A NOTED EDUCATIONIST.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19980, 23 December 1926, Page 12

A NOTED EDUCATIONIST.

MR CAUGHLEY’S RETIREMENT. TRIBUTES TO HIS SERVICES. (Special to Daily Times.) WELLINGTON, December 22. A farewell dinner was recently tendered to Mr J. Caughley by the Education Deportment on the eve of his retirement from the position of Director of Education. Mr Strong, Assistant Director of Education, presided, and in his introductory remarks spoke eulogistically of Mr Caughley’s services to the cause of education, and men tioned how Mr Caughley had been a friend as well as counsellor to his staff. Mr Strong read several eulogistic references from inspectors, amongst which was the following:—“lt is recognised by the teachers and inspectors that Mr Caughley has spent himself unsparingly in the interests of the service he adorned so well, and, while the regret at his retirement is general, it is recognised that he has earned the leisure he seeks.” The Minister of Education (the Hon. R. A. Wright), in presenting Mrs Caughley and the retiring director with valuable tokens of appreciation from the staff of the Education Department—including the inspectors—spoke in high terms , of Mr Caughley’s capabilities, and said it was a good thing from Mr Caughley’s point of view to retire in the prime of life, but it was a bad thing from the point of view of the Government, and particularly so from the point of view of the Education Department. Mr Caughley, on rising to respond, was greeted with applause, and surrounded by streamers. He first thanked those present, and also those unable to attend the dinner, for their kind wishes. He mentioned that Mrs Caughley had played a great part in bis activities by her help and advioe. He dealt with the progress of the education of the child from the time he was first teaching to the present day, mentioning the inhuman method of the use of straps for any and every offence. Mr Caughley added that he was utterly opposed to the idea of corporal punishment, and mentioned schools where this was abolished that had accomplished a high degree of efficiency. In this connection he mentioned a case where an irate parent had approached the school teacher concerning a thrashing that his boy had received. The teacher asked whether the father had ever hit the boy, to which the father replied: “No, never, except in self-defence.” Mr Caughley dealt with the great changes that had taken place in secondary, technical, and primary eduoa; tion, especially in regard to teachers classification by merit. . . The proceedings finished with the singing of “Auld Lang Syne” and the National Anthem.