EDUCATION BOARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 1935, 26 March 1891, Page 4

EDUCATION BOARD.

The monthly meeting of the Education Board was held on Thursday, and attended by Messrs J. Macgregor (chairman), M. Fraer, J. Green, J. W. Jago, H. Clark, Hon. J. M'Kenzie, Hon. T. Dick, aud Dr Stenhouse. ~

RESIGNATIONS.

The following resignations were accepted : — Robert Neil!, head teacher, Walton; Grace M. Wright, head teacher, Whare Kuri; Margaret C. Nimmo, head teacher, Tuapeka Flat ; Chas. H. Graham, head teacher, Waihemo; Annie Hendry, mistress, Ngapara ; Annie R. Truman, mistress, Waiareka ; James P. Malcolm, second assistant, Mornington ; James W. Hardy, third assistant, Forbury ; Catherine G. Fraser, fourth assistant-, Oamaru North; Alexander Marshall, second assistant, Mosgiel ; Alice M. Hume, pupil teacher, Mornington.

APPOINTMENTS.

The following appointments were confirmed : — James P. Malcolm, head teacher, Naseby, vice Clements, services dispensed with ; James Parlane, head teacher, Moa Flat, vice Maxwell, promoted; James W. Hardy, head teacher, Incbolme, vice Faulks, transferred; James Smith, head teacher, Pine Hine, vice Kelly, promoted ; Ada Cross, head teacher, Rongahere, vice Richards, promoted ; Margaret C. Nimmo, mistress, Tapanui, vice Low, transferred; Johanna Paterson, mistress, Bannockburn, vice Truman, promoted; Margaret JohnstoD. mistress, Papakoi, new appointment ; Jessie Black, mistress, Kaikorai, vice Kelly, left the service; Rodney Moir, sixth assistant, Kaikorai, new appointment; Alexander Marshall, first assistant, Mosgiel, vice Scott, promoted ; Catherine G. Fraser, second assistant, Oamaru North, vice Cairns, transferred ; Isabella M'Laundress, fifth assistant, Arthur street, vice M'Leod, promoted; Annie Hendry, sixth assistant, Albany street, new appointment.

ACCOUNTS Accounts amounting to £7690 13s lOd were passed for payment.

THE NEW ZEALAND HERALD ARTICLE.

Consideration of the artiole in the New Zealand Herald forwarded by the Minister of Eduoation, was deferred until next meeting, in order that members of the board might have an opportunity of perusing it.

THE " SOUTHERN CROSS " READERS AGAIN.

A letter was read from the Education department, forwarding a resolution passed by the Trades and Lsbour Council with regard to the use of the "Southern Cross" Readers in the public schools.

It was proposed that the letter should be received, as the matter had been dealt with at the previous meeting of the board.

Dr Stenhoush thought it was hardly a courteous way to treat the Minister of Education to simply receive the letter. He also observed that the statement made in the resolution of the Trades and Labour Council, with regard to the "Southern Cross" Readers being introduced into the schools against the wishes of the large majority of the parents, was a gross exaggeration. He was of- opinion that the majority of the parents did not care a single straw about what books were used in 'he Fchools.

Mr Jago sail the opponents of Whitcombe and Tombs were doing a great deal more good to that firm than harm. If it had not been for their action the firm would not have been known nearly so well as they were. As it was Whitcombs and Tombs had b^en advertised all over the colonies, if not all over the world, and they were reaping tho benefit of a cheap advertisement.

Dr Stenhouse said the Trades and Labour Council had passed a resolution recommending that uniform books should be published in the colODy. Messrs Whitcombe and Tombs were doing that, and yet the Trades and Labour Council opposed the use of their books in the schools. Such conduct seemed to him very inconsistent.

The Chairman was disposed to tell the Minister of Education that the action, ot Trades

and Labour Gounoil was part of a system of boycotting, and the matter was not worthy of his consideration.

Mr Green said at last meeting of the board they resolved that there should be another alternative book which would be allowed to be used in the schools. On a previous occasion exception was taken to teachers selling school books, and if his memory served him rightly, the board passed a reeolution, and had a circular sent out to teachers notifying them that they would not be allowed to trade in school books. He heard that within 24 hours of that resolution being passed by the board, it was notified in one school at anyrate that the books which were approved of by the board could be obtained from the caretaker. He was of opinion that no caretaker any more than a teacher, had a right to trade in sohool books.

Mr Jago said that one clause of the letter referred to a matter of very serious consequence, indeed, if the proposition was to ba entertained. He had seen it stated that to carry out the recommendation of the letter — that school books should be prepared and published by the Government — would cost an outlay of something like £200,000. He did not know himself whether that was a correct statement, but he could tell the board this: that in order to publish one book the Star had to lay in plant to the value of £600, and if they multiplied one by a dozen, it would necessitate an outlay of a very considerable amount for plant before the books could be put upon the market at all. He was speaking within the limits of truth when he said that it was the opinion of a large section of the community that the Government should provide a series of school books, and that these books should be supplied free to the scholars in our schools. That was not the opinion of Mr Earnshaw alone, bub the opinion of other man whom he personally knew who were interested in eduoational matters, but who took a different dew from Mr Earnshaw in political matters.

The Hon J. M'Kenzie : I would like to know what Mr Earnshaw has got to do with this letter.

Mr Jago : I don't say he has got anything to do with the letter ; but the proposal brought bof ore us is the desirability of requesting the Government, or »f giving a recommendation to the Government, to provide a series of sohool books ; and I say I am perfectly convinced that the opinion of many of those who think that the Government should provide these books is that they should be supplied free to the children, and the latter proposal is largely bound up ia the former. The additional cost oi ur educational system would, however, be v 7 serious indeed if, beside the outlay of provid; .„• books, there should also be the constant outlay ,;i supplying them, and I should be inclined to take zception to the Government supplying them. If the proposal is entertained at all it will make the education system so burdensome to the country that we shall have serious difficulty about it.

The Hon. J. M'Kenzie said it -appeared to him that when the board got a communication from the Minister of Education, instead of assisting him in administering the important duties be had to perform, they took every opportunity they could get of snubbing him. The board might think themselves omnipotent in this matter, as being the. representatives ■ of- the various committees 'of j Otago, but he could assure them that they could not treat matters of this sort with the contempt with which they treated every communication' 1 they received from- the Minister of Education. The Minister need not have consulted the board at all, but whetfhd wished" to consult them the board should forget 'that there was a little personal opposition to the Minister and the of -the 'colony and assist to administer the Education' Act in a "spirit of concili&tioijaud.fairplay. /Hedidtnot see on what possible grounds. Mr "Earashaw's opinions were dragged into' "the discussion, except it wa& intended to show that there was a party in the.-* colony withfoertain Views, 'and; that the Miuistef ; of Education was- trying to force those viewadown the throats of everybody in the colony^ He was satisfied th*at the Minister of Education^ was cot trying to do that, but simply wished to. know the opinion of education boards, an<j desired to act with fair play towards all sections. of this -and other- communities. The board could treat this matter with the greatest possible contempt that they could, but as sure as they., were sitting,in their present seats, the subject would be considered by the teachers of thi!colony and by the parents of the children until' it was put on a proper footing. ,y Mr Gbeen was 1 very sorry indeed that Mf--M'Kenzie had taken up the ground that he badr He did not think there was anything to justifyany person in assuming that the board, either individually or collectively, bad the slightest feelings of opposition, either to the Minister of Education or his colleagues. Mr M'Kenzie had very properly said that this vexed question would have to" be discussed, but he had ! very improperly said that 1 the board had not given properconsideration to the question. He took leave to Bay that the question would have to be dealt with by Parliament itself, and notwithstanding the exception that had been taken to the matter that had been introduced into the present discussions-there was' not a shadow of a doubt but that there were a lot of people who I thought that the Government should supply I school books free of cost to the children. Long before he heard Mr Earnshaw's name, or knew that he existed, he had heard it said that that was a desirable thing. Now they had this communication sent to them saying that school books should be supplied by the Government, | and it had been sent to them in order that they | should express their opinion upon it. He, for his part, had not the slightest hesitation in saying thac the Government should not supply these books, but in all probability the matter would be made a political question, and politicians would decide about it. As an individual be was of opinion that this was one of those kind of things that oould be infinitely better dealt with in the ordinary trade channels than by the Government. If Mr M'Kenzie thought that there was a feeling of antagonism to the present Government, so far as he was aware there was no justification for such a thought, and nothing had been said within his (Mr Green's j hearing, either publicly or privately, which would lead him to think that there was a f eelingof antagonism. He, however, sincerely hoped that the Government would not agree to the recommendation made by the Trades and Labour Council to produce school books, whether for free distribution to sohool children or for sale.

The Hon. J. M'Kenzie debired to say that there was not one word in the letter before the board to justify Mr Jago and Mr Green in dragging in some speeches made by representatives of the people.

Mr Jago said, that as Mr M'Kenz'e had specially mentioned him «is having beea guilty of dragging political matters into a discussion before the board, he wished to explain that he was entirely innocent of any such thing. He was always under the impression that this was a non-politioal board, and he had divested himself of any political feelings at the board — be was not influenced by strong political feelings at all. His justification for referring to the proposal, whioh would almost certainly follow, that the Government should supply sohool books, was that; Mr Earnaiiaw, who wm one of the repve*

sentatives of a large party and one of the representatives of the party who made the proposal, had advooated it, and they had a right to assume that Mr Earnshaw represented more or or less strongly the opinions of that party. Moreover, those were the opinions not of that party alone, but where the opinions of men who took a strong interest in educational matters, and did not sympathise with the political views of that party. The Hon. J. M'Kenme: There is not one word in the letter which would indicate that the statements you make are true.

Dr Stenhousb said he was not at all surprised at the remarks that had fallen from Mr M'Kenzie. On a former occasion he (Dr Stenhouse) deeply regretted the attitude the board adopted in simply " receiving" a letter from the Minister of Education. He thought that the Minister of Education had shown a very laudable desire to make himself acquainted with the. deficiencies of the eduoation system with a view of remedying them, and so far from twitting the-Minister with inexperience and youth— (Mr M'Kenzib: Hear, bear)— he thought the board should have done everything in their power to back him up Mr Gbeen remarked that at the former meeting Dr Stenhouse wanted to go further than the other members of the board in the opposite direction to that which he now advocated.

Dr Stenhouse : You are quite mistaken. It is utterly UDjast. — (•• Order ! ") Mr Green: It is very truthful, though.— (Laughter )

Dr Stbnhouse (warmly) : It is not truthful, There is not a word of truth in it.

The Hon. J. M'Kenzie: I have not the slightest doubt that the Minister of Education will survive all the attacks upon him. , The Hon. T. Dick thought that Me M'Kenzie had made a mistake in supposing that the board' had treated the Minister of Eduoation at all contemptuously. It was not required in the present case that they should do more than receive the letter.

I The Hon. J. M'Kbnzib : That's all right so [ far as this motion is concerned, but it is the I speeches that have been made that I refer to. • , The Chairman s The speeches were not made until after you spoke. Dr Stenhousb said that the press of the colony looked on the former decision' of the board as a direct snub to the Minister of Education. '

Mr Grebn took except'on to that, the press of the colony was not confined to Wellington. Mr Jago said' that no one was more for snubbing the Minister of Education than Dr Stenhouse was.

Dr Stenhouse : I emphatically deny that. I proposed that a letter be sent in reply to his letter. I tabled a motion that was not seconded.

Mr Gbben : It was too " hat " for us. The Chairman said he wished to draw the attention of members of the board to the letter itself. The first part of the communication informed the Minister that against the wishes of a large majority of the parents attempts were being made to introduce the " Southern Cro.is " Readers into the' schools. He did not know if the members thought it worth while to inform the Minister of' Education that, so far as this board was concerned, that statement was -entirely-ineorrectrw it' certainly was. This board had made no attempt to force the " Southern Cross" Readers into the schools contrary to the wishes of the parents. ~The~ Hon. J. "M'Kbnzih: Could not the Minister of Eduoation be informed of that without these violent attacks being made on him ? The Chairman continued : The board's resolution on the subject of school books was adopted about 12 months ago before there was any agitation with regard to the school books, and it was adopted iv consequence of a very general request that the board should limit and restrict the use, of books in the schools in order to save parents the expense of frequent changes. Now, unfortunately, certain persons had raised questions as to the use of these books, and sought to. make out that the board had been enforcing the use of the books in consequenoo of that agitation. That was simply and absolutely incorrect. It was hjs doty now to state— and he thought it would be as well to inform the Minister — that the statement contained in the letter of the Trades and Labour Council was absolutely incorrect; and for his own part he would be disposed to go further, and inform the Minister that this was part of a system of boycotting which was introduced some months ago, and that the matter was entirely unworthy of the consideration of the Minister. He hoped that this board would never give any countenance to such a system. As to the other part of the resolution, with reference to the printing and publishing of books by the Government/it seemed to him to hardly come within the province of the board to advise upon it. It was a matter of State policy upon which it would be the duty of the Government to advise, and it would hardly be a matter for the board to take up as a board. If the Minister wished the opinion of the board, no doubt they would be glad to give it, but as he read the letter there ' was so such request. With regard to what had fallen from the Hon. J. M'Kensie, he must, on behalf of the board, disclaim any intention — repudiate utterly any intention — to snub the Minister of Education. The Hon. J. M'Kenzie : The public can judge for themselves.

The Chaibman : The public were at perfect liberty to judge for themselves, and he might say that the letter to which Mr M'Kenzie had referred was one that no Minister of Education should ever have sent to the board. He had no hesitation in saying that, and he was very much surprised that the permanent secretary should, if he could have prevented it, have allowed any such lettfer to be sent. The letter was utterly unworthy of being written, aud it was an insult to the board.

The Hod. J. M'Kenzie wished to say oni or two words by way of explanation. He distinctly thought it was the duty of the board to have given the explanation to the Minister that the chairman gave in hi) speech. The Minister was not supposed to know that the board had given instructions that only certain books were to be used. He (Mr M'Kenzie) would strongly advise , his colleague, when he wished to get advice from the board in future, to treat the Otago Board with the contempt with which they evidently desired to treat him. ■

The Chairman desired to point out to Mr M'Kenzie that the former letter from the Minister of Education contained no request for information, but stated that the Minister had heard that ths board were compelling pupils to use Whitcombe and Tombs' readers against: the wish of the parents, and a.<-ked for a statement of their reasons. There was no request for information as to whether this waa a fact or not. He was disposed now to move: — "That the seoratary be instructed to send to ths Minister of Education full particulars of all transactions of the board in connection with the matter of school books."

Dr Stenhouse seconded the motion.

The Hon. T. Dick would say decidedly no. He did not see why the board should bother about a matter that was decided. Why should they go baok simply because something had been Bail that day?

The motion was carried by four votes to three, Messrs Clark, M'Kenzie, Stenhouse, and the chairman composing the majority, and Messrs Fraer, Green, and Dick the minority. It was decided to thank the Minister for his communication, enolosing the letter from the Trades and Labour Council, and to receive it.

SCHOLARSHIP BEGDIATIONS. On the motion of Mr Fbabb, the following words were aiided to No. 3 of the scholarship regulations :— " Successful candidates for junior scholarships in the Utter case to be allowed two years at a high Or distriot high school before they need compete for senior scholarship." HB JAGO'B BBTIBEMENT.

The Hon. TBbiiAS Dick moved—" That, as this is the last occasion on which Mr Jago will be present, the board takes this opportunity of expressing its sense of the active and unwearied interest which he has taken in educational matters, and the valuable aid which he has rendered to the board during tho time he has been a member of it."

Mr CiiABE seconded the motion, whioh was carried unanimously.

PETITION FOB A. NBW SCHOOL. Messrs Isaac Green and Duncan Macgregor appeared before the board in support of a memorial presented by the parents of children residing in the northern part of the North-East Valley school distriot. The memorialists petitioned the board to erect a sohool at their end of the distriot for the following reasons :— That the ages of their children varied from five to eight years ; that the distance to the NorthBast Valley aud Mount Cargill Schools was too far for them to attend regularly, and that both the schools mentioned are more than comfortably filled at present.

Mr I. Gbeen said the parents who had signed the memorial had requested him and Mr Macgregor to appear before the board in support of it. They made a similar application some two years ago, but the board did not then think it advisable to accede to iheir prayer. They, however, hoped that the board would do so now, because they, had -been given to understand that a request bad been made for an addition to the Mount' CargilL Sohool. If that request were granted, the addition would really be for the children whose parents had signed the petition now before the board, and who resided properly in the North-East. Valley district; but it would be much better to establish a sohool in the township of Broadaores — three miles from Mount Gargill Sohool and two and a-half miles from the North-East Valley Sohool. Mr Macgheqoe also spoke briefly in support of the memorial, aud the board subsequently resolved to refer it to the committees of the. Mount Cargill aud North-East Valley Schools, and to the inspector to report. The board then went into committee.