OAONUI.

Opunake Times, 3 July 1894, Page 2

OAONUI.

(Our own Correspondent.) The Chairman of the School Com- ; mittee is in receipt of iihe Inspector’s > report, which is-. exceedingly good . under the circumstances. The teach-i 1; Miss Roberts .is. J,o ' on me Svorable result, as it is only a few months since she assumed charge of the school. The, school became - sadly disorganised owing to the changes in teachers since out I?to respected teacher, Miss Malcolm, was taken ill. Keeping school open in some country districts is no easy mat* / ter owing to the roads. During tho bad weather the road from, the teacher’s residence to the school. was in such a state that it was impossible to travel it on foot, and unless the teacher got a lift in the milk dray, < which required two horses to draw it up the Kina road, the children h&d to get a holiday. One of the settlers has had to send his children 1 to Rahotu. Yet, notwithstanding all these drawbacks, Miss Roberts has done remarkably well. There are 22 boys and 14 girls on the school roll, but there are a large number of children approaching school age who will soon swell the register. A number of householders at the upper end of the district also send some of their children to Rahotu. The Chairman at the last election of , „ School Committee when, he was pro- • posed as a member, said he would rather decline the honor as there was so little interest taken in school matters by the householders there, only being . ten present at the adjourned meeting and only four had put in an appearance at the first meeting called. It i might be argued that as they did not appear that they were satisfied with the manner in which tlie committee had fulfilled their duties, but he totally 1 disagreed with that vievj. # Mr Gane was quite willing to retire and let others test their abilities. He did not pose as having all the brains, there-t fore he would thankfully withdraw in favor of fresh lAnds* Mr McFie spoke of the abilities of Mr Gane, and Considered he was the most suitable per- 1 son to be a committeeman and chair- I ; man. Eventually Messrs Gane., McFie, Stronge, Silvester, and Kirkwood were elected, Mr Gane being subsequently appointed chairman, and Mr Silvester secretary and treasurer. Mr Joseph Morrisou has sol 4 out * his farm, and is leaving the district. i A “ send-off ” is contemplated. Mr Pole, another new settler, has t just had a comfortable and eommo- I dious residence erected on his farm by I Mr John Ross, of Opunake, and it I reflects credit on the builder. Mr I Pole, on looking through this new I mansion, said, “Heigh ho! it Is fl not good for man to be alone.” So I he has hied away to Canterbury* for. I a mate to sing in this new cage,, In ■ •future, I prognosticate that it will be I a music hall instead of a batchelor’s .1 hall.