The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1810.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1086, 11 October 1879, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1810.

;Is our Wednesday's issue there appeared a letter signed "A Parent," complaining that he had been informed thai " a mere stripling" was performing the duties of Mr. Hctrai, who is absent from the school through accident, and Mr. Fidler, who has obtained leave of absence to enable hitn to undergo an examination in Christchurch. Mr. Fleming, in the course of his remarks at last night's School Committee meeting, stated that he had been spoken to on the same subject, on several oee.iarorw. It would, therefore, appear that the impression had got abroad that the interests of the scholars who are ordinarily entrusted to the charge of Mr. Hewat and Mr. Fidler were being neglected in their absence. " A Parent's " letter, or the childish prattle of the scholars, may have engendered this impression. Hut whatever may be the source whence it was derived, surety all sitsprci it «>f if.'li'-'eti'.'f has been set at rest by the Soft. Committee's expressions of satisfaction after having read the Rector's report as t<> the condition of the school and the action he had taken to compensate f-r the smallness of his staff pending the return to the school of Mr. Hewat and Mr. Fidler and the appointment of a lady teacher. " A Parent " and others who have complained because they thought the education of their children would materially suffer through the temporary absence of the regular teachers would surely not be so unkind, so exacting, as to insist that a teacher who had met with a painful accident should nevertheless be at his post, or that Mr. Fidler should be deprived of the opportunity of taking those honors for which he has labored so hard. They are not so inhumane in the one case—they are not so forgetful of the interests of education in the other. We have every confidence that Mr. Feattio has the ability, f!i>j determination, and the industry ii. c - -ary to the satisfactory performance of hi.*- rectorial office. Even if his sense of the duty he owes to scholars and parents in his capacity as head of the Grammar School were defective, self interest and a laudable desire to gain the esteem of those concerned in the efficiency of his school would of themselves be sufficiently powerful motives to ensure the honest fulfilment of ht3 duties.