TEACHERS' SALARIES COMMISSION.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4428, 7 August 1901, Page 2

TEACHERS ' SALARIES COMMISSION.

. WHAT IT .SAW AND DID. No. 1. (llv “ Inside View.”) THE INSPECTOR GENERAL ON TOAST. Tli 0 Coninumon appointed to con* siclci' a scale of etaif* and salaries for tbs schools of the colony, when, duly incubated, it emerged from its shell in the Government ‘'Gazette” proved a very composite article. Its ten members comprised an alphabetic:!! troupe, in which tbo x’s predominated. Behold at its head a burly ex-journalist, loading an ox-Judge, an cx-teachor, an explorer and several o xpcrt.s> The InspectorGeneral escorted and a West, Coast Inspector agonted the learned tribunal. Their business, duly set forth, in an elaborate order of "reference, in whose ample folds they .stood as secure from attack as in a coat of mail or city of refuge, was briefly to ascertain the ail meets of the 'touching profession—schoolmasters, committees and Boards ail included —and sec how much relief or soothing syrup could be distilled out •of a capitation of £1 a year on the average attendance of young Now Zealand. Before starting on their roving expedition. tiio Commitsioners. who hci*~y laid claim to the Royal prerogative, devoted two or three days in Wellington at the meeting room of the Education Board to scarifying the Inspector-Gene-ral. This was held to be a necessary preliminary and foundation -for the work that was to follow. Mr Mogben produced a scale, designed to cause a flutter in ti’ ; - educational dove-cot, and followed it- up with an explanatory address of a pacific but technical nature, which ho offered to extend over "a month—an offer, however, politely declined. The heckling then commenced, the Inspector- General throwing “ psychological reasons ” at the heads of the modest exponents of women’s powqrs and rights; a head-master assorting that the “ crux of the question was the admissibility of crammed- up matriculation papers,” and a stalwart geologist keeping up a running lire with unabated vigour till the whistle of the Union Steam Ship Company's Rotorua drowned his interro. potions and started the Commission on i the wing for Pic ton. ' | Elfin ho’ m was reached'in the evening, j and tbo learned pilgrims divided themselves between the- Commercial and the Club. The streets seemed lively j for three hours ',tho crowd scorned ‘wafted about on (he well-lighted paths, like th e sand on (ho s oashore; and above the music of the Salvation Band in the Square the voice, of the captain could b 0 hoard declaring The smallest contributions thankfully received.” Thanks to a cold southerly wind, the Parliamentary botanist was interviewed by an inspector, who had neither been invited nor reckoned with—;unonss—and in spile of camphor pilule.-,. Mackenzie's smelling bottle and muff-box and snore potent antidotes,, ho kept the party oomnany for s onio week", taking each member m turn, with charming, but ir-ipprceiatcd impartialiliy. MARLBOROUGH AND ITS SCHOOLS.

Friday, April 26, was devoted lo an. itu'pcction of some of the schools of i*ar,borough. At Blenheim, the main school. ■ia divided into two separate es. labli.-hmoids under one roof—male and female. The location of .boys in one end and jrirls in tho oilier, under distinct stuffs, scorns arbitrary, unnatural and ridiculous. It is cwndcjTincd all round, yet no one s ookib disposed to “bell tho cat” and annul the divorce. “.How did you come to divide the s exes in this way:-'” we ask. “We!!, .some years ago there was a hubbub with a. head master, and the parents insisted on the division. The Reparation order has leen kept alive over since, and wo cannot. get it altered/’ This is the testimony of the chairman of th 0 school committee, “Have you tried boys and girls in Jhc iiftiao classrooms ?” “Oh, it's no use, the people won't have it.” Vvc wander over the standards, coir versing briefly with masters and 'mistresses. They oro cheerful enough, but. like all the world, hankering after better times, and praying for a colonial ■scale, if it will only augment the dolIr.vs. There are big beys and some pretty girls, and the ex Judge waits behind to address the latter. Ho gcquitg himself in a felicitous way, and gets a round of applause for his pains. A playground of limited sine, which cannot bo too comfortable in winter, divides the main from the infant .school, where the live year-olds are ranged on rising steps, and the sixyear olds suit tho action lo the word as they sing together. Several other schools and the of the Wairau massacre arc visited. The impression Is not satisfactory. Some of the buildings arc patched, ail of them are badly lighted, and the necessity for playgrounds appears to bo overlooked. A day is spent in taking evidence. An abundance is offered. The Board wants moi’C money, the teachers require better pay, and if a colonial scale will achieve these worthy objects, they are prepared to accept and support it. 'The printed table of the Ins.Vctor General is swallowed with tho exhilarating alacrity of a hungry man getting outside a square meal. “What is you special weakness?” we ask the Mayor elect. “WoTc like the old woman that lived in a shoe ; wp have too many children -- too many schools!” “Why don’t you weed them out, then?” “Beepuse we can’t do without them.” And the reason is quickly given. In the Sounds the aided schools have been growing up like mushrooms. The families of the small sheep-farmers live mostly apart in the little bays, and each family needs a tutor or governess. They are mostly supplied with young lady pupil teachers who got £6 for each child from the Board, and live with the family. The earnings of those young girls over and above their board and lodging, varies from £lO to £3O a year. The inspector says the education imparted is sound enough, but does not usually extend be. yond the fourth or fifth standard. It is the multiplication of these aided schools, on which a high capitation is required, that has brought the Board into difficulties.

WA IB AU HEADS. Before leaving Blenheim, we take a trip to the Wairau heads and visit the boulder hank and lighthouse. _ The boulder bank is a peninsula dividing the Wairau from the ocean. Its only inhabitants. two old fishermen who for thirty years have been paying a license fee to the Marine Department, and supplying the town with fish, are being proceeded against at the instance of the Acclimatisation Society, because one or two vagrant trout have been netted. Luckily, they havo a sturdy legal friend in MrMcNah, who says ho will see the ‘ : o!d boys” through, even if he invokes the aid of Parliament. ‘ The lighthouse is erected on an island at the mouth of the river. The island used to be connected with the boulder ban!:, but a year or two ago th e Iran!: was cut through, much to the annoyance of the Marine Department. The latter threatened pains and rcnalties if the boulders wcr 0 interfered with. "What is to be done?” asked the enterprising excavators. “'Cut ike bank,” was the prompt reply from a strong authority. ‘•But the department says it will prose (uto us,” "Cut thp bank. Let the tide through, ■ and then it can prosecute away.” The bank was cut, the water swept through, a channel for .steamers thirty feet deep was secured, the distance by water to Blenheim lias been reduced from twelve lo ten miles, there havo boon no Hoods over the town since the work was done, and the Marine Department has forgotten to prosecute, THE HOMS OF THE POISONOUS SPIDER.

The onty occupiers of flic island arc the lighthouse keeper and a fisherman and their families. By “occuniers” human .inhabitants is meant, for the island, though destitute of vegetation—a mass of sand and shingle—is alive with Kotipos. These Interesting but dangerous little spiders, of al! sizes from a iiempgeed to a bov’s marble, distinguish od by their bright rod backhand, are to bo scon in hundreds. Pieces of timber and iron, old bags, and fragments of sail cloth, have only to be turned over, and they will bo found dancing over one another. ‘‘Aren’t you afraid of thorn r” we ask the lighthouse-keepsr, as ho picks them up on the point of a. pin. “Oh, no ; I’m used to them. They never trouble me.” “You never gut bitten?” “Ko,” he says, ‘‘(hey don’t .seoni to interfere with me.” “And don’t your children get bitten?”—“Oh, no. There are plenty in the house sometimes. They crawl ’over the boards, but wo never mind them.” At this moment the man ceasc-d playing with Ins pin, and by way of showing that he was not always on the best of terms with his insect army he spread a. few of thorn out with the sole of his I boot. Besides Ashing, the few> residents hero kayo small poultry farms, on the care of which they devote a considerable v, mount of attention. Their water supply is obtained srqm an artesian well, tile, pipe of which was driven 170 ft twelve years ago. The cost was £3O, tho work occupied five days, and the .••apply amounts to thirty" gallons a minute. COACHING EXPERIENCES* The ex Judge, who had dons a lot of coaching on the West Coast at one time, left the pilgrims for a season, promising to meet and re-join (hem when they travelled to Christchurch. It was a lino, h«t frosty morning when on beard of NcAvmaus four-n.®:and they started on tho roau for Nelson, a .journey of eighty miles to be performed, stoppages and all, in twelve hour,,. Newman s teams are renowned in this part of Now Zealand. Tho horses and travelling gearoonchos and harness—are all that money and skill can provide. From Blenheim for several miles the road is straight as a gun-barrel. It is a lovely drive among villas and gardens and fafins. On the road, the Northern dominie, who has been sojourning with an old parishioner, joins us with a bag of apples -and nuts. The evolutions of a big-whisker-ed wheelman, who spreads the dust by making a flying leap over his bicycle, and a countryman who performs an astonishing somersault ■in his gig as'he crosses a brock, reminds us that wo aro not very far removed from a circus. Wc comment on the flowers, the shrubs and the trees; but the dominie has an cyo to tho useful articles. “You should see the potatoes that my friends grow!” ho c xclaims. “Bigger than pumpkins,” remarks a jocular listener. “Well, nonot exactly, but fifty.two tons off a couple of acres.” AVe wore incredulous. ■‘AVhy, ten tons is a good crop, my friend,” says one- (‘Never heard of twenty tons to the acre yet,” rejoins another. The Commissioners, smile, and the Northern dominie is besieged with all kindu of questions, about the kind of potatoes, the nature of the soil, the quantity of bonedust and what cemetery it came from, and whether the potatoes grow above or below the surface. AA r hile the discussion is. raging we rattle up to a potato field and dominie yells triumphantly : “There they arej Look at the bags! Packed close together.” He had th c . laugh against us. The crop was there and the yield evidently amazing. NOXIOUS WEEDS.

Now we come to a place whore the road and adjacent paddocks arc perfumed by a luxuriant crop of mint that: has successfully waged war against the prevailing Scotchmen. Presently tho mint disappears and the thistles are found wrestling with the missionaries—a name conferred on. the sweotbriar by a spectacled New Zealander. But the mint and the thistles and the sweet briar, despite their tenacity, prove no match for the bramble, as wo find later cn. The traveller in this country finds brambles! brambles! everywhere, but net a blackberry to cat. Brambles are declared the all-prevailing nuisance, yet the roadsides, painted green with them, lock very pretty. HAVELOCK AND RAI VALLEY. As we change our course, and leave ths homesteads with their neatly built stacks, we cross the river beds and test our springs over a mile of boulders- One of the rivers is threatening some of the fine farming land near Blenheim, audits vagaries require attention. V'e change horses and have a cup cf tea at the entrance to a series of valleyswinding between the hills and leading to Havelock —the ■ little township that overlooks Pelorus Sound and its wealth of mud flats. Here we meet Sergeant Henry McArdlo, the veteran West Coast

and Masterton police officer, transformed into a clerk of courts in a Iccality that is far too dull fer his active and energetic temperament. *" At the south end of Havelock oveilooking the Polorus river is Brownlee’s sawmill. This has long been the commercial and manufacturing backbone of the little township. The enterprising owner has made a railway ten miles long and he has cut out a valley a mile in width. This is the Eai Valley, celebrated for its building material. Faming has followed up the destruction of the forest and black sheep have taken the place of matai, rata, fern and sup. plejack. The railway runs at straight angles along the river flats, while the road over which wo career winds in curves of various kinds, like a drunken man, up and down along the' edges of the adjacent hills. ‘‘Why wasn’t the road made like the tramway—down on the river flat and in good straight lengths ?” “What a stupid question,” is the reply of the passenger addressed. “Don’t you see, you blockhead, the road is made on scientific lines? These curves and angles are all lines of beauty, and as for the grades, they are formed on the American switchback principle.” “Switchback nonsense!’’ retorts the other. “I’m not joking. Let’s have common sense. Why does the road tumble over the spurs wh.cn the tramway follows the fiats?” “Well, don’t you see? The road was laid off by a. professional gentleman—a duly qualified engineer with a title to his name; and it’s made on scientific principles with the aid of a rheodolito and lots of drawings; but the tramline is a ridiculous article laid ofr by a sawmillor who, instead of using a theodolite, used his brains.” “Then I’ll back the sawmillcr’s brains against the engineer's theodolite,” is the final re. tort. No doubt an absurd conclusion, but, by no means uncommon, for everywhere the route of the sawmill tramway is found as regards easy and simple construction to eclipse road and rail, AT LAST THE FOREST.

When tiio sawmill tramway stops, the forest begins. Six thousand acres—near. I.V ten square miles—of bush arc reserved. The road in in good order and the grades are' easy, for it is nearly level.’ Under th c shadow of huge tree ferns and trees covered with luxuriant foliage and clothed with beautiful climbers, bursting in places into bloom, the drive it exceedingly charming. The horses scarcely turn a hair as we canter over several miles, fanned by a gentle breeze that plays among the cool shad. c.w.-j. At length the river is crossed—a deep and picturesque ravine—and we _«merge on the open to find the half-way house and a whole-ray lunch of prime beef and steaming vegetables awaiting us. Another team of horses, . stronger and glossier if possible than the fine animals that wo leave to rest and cool themselves, is affixed to the traces and oft wo dash. Wo have left the bush, the river, ami the valleys, and new wo arc emoug the mountains, bare in places of vegetation ; hut resplendent in prismatic colours. Before Pleasant Valley can he reached two lofty ranges must be surmounted—one 900 feet in height, the other, Whangamoa. 1500 feeij. The road is'nono too wide, and it twists about like a bunted snake, exhibiting curves that with a five ir-Tand need skilful' driving. Like tho driver cf a locomotive or the captain cf an ocean ’ins;\ tho whip has f.he lives of every, oho in his hands, but ho handles the ribbons with care, and judgment, and converse as you will jus eyes are ever fixed on his leaders. At every turn, the horses dance on tho brink of the Precipice, and at every bend the swinph®' trees almost graze thc cutting in the rock. Timid or brave, the passenger rs forced t c . admire the skill ami cook ness that navigates hoofs and wheels over a course beset with tragic dangers. Strange it is that such a journey is performed hundreds of times % year, and yet no frightful accidents are id corded.

The weather has been gloomy and threatening ever since wc entered the rough country, and now. as we ascend Wha ngnmoa the breeze in our faces changes to a smart shower. SCIENTIFIC FIREWORKS. that a fierce controversy arises bc« tween two of the occupants of the bos seats—the botanist and the geologist. Singularly enough, the war of words owes its origin to a very insignificant thing—a mountain daisy. '‘lsn’t that lovely?” exclaims the geologist.—a North Islander. ‘‘That’s the first I’ve seen ; ” and he points to the ragged vegetation that lines the side of the road. ‘‘What is it?” queries the botanist, who is a Southerner. “Why, can't you see the patches? They’re New Zealand daisies! There’s some more of them;” and he waves his finger in the direction of some creepers among which a- tiny white flower is just visible. “Daisy! That’s no daisy. That’s a mountain, trefoil,” is the reply of the botanist. “Trefoil he hanged! You know better than that,” exclaims the geologist, appearing to bo exasperated—although that is a thing impossible, for a better tempered, kinder-hearted man never placed his feet in shoeloather.