Daily Circulation, 1640. The Oamaru Mail. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1894.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XIX, Issue 6046, 11 September 1894, Page 2

Daily Circulation, 1640. The Oamaru Mail. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1894.

ANOTHEKietter from "One Who is Not a Patriot of the Street Corner " appeared in our last night's issue. Our correspondent reasons closely and ably from his point of view, but makes the mistake of supposing that the objections to the action of the High School Governors towards Mr Burn come from a few isolated individuals. He also falls into the curious error of maintaining either that, because of the constitution of the Board it can do no wrong, or that, having done wrong, no one has any right to object. So convinced is our correspondent that the Board has a right to do ! what it chooses, and that, having that right, it has acted with the [ strictest honor and justice that, even if the public unanimously disapproved of its conduct, he would still hold to his opinion. The question is not, however, whether the Board has acted rightly or wrongly in its treatment of Mr Burn. I That it has acted wrongly is generally admitted, and what has now to be dealt with is the point as to whether the Board has a right to act wrongly, and whether or not, as it has acted wrongly, the people, as the supremest tribunal, are privileged i to say what shall be done with their own. The Board is Mr Burn's master, and, if there were 110 help for it, concurrence in its treatment of that gentleman might be inevitable ; but the people are the Board's master, as they are the master of everything that they create, or that is created by those whom they trust with their affairs; and if they believe that the Board, their creation, has proved itself to be unworthy to exist, and that its unworthiness is consequent upon the method of its creation, they have a right to abolish the Board by abolishing the method by which it was brought into existence, in order to prevent a recurrence of the evil they now deplore. There are but few men in this enlightened age who are such slaves to absolutism as to admit that the Waitaki High School Board has the right to flout the people and to act with individualistic contemptuousness to--1 wards one of the public's servants because its constitution is such that it is not directly amenable to the public for its actions. No one will uphold the Board's right to a compulsory respect, and agree that its immunity from interference takes precedence of the people's right to protect their own most vital interest. Out of the difficulty the question evolves : Shall the school exist for the Board or the Board for the school? It would, indeed, be more correct to say that the question is : Shall the school die for the Board, or the Board for the school; It has really come to this. No one has any respect for the Waitaki High School now, because its managers have shewn a cruel disrespect for the teaching element of the institution —that essential element which really constitutes the institution itself. There can be no scholastic advancement without confidence and regard for teachers are infused into the minds of scholars ; but where can there be confidence and regard for teachers under such distressing circumstances —when the boys are being bereft of a good friend and tutor by a process which, even to their young minds, appears to infringe all the rules of decency and honor, and when they are led to ask, ' How soon will the Rector follow ?" If the Waitaki High School can only be maintained by sacrificing its best friends—and Mr Burn was certainly one of them—then it is not worth maintaining. Our correspondent writes of the "Jeddart justice " of the agitators against the Board, who would hang a man first and try him afterwards. What does he think of hanging a man without any trial at all 'I But, says he, you must hang the man, though he may bo innocent, because, if you don't, you will cast a reflection on those who, as they are stronger than he is, want to have him hanged. The public reply— "We don't object to the hanging of the man, if it be demonstrated that he deserves it." To this the only response is an avowal that the murderous lynchers are of excellent character, and a dissertation on the rights of terrorism. Strange as it may seem to our correspondent, New Zealanders have more respect for a ! blameless accused than for a good-for-nothing Judge, whose greatest virtues are his wig and his capacity to pass a marvellously sound judgment, so long as he is silent as to the grounds on which he bases it. The Board, on an e:c parte statement, passed judgment on Mr Burn ; it has not the courage to say why, because ! if it did, it would change places with the condemned and would also become the laughing stock of the colony. It has not even the .courage to confess that it finds that it has been wrong. It would not look well to see in print an explanation of the reasons why Mr Burn was told that he must go. It would constitute one of the most curious things in the English, or, perhaps, any other, language. But we are denied the explanation because the nice prudence which is supposed to constitute the basis of that refined society of which the Board of Governors of the Waitaki High School is the great bulwark, demands that a hushed silence in the matter should be observed. It matters not that the honorable and dignified profession of teaching should be dragged in the mud, and that all inducements to attain to proficiency in that profession and play an independent and manly part should be thrust aside, the offence of which Mr Burn has been adjudged guilty must not be even breathed—for the sake of the boys. It is about time that the public rose in their indignation and put a stop to this mummery.