COMMITTEEMAN V. TEACHER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2263, 15 July 1897, Page 28

COMMITTEEMAN V. TEACHER.

A SULTRY MEETING. A special meeting of the Albany Etreet School Committee was held on Friday for the purpose of giving Mr Hastings an opportunity of replying to what Mr Spence had said at a previous meeting of the committee. The meeting was attended by Messrs Dicksou (chairman), Thompson, A. T. Anderson, Walker, G. J. Anderson, Wilkinson, Turner, Mathieson, and Hastiogs. The Chairman said some of the committee might have noticed a letter in the Times since the last meeting written by Mr Hastings, and there was also a short article in the Star headed "Teacher v. School Committee." It struck him that that heading was very misleading, and might lead the public to think that one of the teachers was attacking the committee. Mr Hastings : Distinctly he was. You have got a packed meeting here, and you have been workiDg for Mr Spence for a long time. I told you this morning I was perfectly prepared to give nay statement and settle this matter, but you come here to-night, as you have done all along, to defend Mr Spence, who has injured children, because you have got no children in the school. The Chairman : I am only introducing the question. Mr Hastincs : You are introducing it against me. Mr Dickßon comes here and makes a speech, at he has done all along, in favour of Mr Spence. Right through the whole business he has been for Mr Spence, and he does not care a halfpenny for his colleague. The Chairman asked if the committee would support him in the way he was pursuing. He said again there was an article in the Star headed "Teacher v. Committee." Mr Hastings : I am not respon*ible for that. The Chaii?3lAN said he was not saying that Mr Hastings was responsible. He was merely calling attention to the fact. He had not said anjth/ng to offeud. Mr Hastings : You have done ifc. The Chairman : I would like to know if this is an inquiry into the charge against Mr Bpence. and if jou have written out your charge ? Mr Hastings : I have not. The Chairman intimated that if Mr Hattings had anj thing to say the committee were prepared to hear it. Mr Hastings said be thought it was only fair that Mr Spence should be in the room. - Mr Spence having been called io, TheCHAiRJiAN siid the committee wanted to lettle the matter as speedilr and as peaceably as possible. He thought the best thing now would be for Mr Hastings to explain his grievance. Mr Hastings said the complaint he made against Mr Sntnce to the members of the committee, to Mr Ferguson, and to the public, trag that Mr Spence persecuted his child in consequence of the action, he assumed, he (Mr Hastings) tookin the inquiry about Mr Ingram's child ; and he also seated that he would spare no effort to get Mr Spence turned cub of the school. Mr SpeDcs had proved his own ease against himself. Before the previous inquiry Mr Specce and he were the best of friends, and Mr Spence had told him that his child was ote of the children who was the least trouble in the school. Mr Spence also said he had no complaint whatever to find with the girl, and he had told him over and over again that efce was a child he had no trouble with. When the firot inquiry came on he (Mr Hastings) made the remark : "Mr Spsnce will blame me for all this trouble." In cons? quence of that remark he thought that the inquiry was made public, and ab the meeting when the inquiry was held the chairman said he thought that it was a very lenient offence. He (Mr j Hastirgs) sa : d he regarded it as a very grave i effence, and that Mr Spence had broken every regulation of the board. In consequence of what he said, when he met Mr Spence io the street the next day that gentleman would iiot speak to him. The next thing was that the sins of the father bad beeu visited on the child, and this sort of thing had gone on ever since. Mr Hastings (reading from the report of thepreviou3 meeting) proceeoed to say that Mr Spence admitted saying this : " Come here, AnDie Hastings," and then with the best intentions, and not in an unkind manner, he added, " You ar« getting all behind with your work ; your father does not relieve in your being punished. I do not think your chance of passing rery bright." Now, what occurred was that Mr s Bpence called his child out of the class, and ■aid to her : " Here is an example of a child whore father will not let it be punished." He (Mr Hastings) had never yet told Mr Spence not to punish one of his children ; and the only reason he could have for thinking that he did J not wish a child punished was because of the action he (Mr Hastings) tookin the first inquiry. Even supposing he had bsen mieinformed, did the committee think it was right that a master Vhould call a child on one side and say : " Your father does not believe in yon bezug punished ? " What had the father's actions got to do with the child's ? Thenextthinghe(Mr Haitings)cameto was the matter of the hats. On the examination day it was snowing, and bis child came into the room for her hat, but Mr Spence would nob let j her get it. He (Mr Hastings) caw the -school register on Thursday afternoon, and the only •übject his child failed in was a subject she was examined in on the afternoon when Mr Spence refused to let her get her hat and sent her home ciyiDg without ifc. The child was almost the youngest child in Otago who was in the Fifth Standard, and yet Mr Kpencc wanted to m*rke ont she was a dunce. Before this matter cropped up be had s*id to Mr Spence : "If she is backward let her stop backward." Mr Bpence could not deny that. And he had sent the child h< me ivithout her hat and had persecuted her ever since the inquiry. He (Mr Hastings) thought very little of his colleagues j for the wey they had treated him last time, and he thought that they might have upheld bim in this matter. Mr Spence said he had not got very much to cay bsyend what he had laid on the previous occasion. He was appointed to his present position fire or six years ago under rather exceptional circumstances. He had always done his very best to do his work as well as possible, and had also done the work to the satis r action of the head master, the inspectors, and, he believed, the majority of the parents. Bub notwithstanding that, he had been annoyed from certain quarters all the time. Most absurd stories had been circulated about him; and pecple who heard these withcub inquiring into the rights or wrongs of them, accepted them »s true. Now, after five or six years this began to get a little bit monotonous, and when he heard that Mr Hastings was going round saying he was going to leave no stone unturned antil he got him (Mr Spence) out of the school, he (Mr Spence) told the committee to give Mr Hastings every facility to prove hia charges. It appeared that Mr Hastings had circulated certain reports about the district, and then with a great show of magnanimity ho said, " I will let the matter drop." He wished to let the matter drop at a point where it would be calculated to do a great deal of harm

For his own part he (Mr Spence) did not believe in Mr Ha^tings's magnanimity. ! Mr Hastings had said that he had ne^er told him not to punish his child. He (Mr Spence) would contradict that. When the J child came into his claes Mr Hastings told him of some accident that the child had met with, and asked him to be careful with her, and he (Mr Spence) thought he said_ not to puDish her. Mr Hastings would bear him out that in the matter of punishment he had been very careful with the child. Mr Hastings : That is right, Mr Spenes ; I don't deny that. Mr Spence aaid with reference to the remarks he made t; the child he wanted her to put her best foot forward so as to get through her examination if possible. As regards her going to the room for her hafc, she did not say anything to him about her hat. If she had done fo he would have Jet her go to the room and get it. A student, who had assisted Mr Spenca in his class for a fortnight bsfore the examination, stated, in reply to the Chairman, that he had never heard Mr Spence hold any of the children np to ridicule before the class. Mr Spence appeared to him very kind to his children. He remembered the name of Annie Hastings, but he remembered nothing about her when he was in the school. Mr Spence did tot say anything to any of the children while he was in the school tbat he could object to. He (the speaker) thought that Mr Spence was a very strict teacher, but he did not think that he was unkind to his pupils. Mr Ferguson, the head master, said, in reply to the Chairman, that he had nothing to say with/- regard to the matter ; bat on being questioned by Mr Mathieson, be said that he considered in many cases that Mr Spence had been over strict, but that was a common fault, among young teachers. Lately Mr Spence had modified his strictness very cousider&bly, and at his (Mr Ferguson's) request he had adopted milder methods, and had come to the conclusion that those methods would produce as good results as over-strict methods. He (Mr Ferguson) thought that Mr Spence's over-strictness did not arise from bad temper, but from anxiety to bring the children up to a certain standard. Mr G. J. Anderson said ha thought Mr Spsnce had erred in speaking in the way he had to the child, and that Mr Hastings ought to be censured for talking in the way he had done outside the committee-room. The whole sffair was a storm in a teapot ; and Mr Hastings would have shown greater sense if he had taken no notice of the matter. He would move — " That Mr Spence erred in speaking to Aunie Hastiugs in the way he did, and Mr Hastings is blamabio for making the threats he did outside the committee room instead of laying a formal charge." Mr Thompson seconded the motion, and Mr Hastings said he agreed with it. Mr Wilkinson said he would enter "his prote&t against the motion. Mr Walker thought that Mr Hastings had erred ia talking about the matter outside the committee room, and he had also committed a grave error ©f judgment, having gone so far Mr Hastings : I will go further if you wish it. Mr Walker : In not laying a formal charge, and having it investigated iv a proper manner. The speaker did not think that Mr Spence had committed an error of judgment in speaking to Mr Haßtinga's child as lie did. After some further discussion the motion was put and lost by five votes to three — Messrs Thompson, A. T. Anderson, aud the mover voting for, and Messrs Walker, WilkingOD, Turner, Mitaieson, and the chairman against; it. Mr Hastings did not vote. •Mr Mathieson moved — " That, judcing from the evidence, Mr Hfsbings was not warranted in speaking of Mr Spsnce as he has done, and therefore he ought to apologise." Mr Turner seconded the motion. Mr Thompson asked if the motion was Mr Mathiesou'i* own or if it was the chairman's ? Mr Mathikson : I think it is my own now. Mr Has i ings : It is the ch&irifian's. He has taken up a partisan attitude throughout the proceedings. Mr BUthikson said -the motion was not handed to him in the first place at all. Mr Hastings : I am not likely to apologise. I will take the matter to the Education Board if you carry a resolution like that. The Chairman said be thought Mr Hastings i had bseu too hasty in making his charges. It ; would have been better if he had arranged his case a little better before he came before the committee. I Mr Hastings :It appears very hard to me that my child is to suffer. Blr Spence has been grossly uncivil to me, and has persecuted my j child, and I find the committee are led by yourself and Mr Turner. Mr Turner : Cnair ! Chair : ! Mr Hastings : I say the committee are led by yourself and Mr Turner, who has, of course, | his own reasons for deliberately taking the side [ of Mr Spence against me. ! After futther discussion the motion was put and carried, Messrs Mathieson, Turner* Wilkinson, and the chairman voting for it, and none against it. Mr Wilkinson remarked t.hafc Mr Hastings had better apologise to Mr Spence and end the matter. Mr Hastings : I will have him out of the schoal. I am going to appeal to the Education Board in this matter. | The meeting then terminated.