheds were no doubt very necessary, but he hardly saw bis way to proceeding with their erection until the Masterton trustees had paid over the £4OO which had been promised when the exchange of sites was agreed upon. Mr Beetham pointed oat that the delay in handing over the money waa in no way the fault of the local Committee. The Trustees were, no doubt, prepared to carry out their engagement as soon as the Board’s Solicitor had completed the necessary deed of conveyance. Before that was done the Trustees could not legally pay the amount. After some further discussion, it was moved by the Rev. J. Paterson and «e----conded by Mr Hutchison, that the architect be instructed to proceed with the erection of the sheds without delay. At the close of the discussion, the deed of conveyance from the Board to the Masterton Town Lands Trustees was laid upon the table. The Newtown Committee, in reply to a communication from the Board, again urged that the local school ground might be improved, and that more extensive works than those proposed be carried out, and also explaining that there waa os yet no sign of the contract which had been let being proceeded with. Applications for repairs and alterations of various descriptions were received, and the following were granted :—Tinui, removal of chimney; Wallaceville, fencing, £10; Featherston, repairs, £4 ; Makara, repairs and painting, £5. The Newtown Committee applied to have the closets removed to another part of the ground. Under the present circumstances, the girls’ shed was unfit for use. A memorandum from the Inspector of Nuisances for the city waa attached, stating that the work was a very necessary one. The architect was instructed to attend to the matter without delay. An application for repairs from the Greytown Committee was not considered, as it was not accompanied by an estimate of the cost. The Committee of the Clarovillo School applied that three rooms and a verandah - extending along two sides of the school be erected, the total coat of the work being estimated at £OS. The Board acknowledged the necessity for the work, but no funds being available, the matter waa ordered to stand over. The Kaitara Committen applied to have the local school extended at an estimated cost of about £2O. It was explained that the desired object would be accomplished by moving the old schoolhouso alongside; The work was deemed a very ne- : cesaary one, and it was therefore resolved to carry it out. The Fern Kidge Committee applied for repairs and additions to the local school, the estimated cost being about £6O, Mr Beetham said the building was a mere barn, without ceiling or anything except the weatherboards. It had been erected when the Board was very short of money, and by. a very bad contractor. The works were really very urgently needed. The expenditure asked for i was granted. Dr. Newman reported that the Committee appointed had examined the sites offered at Petone, and that he had come to the conclusion that that offered by .Mr Johnson was the most suitable. The section had 200 ft frontage by a depth of 100 ft, and it was offered with the building on it at £2OO. He moved that the offer be accepted. Agreed to. Mr W. Marten again wrote with regard to the alleged loss of his certificates, accusing the Secretary of discourtesy towards him, and hoping the Board would not endorse such conduct. The Secretary read a copy of his letter to Mr Marten, which simply convoyed to him the advice of the Board to apply to Mr Hodgson, the Inspector at Nelson, to have the documents replaced. The members of the Board expressed the opinion that there was no discourtesy whatever contained in the letter. Dr. Newman proposed that the Chairman, the Rev. J. Paterson, Mr Mason, and Dr. Newman be appointed a Committee to cmfer with Mr C. C. Graham, formerly Secretary to the Beard, and Mr Marten, for the purpose of elucidating the manner in-which the documents are alleged to have been lost. This course was adopted. , The Rev, J. Paterson reported that ha had, in company with the Chairman and the architect, examined the Mount Cook schools. They had come to the conclusion that it was absolutely necessary to erect sheds for the Infant School, which stood in:a very exposed situation.. A number of repairs were also wanted, and they found that, among other things the drainage had been stopped. The whole of the surface drainage from the adjoining premises appeared to work into the ground. At the girls’ school matters were almost worse, Mr Hutchison said he had no doubt something would have to bo done to remedy such a state of things. The Chairman thought that, to some extent, the Committee was to blame. He bad noticed, for instance, that a quantity of slops from washing in a neighboring yard had been thrown into the ground, and, so far as he knew, nothing had been done to stop that sort of thing. It was agreed to invite tenders for the erection of sheds at the infant school, and for laying down an asphalt path in tbs grounds of the girls’ school.

The following letter was read by the Secretary :—“ Sir, —I have been directed by the Teachers’ Association to inform you that the following resolutions were carried at a meeting at the Atbenecum, on the 6th of this month : 1. ‘ That this meeting views with] approval the proposed alteration in the regulation touching the admission of pupil teachers in regard to health, certificate, age', and salary.’ 2. ‘ That, inasmuch as the majority of pupil teachers are females, this meeting approves of the proposal to discontinue the science class.’ With regard to the proposed alteration in the instruction of pupil teachers, it was decided net to discuss that subject, as most of the masters pecuniarily interested in the ■ system now in force were not present.—l have, &c., Wu. PtUKkbttJ Cole, Hod. Sec.” As it was anticipated that there would be a long discussion on the subject, it was agreed to adjourn its consideration till the next ordinary meeting.

The Chairman moved that a District High School for Girls be established, and that a Committee be appointed to take the necessary steps towards att .ining that object, such Committee to have power to secure temporary premises. He thought that they would all admit that such an institution was urgently needed. A good many parents had to send their girls to Christchurch or Nelson to have them properly educated, while, if they would only manage the thing properly here, they could he as well educated in Wellington. At present, however, the place was singularly situated, for it had nothing that could meet these requirements. The College Governors appeared to have agreed upon doing nothing in the matter, and to confine the College to the education of boys. The Kev. J. Paterson said that was hot the intention of the Board of Governors, who would take the matter in hand as soon as the proposed additions to the College had been completed. At present there were no means available for doing anything in the matter. The Chairman continued, and said that the present system of High Schools was simply to tack higher education on to the ordinary teaching in a primary school Mr Bunny supported the motion, and thought that, with the sanction of the'Minister' for Education, they could not do a better thing than to establish such a school.. Dr. Newman would object to endowing a Committee with power to secure premises. He thought that it would be quite sufficient to have a report upon the' scheme. He should further object to the funds ef the Board being expended on such a school, and, so far as he could see, it would "have to subsist in part upon the Board, and in part upon a Government subsidy. They should devote' no money to it when they had already found it necessary to cut down their expenditure iu every way iu order to be able to pull through.; The Chairman replied that it was not intended to touch any of the ordinary funds of the Board. The income from the school should be sufficient to meet current expenditure. The Rev. J. Paterson conld see' no objection to establishing such a school if they had Ministerial sanction, and did hot touch ordinary funds. On the motion of Mr Bunny a Committee, consisting of the Chairman, the Kev. J. Paterson, and Mr Hutchison, was appointed, to inquire into and report upon the motion, and on the suggestion of the Kev. J. Paterson the meeting was ad journed for a fortnight to receive the report, ■