The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 1879.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 996, 28 June 1879, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 1879.

The qttality of mere}" is not strained. unless titte wishes to have the epithet of " Goody-goody," applied to hint, quotations from thcßchte must be eschewed ; bat as most people who speak theEngtish tanguageown toanacquaintance with the Bard of A von,we have above given I Shakspeare's opinion on a certain subject. | that the Education Board may inwardly j digest. In law a man cannot be convicted of forgery unless the offence is ! etearly proved to have been committed to ; the injury of some person. The mere ; fact that a man aigns another's name is not of itself a fraud, but only so when done with the intention of deriving some benefit thereby, or when such a result is effected. From the correspondence before the public in the Otago Daily Times of t tie 2Tt hj, relat tng to the discharge ofD.M'l'. Scott, teacher at Tttapeka Mouth, there is m> proof of vice or malice, nor is even the

question raised as to the man s motives in acting erratically, except indeed by himself. However, the virtuous minds of the gentlemen comprising the Board could see nothing but a crime—a horrid crime. True, the members of the School Committee wht» know the man urge most strongly ami respectfully that the clelinwitent be leniently dealt with, and iho

parents of the children are unanimous iu pressing For mercy. But. then, who are these people I What ideas can they have of what is proper I Far from the sea, having no> prospect of the ocean, living in a small inland town, they are quite incapable of discerning between right and wrong, and cannot understand that this sinner must be degraded and pauperised —ruined without hope of redemption that stern, unflinching justice may be satisfied. Has the man not been already punished f Is not his wrimg-th'tng held before the eyes of all, to his bitter shame f Has he suffered nothing m suspcnce and anxiety, in fear and ? Truly the punishment visited is greater than tha offence, but yet not ho \

think the members of the Board. They, upheld by an inward sense of their own moral rectitude, conscious that they themselves are pure—that they have never been caustic tripling look down from the high pedestal of their own stainless life. The feeling of unctuous self-satisfaction which seems to possess these inexorable jmiues. will, perhaps, stand them in good st'.'i-I <>n their road to realms unknown. But, judging from the only guide we have to pilot us thither, we would prefer, if happiness hereafter depends upon purity itself, rather than a profession of it, to stand in theshoesof the wretchedly penitent schoolmaster. What is the charge that the Board Invent this man's door? The Board horribly asserts that he has been guilty of falsification of his school register, and they do this 011 the authority of a Mr. Taylor, who appears to be a School Inspector, and who says that " the registers were incorrect tr marked, and even designedly tai.-tifieii," eight pupils having been •• marked present who, were absent." Mr. Taylor appears to have arrived at this opinion by questioning the children. Here is the transgressor's explanation and defence :

In .Jno. Anderson's case the boy has to be away on tnail days, as he carries the mail, but it was an error of the scholars to say that lie had left, as he wa3 present 011 the tUli and days following. In llobertson Brown's case I admit, so far as making him present one day when absent. In Albert Smith's and Jane Patterson's cases I can prove that they were not absent the whole time the children stated.

I did not. however, like to challenge the accuracy of their answers, because I was conscious that in some of the cases I was to blame. The average attendance at this school has always been very high since I have had charge of it. I commenced with 2U on the roll, aud very shortly had 40, and it continued, I can say truthfully (I refer to mv Committee), to keep up a very high average—indeed it was very often the whole number—until the last few weeks before the Inspector's visit, and I was often complimented by my Committee for the manner in which I roused up the parents to send their children. However, from parents keeping their children at home to get firewood for winter, and in some cases sickness, the attendance fell off rapidly, until on -Mr. Taylor's day of visit there wore on ! y -<i.

I had been trying my hardest to work up the school to a state of oiliciency from the time I was appointed, as I found it in a most deplorable state, and had to reduce some of the scholars whom I found in the Sixth Standard to the Third or Fourth. This entailed new books in most cases, and rather than they should not have them, through the parents refusing to pay for them, I supplied them at my own cost, and in other ways I did all I could think of that might make my school efficient ; and I have the satisfaction to know that my efforts have not been in vain, from the repeated thanks I have had, from my Committee and every parent, without one exception. I do not advance this statement to justify what I «itti sorrow admit to have been a grievous error, but because I wish to state that the on!v reason I had lor adding to the annoy -rice I was feeling at seeing all the efforts I had made to keep up a high average, and so gain a reputation for my school, marred through some of the parents selfishly keeping their"child; en at home during the last few weeks. This has been my only reason for acting as I have dene. I have never been a man who craved alter money for its mere sake, and the many little improvements I have endeavored to accomplish for those T am living amongst have not been with- i;t some sacrifice of time, trouble, and money. I have been a teacher in Xew Zealand for upwards of 14 voars, for more than 10 years of which I hive i) ,eu employed in the Hoard's service, and «hiring that time I have never been rep orted before, and I have had the pleasure .-i receiving from Mr. Ifis'iop (your late Secretary), "about IS months ago, a memo, in which" he stated "that the report he had received of me during the long time I had been a teacher had invariably !.-een good." Before coining to this Colony I served (I think I havc**thu right to say) with some di.~tinetron in the Indian Service, and for which, on the abolition of the branch to which I belonged, was rewarded with an extra compensation for services rendered during IS-T7 and following years. I can, besides. produce testimonials from the first .-itur.tion I undertook when a youth until now.

I therefore most humbly a-k the Board for a merciful consideration of my ease. I at once cancclied every name where wrongly entered, and I am prepare-1 to yt;i>:iiit to any fine or other mode of showing the deep regret which I feel, but I do most ' respeetftilly'ask the Hoard not to turn me, after so many years, from their service, for to me it would be utter ruin, as, besides the disgrace it would be, I am incapable of very aetTve employment from an incurable wound in the knee, from which I have suffered for many years past. I would further a.sk the Hoard to consider the anxiety and pain o! mind I have had lo bear ;i:nee the Inspector's vi.-it, which of itself Ins been no light punishment. Leaving my case to the leniency of the Board.—l am, Arc. Duncan M'Phkksos" Scott, Teacher. Scott 13 not a terrible criminal after all. It is only in tho light of the ! prudery and hypocrisy of the Board ! that he i 3 at all bad. He is evidently an over-anxious and particularly sensitive mail ; and he has allowed these j qualities to lead him into the commission of an indiscretion, which, i although, perhaps, not consistent with the hard and fast moral rules of the members of the Board, would not very greatly shock those who are possessed of even a slight acquaintanceship with the inner livc3 of the members of that body. Oar advice to the Board is to forgive as they .expect to be forgiven for greater crimes, and to the Tuapeka Mouth Committee to insist upon the retention of Mr. Scott by every means in their power.