EDUCATION BOARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 1948, 25 June 1891, Page 15

EDUCATION BOARD.

The weekly meeting of the Education Board was held on the 18th, and attended by the Hon. T. Dick (who occupied the chair), Messrs J. Green, H. Clark, D. Borrie, M. Fraer, and Dr Hislop. BESIGNATIONS. The following resignations were accepted :— W. J. Strong, head teacher, Bannockbarn ; W. W. Mackie, head teacher, Kakapuaka ; David Percy, head teacher, Batanui ; Margaret Campbell, head teacher, Wanaka ; Jane M. Bethnne, head teacher, Table Hill; Thomas H. Gill, second assistant, Caversham; Alexander M'Lean, second assistant, George street; Margaret J. Love, pupil teacher, Mornington. APPOINTMENTS. The following appointments were confirmed:—David Percy, head teacher, Tuapeka Month (vice Drain, deceased) ; Agnes J. Forsyth, head teacher, Maraimato (vice Gellatley, re* signed) ; Eliza ;C. Jones, head teacher, Otiake (vice Cameron, resigned) ; Louisa Heckler, mistess, Waitahnna Gaily (vice Robertson, left the service) ; W. J. Strong, second assistant, Macandrew road (vice Spence, left the service) ; Alexander M'Lean, first assistant, George street (vice Smith left the service) ; Margaret Sinclair, second assistant, Kaitangata (new appointment) ; W. W. Mackie, fourth assistant, Port Chalmers (vice Bennie, promoted) ; Alice Little, fifth assistant, Oamaru Middle (new appointment). REPRESENTATIVE ON HIGH SCHOOLS BOAED. The Hon. John M'Kenzie wrote forwarding his resignation as representative of the board on the High School Board of Governors. He did so with much regret, and owing only to the fact that his duties in Wellington would prevent due attention to the office. The'resignation was accepted with regret, and on the motion of Mr Fbaeb, Mr Clark was appointed the board's representative. SCHOOL COMMITTEES' ACCOUNTS. The following letter was read from the auditor of school committees' accounts : — Education Office, Dunedin, 17th Jane 1891. The Seoretary Education Board. Sir, — I have the honour to report that I have now certified to the correctness of the accounts of all the sohool committees in the district with the exception of those of Hawea, Kakanui, Lo veils Flat, and North-Eaefc Valley. The certification of Hawea and Kakanui i« delayed pending the receipt of some requisite information. In regard to Lovelli Flat I have to state that, upon examining that committee's accounts, I found that there was at the end of the -financial year a balance in the treasurer's (Mr Bennett) hands ef £7 16i. I alio found that he had had a sum of over £10 of the committee's funds lying in hia hands for a period of three months. In order to obtainproof of the aotual existence of this cash balance, I requested him to pay it into the committee's bank account, and to forward to me the bank's receipt for it. This he has so far declined to do. As further justification for my requiring satisfaction as to the cash balance in the way I did, I may mention that at a time when some £10 odd of the committee's- funds was supposed to be lying in his hands, he drew a cheque on the committee's bank account of £3 Is 6d to pay an account due for prfees. Mr Bennett's excuse for not complying with my requett is that the committee had never appointed any bank as their bankers, and that therefore he could not pay the money Into any bank account ; but this argument is nullified by the fact that he had been operating all the year upon thi. bank account which he now repudiates. I understand that this oash balance has by this time been paid away in ordinary current expenditure; but of this Mr Bennett has tent me no proof in the shape of receipts. I have also to report that lam unable to pass the aooounts of the North-Bast Valley School OoJimlttee, as I find they have during the year made a payment of £12 Us 3d for a school picnic, while their revenue for the period consisted wholly of Education Board grants. This payment is, therefore, contrary to No 19 of the board's rules, which provides that no portion of the board's contributioa to the sohool fund may be expended on school fetes or entertainments. The committee explain that this expenditure was met by an overdraft from the bank, for which two of the committee's members became personally liable ; but I find that so soon as the next board's grant was paid into the bank the bank applied it to the reduction ef the overdraft ; or, in other words, to the payment of money (or picnic purposes. The committee acknowledge that the payment was irregular, and inform me that they expect in the course of a fortnight to raise funds locally sufficient to cover the amount illegally paid out of board's grant.— l am, &c, S. M. Park, Auditor. Mr Green remarked that, with regard to the accounts of the North-East Valley committee, the chairman of that committee had explained the position to him in such a way as to put the matter on a somewhat different footing from that stated by the auditor. The ohairman stated that two of the members of the committee, he being one, had become security for the amount expended on the picnic, and be had tendered his own cheque in payment, but the banker refused to accept the cheque as it was tendered after banking hours. The committee had no thought of using their funds for an improper purpose, and they proposed to carry out their intention by getting up local concerts, and paying the proceeds into their account. After discussion it was resolved to stop all payments to these committees till the accounts are put right. Iv the case of Lovells Flat, the auditor to report to June 13, the date at which the last meeting of householders was held. DANCING IN SCHOOLROOMS. Mr Stanley wrote protesting against dancing being allowed in the schoolroom at Macraes. The letter was referred to the sohool committee for the district;. MORNINGTON. A deputation of members of the Mornington school committee, consisting of Messrs J. Horsbnrgh (chairman), W. H. Ash, and' H. Webb, waited on the board to press their claims for the erection of a new school building in the district. Mr Horsburgh, who acted as spokesman, said that the smell in the present building was far from being good for the children, and there wes not one of the old rooms in which, by reason of the draughts, the children could sit with safety. What the committee would urge was that members of the board should endeavour to visit the school, and he thought they would than come to a different decision than to patch Jip the, old building. To the minds of the committee it would be a waste of money to repair the school, which had been erected for over a quarter of a century, and was one of the most exposed schools in Otago. Mr Ash emphasised the remarks of Mr Horsburgh, and suggested that the board might refer the matter to the inspector, who had recently spent some days in the school. Mr Webb also spoke and characterised the sohool as the worst building of the kind in the neighbourhood of Dunedin. The Chairman said he understood that the deputation desired, first, that the board should rebuild the main portion ot the sohool and not spend money in repairs ; second, that the members of the board should visit the sohool ; and, third, that the board should take the advice of the inspector. The matter would be taken into consideration. The deputation then withdrew. THE SAVED BONUSES. Mr Fbaeb tgked whether anything had been j dona by the committee appointed to report as to i the best method of allocating the £1900 saved by Mr Jago'a motion. I The Secretary replied that he had never bsen able to geb a meeting of the committee appointed. Mr I*ba£b did cot think ib Was quite hit to j teachers that the money saWd was not allocated { In some shape or form, and as the old com* ! mittee seemed to have lapsed he would propose

that the matter be referred to the sab-com-mittee elected at last meeting re district high schools. — This proposal was adopted in the form of a motion. BATANTJI. A letter was read from the chairman of the annual meeting of householders stating that Mr Roberts, whose election as a member of the school committee hid been objected to, was a householder of the district. The election was confirmed. ' LIVINGSTONE. Mr Joseph Neale, who was chairman of the annual meeting of householders, wrote in response to a communication from the board, stating that in his opinion at least half a dozen persons, who possessed no claim to be considered householders within the meaning of the act, voted in the election of the sohool committee. There was a combined effort made to keep out of the new committee the late secretary, who was defeated by, the writer thought, three votes. He had no hesitation whatever in saying that had the voting been legal the retiring secretary would have been re-eleoted. Mr J. G. Closs (head teacher) forwarded a lengthy reply to the chargea made against him by Mr C. F. Roberts of objectionable* interference in the election. " Previous to the meeting," said Mr Cioss, " I took no steps to influence the voting. When householders spoke to me about the election I told them to vote as they thought proper, and that I was quite indifferent to the results of it. I went to the meeting with the intention of taking no part in it unless Mr Roberts attacked me in his report. The report being read, I saw that the public looked to me for an explanation of clauses marked in attached report. I told the chairman that parts of the report affected me, and I trusted he would give me an opportunity of explaining them. The chairman replied that there was matter in the report affecting me, and which required an explanation, and that he would give me an opportunity of explaining." The writer then entered into a statement of what took place at the meeting, explaining that the committee did not consult him as to the advisability of introducing the " Star Reader " in preference to the " Southern Gross Reader," and directly denying that any act of his was calculated to cause rowdiness or influence the voting. Fifteen householders testified that Mr Closs' statement of what took place was correct. Three householders signed a memorandum, forwarded by Mr Roberts, certifying that Mr Roberts was correct in stating that the teacher challenged nearly every one of the chairman's rulings and that he took a more prominent part in the election and had more to say than any other person present. The election of the committee was confirmed, and it was resolved that the teacher's reply be accepted as satisfactory. WAIAEBKA. At letter having been read at the previous meeting of the board from Mr Brownlee complaining of the interference by the teacher in the school committee election (the validity of which was not called in question). Mr P. B. Fraser, M.A., the teacher, wrote in reply to the request for his explanation. He said :— Mr Brownlee writes in the " interest of education " from this sohool district, but on the turface of It, it is surely remarkable that all bit education interests should be in another distriot — that of Oamaru — where he was a seedsman and where his children attended sohool. It is very disinterested of him, in these clroumitance, to be anxious about the educational welfare of this sohool. It is unfortunate, perhaps, that it should have been pub in evidence before the board's officers' that Mr Brownlee had declared himself the teacher's "enemy now and for ever," and that on the very last occasion on which he personally communicated with the boar* I should have proved him, in a letter to the board, dated 16th February 1889, to be, as regards myself, an unreliable and untruthful witness. Mr Brownlee says that he is a " leaseholder, householder, and freeholder in the distriot" and that I "gob up at the public meeting and objeoted to his nomination." I objected to hit nomination only by implication, my action at the meeting being wholly confined to informing the chairman of the fact, nob known to the meeting, that Mr Bro wnlee's property in this school district was in his wife's name, and that In the opinion of the best authority he had no legal qualification to be nominated. I left the matter entirely with the chair, and made no reference whatever to Mr Brownlee'* personal fitness, or to the voting. For the chairman'! information I read a question asked of Sir Robert; Stout and his reply. The question was in these terms : " O-.8. haa no children attending this school. His property— a farm and dwelling nouse— within the district is in his wife's name— that is, she appears in the road board roll of ratepayers as owner and occupier. Is G.B. a householder within the Sohool Election* Act ? " And Sir Hobert Stout's reply as follows : — " In my opinion G.B. is, under the ciroumstanoes stated in your letter, not a householder wibhiu the definition contained in * The Sohool Committees Election Act 1890,' for he is neither owner, lessee, nor tenant of the dwelling house in whioh he resides ; and he is not the parent or guardian of any child attending a sohool within the distriot." Begnrding the general charge of Mr Brownlee'g letter that he (Mr Fraser) influenced by canvassing or otherwise the voters against him, the charge was— the teaoher continued— absolutely untrue. He courted the fullest inquiry, and he defied Mr Brownlee to produce a single voter present at the meeting — and there were over 40 present — that directly or indirectly he influenced in any way. He had no need ; there were not two school parties in the distriot, unless Mr Brownlee was one and the householders were another. After a lengthy explanation of his action at the annual meeting of householders, the teacher went on to say: — '"The committee,' Mr Brownlee concludes, ' worked well together and did everything they could for the welfare of the teachers aud pupils,' He might oven have added that they instructed Mr Brownlee to send me a resolution congratulating me on the state and remits of the sohool. This is specially valuable as it was Mr Brownlee's last errand to the board when he had brief power to prove the exaot contrary o* what is implied in his present statement. In a final «eotence Mr Brownlee doss not lose the oppori unity giveu by the board's correspondence to advertise his seeds. In the looal press be expounds ihe subject largely. He might use his next occasion to expound the composition and qualities of his ' seed of ditcord ' and how not to grow it." It wad resolved that Mr Fraser's explanation was a satisfactory one. SKACLIFff. Mr Gheen said he had seen a statement made in a newspaper in connection with the Seacliff School Committee election, to the effect that some of the householders considered they had been badly treated in being refused some information. He desired to know what information had been sought and declined. The Secretary said that since the matter of the election of the Seacliff Committee was before the board, Messrs Guild and Stewart had waited on him for information, and he gave them every information he could on every point they asked. With reference to the charges made in an evening paper against the secretary of having treated a deputation from Seacliff in a cavalier manner, a letter was read from Mr George Stewart, who stated that Mr Pryde's treatment of him a"; their inter vu won the 26th May was in every respect that of a gentleman; and another was read from Mr Jame-8 Guild, who, assuming that he was the deputation mentioned, stated that Mr Pcyde'o manner ?o him was perfectly friendly and ooGfteoae, and it never entered his (Mr Guild.-) head that Mr Fryde took any Bide iv tbe dispute, Mr Fraeh remarked tbafc it was a pity t'aeae mts-st&tementa appeared in the newspapers. The matter then dropped. SiIDWIRTfeR HOItDAfS. Mr Gbeen drew attention to ft paragraph

which appeared in theOfcago Daily Times on the Bth Jane stating that the Education Board had sent oat a circular to all school committees asking them to close during the week of the Educational Institute meeting, so that teachers might be enabled to be present, and that an arrangement had also been made with the inspectors of schools that no school should be examined until' at least a fortnight after the resumption of work. When he saw that it occurred to him that it was something very different to what the board had decided, and he asked that the resolution of the board should be read. The Secretary read the resolution of the board, which was to the effect that a circular similar to that of last year should be sent out ; and he also read a copy of the circular, which concluded by saying that the board left the granting of the holidays to the discretion of the committees. Mr Gebbn expressed himself satisfied, and asked whether the institute bad communicated with the inspectors and arrived at any such arrangement. The Secretary said that he knew nothing about it. Nothing had come to him directly or indirectly. Mr Bobbie said that it was most unusual and would be improper for the inspectors to be communicated with on such a subject. MSB STBEAM. Messrs J. Nichol, Martin, Welsh, and Alexander M'Donald attended as a deputation from the Lee Stream Committee. They had received notce that the school would be closed if the attendance was not larger, and they decided to have some arrangement made by which the school would be kept open. The children of the district could not be educated at all if the school were shut. There were 15 children on the roll. The deputation could not say what the average attendance was; it could not be expected that many would attend in winter, when the roads were bad, as some of the children had to travel as far as six miles ; but in summer children belonging to three other families could attend, and it would be a hardship if the school were dosed. The Chairman said that the board had been paying £70 as a salary, and were now prepared to give £50, leaving the committee to make their own arrangements." A letter to that effect would be forwarded by the secretary. LOVBLI/s PLAT , The following report was submitted :— Your committee have to report that, when they took office on the 28th April 1890 there was a credit balance of £1 3s 8d ; but they must refer back to the 3Ut December 1886, that being the end of the committee's finanoial year at that time, when there •toad to the credit of the committee £13 IOs Id. The receipts since then up the Slst of March 1891 (15 months) have been t— From the Education Board (for ordinary incidental expenses), £25 ; donations and by ooncerfc, £7 5s 6d ; for use of aohoolhouse, 10a ; sale of tank, £3;— total,3 ;— total, £18 5s 7d. The expenditure has been:— Janitor's salary, £12 10s ; fuel, £1 ; repairs to fences (including new picket fence, Ac),' £8 13s 4d; prizes for pupils, £12 6s 7d; stationery, 6s 6d; cash in hand, £7 16s ; cash in the bank, £5 14s 3d } balance on Ist April 1891, £18 5s 7d,' leaving a credit balance of £13 10s 3d on that date ; but there were a number of accounts outstanding, amounting to— no one but Sir Fraser knows what, and he refuses to give that information. The number of meetings held during the year has been nine ; all the members present at every meeting but two— Lowery absent once and Btyoe absent twice. The school was examined by Inspector Petrie on the 22nd of September, when 94 per cent, of passes was attained. The inspector spoke highly of the work and management of the school. The attendance during the year your committee know nothing about. The pupil-teaoher's apprenticeship expired at the end of the year 1890. The sewing teaoher has been dispensed with, and a mistress has been appointed instead, whose datles commenced on th« 2nd of February, but no report has been received from the teaoher since the 27th November last, so what number there is on the roll, or the average attendance, your committee know not. A most unpleasant and disagreeable duty was imposed upon your committee through the unwarrantable and despotio action of the Bruce County Council's secretary in taking illegal possession of the laud attached to the teacher's residence and converting same into a depository for culvert material, consisting of a number of heavy drainpipes— entirely ignoring your committee in the matter. The committee tried all the mild ways they could think of to induce the' council to remove the material, but without avail. Your committee then removed them on to the county rqad, but they have since been ' put back again by athletic moonlighters, setting your committee entirely at defiance. A deadlock, and no business transacted by the committee from the 21st July to the 17th November, has been caused by the chairman refusing to record his vote when the committee was equally divided on a question concerning the above subject; for altbocgh he declared he was satisfied that the secretary had done perf eotly right according to the act and minutes, he persistently refused to record his vote ; hence the deadlock referred to. 'At the breaking up of the school in December prizes were distributed to the children, and a concert (in aid of the prize fund; was held the same evening. Gentlemen, this is the report your committee has to submit to you. Wk*iam Hbwitsojt, BJOhairman Householders' Meeting. ACCOUNTS. Accounts amounting to £7793 5s were passed for payment.

The report of Mr R. Wilaon (engineer of tbe Midland railway), and Mr C. Napier Bell, the second expert commission invited by the Timaru harbour board to report on the shingle accumulation at the breakwater, agrees with the report of Messrs O'Connor and Goodall in recommending the shifting of the shingle rather than trapping it by groins or extending the works. They estimate the first co3t of appliances (using Welman pump dredge) at £14,800, and the annual cost about £4000. The board decided to send an engineer to see tha pump dredges at work, and to experiment with the PrieEtman dredge on hand. Mr O'Connor estimated that the shingle would go round the works in four yrarp, but possibly in much less time, and the late commission accept this estimate.

generally until pre-Adamite man appeared upon the scene and reduced absolute chaos to comparative disorder under the influence of his magnetic eje and the cunning of hia right hand. But even he was powerless at night when clouds obscured the face of the moon and the twinkle of the stars, and all the wild beasts and insects roared their defiance cf him from the rocks and fissures, and poked fun at him from the tree tops, and chased him about in his pyjamas, and bit and stucg him, simply because he had no light by which he could see to fire bricks at them with any- degree of accuracy, and he had to keep awake all night and dodge them from shelter to bhelter, until his life became a wearisome misery to him for the .want of knowing how to turn night' into day — an art which his 19th century descendants have worked out to their entire satisfaction. Therefore be devoted all his energies to the discovery of an artificial light which would enable him to combat with his nocturnal enemies, and to keep them at bay while he walked up and down in the wilderness with his teething infant and administered the paregoric and the peppermint or the clinging slipper, as the case might be, according to the necessities of the moment. And, first of all he hit on a plan of obtaining it by the friction of two sticks, but it was a long and tedious process, during which the raosquitos bit him, and the' native dog howled at him from the distance, and the scorpion prospected his feet, wtiile the lighthearted centipede dropped from a branch overhead down the back of his neck. And generation succeeded generation until presently he discovered the use of flint and steel, and the pitch pine and other lesinous torches, and then the fat of his numerous victims attracted his attention, and led up to the invention of the useful bub evil-smelling fat lamp, from which to mutton fat candles was but a short jump, and theii use suggested to him the expression of liquid fat or oils from both animals and vegetable*, and the fabrication of lamps in which to burn them and distribute the powerful aroma over large areas of country. And when othex and mere ingenious men smelt this burnt intense they set themselves to go one better, and t^ey found coal and made gas therefrom, and established monopolies, which have ground the faces of the poor and eaten out the hearts of countless thousands, who have gone to their graves wit h broken hearts and •shattered frames in consequence. Others again dug and found ready-made oil stored away in natural cisterns, into which they inserted pumps and foimed " trusts " and built up syndicates, and companies, and monopolies of another sott, but none the less venomous, and they advertised various fictitious legends with regard to these oils, which they divided into " grades," as they called them, the only difference -between which was that one " grade " would blow a whole family with their house and a quarteracre allotment higher and into smaller pieces and nearer to the confines of perdition in less time than another "grade" which happened to belong to a rival syndicate. And these combustibles were called by a variety of names, such as petroleum, and petroline, and kerosene, and numerous other " urns " and " ines " and " isms," but all more or less possessed of the familiar suddenness of forked lightning and the explosive force of dynamite, and worst of all at the very time when they were supposed to be perfectly reliable on account of a guarantee that they had been tested, and inspected, and set fire to, and put out again, and thoroughly overhauled by presidents and committees and experts of great judgment. But in spite of all these precautions; they still continued to go off at frequent intervals and wreck properties, and break up happy little family circles, until human nature rebelled against the imposition, and then the electric light was introduced. But it was altogether too frisky, and uncertain, and sensational an illuminant to suit all classes, and at last it has been rewarded with a success which nc.ay be justly claimed as the success of the century. At last there is light; light that is pure and beautiful, maintained from a, source that is constant, economical, and absolutely devoid of all risk, danger, and unpleasantness. " Luxene "is the discovery of the age. It is a powerful illnminant with an indisputable title to the bef orementioned characteristics and some others which will eventually be emphasised in the works of the Government Statistician, and will be at once recognised in the enormous reduction of the number of deaths registered in the column which refers to lamp explosions. Luxene is a genuine discovery of an entirely new application of one of the sources of artificial light ; it is devoid of smell when burning, and cannot be purposely fired under, ■my conditions, except such as may be reported to by a lunatic or an idiot. It is prepared for market by an entirely new process, and can be strongly recommended -for domestio use both in town and country, and under all conditions in which oil is used for illuminating purposes, and where freedom from smell, brilliancy of light at a low cost, and absolute safety are considered as factors of general importance- among the details of human life and progress. Luxene can be obtained from Buckets Harvester Company, and consumers will soon learn to understand the truth of the assertion that its use will go far towards minimising the necessity for heavy fire insurances, besides imparting an additional ssourity to the value of life, and adding largely to its pleasures.

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