HIT A SCHOOL TEACHER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 662, 14 May 1929, Page 1

HIT A SCHOOL TEACHER

Committeeman Fined £5 TROUBLE STARTED OVER STOVE! THE behaviour of J. R. Mcßae, member of the Mataitai School Committee, who insulted the school-teacher within hearing of his pupils and struck him across the face with his open hand was the subject of severe censure by Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., at the Police Court this morning. Mcßae was fined £.5.

The detailed charge against Mcßae, a farmer of Mataitai, near Clei»-"dpn, was that he upbraided, insulted a.ud abused Edwin Rose, a school teacher at the Mataitai School, within the hearing of pupils of the school assembled for schol purposes. Mr. S. W. L. Milne appeared for defendant, hut hesitated to plead until he knew under what Act the charge was brought. If it were the Police Offences Act. counsel was not prepared to admit any offence. Prosecuting on behalf of the Education Board, Mr. R. P. Towle said that the action was brought under the Education Act of 1914. Section 1571. and the maximum penalty that could be imposed was a fine of £lO. Mr. Milne then entered a plea of guilty. Mr. Towle, said Mcßae, who was a member of the school committee, had assumed an officious attitude hardly in keeping with his position. He had written many long letters to the Education Board complaining about the teacher. He had suggested that he did not give sufficient attention to the children and that he kept irregular hours at the school —charges which, counsel said, had been thoroughly Investigated by the board and found to be without foundation. “On March 21,” continued Mr. Towle, “defendant visited the school in company with the chairman of the committee, Mr. Luke. He asked the teacher to come outside and then inquired about a drain which was blocked. The teacher explained that he had instructed a boy to clean it on the previous day, but apparently it had been overlooked.

Mcßae then appears to have lost his temper. He used very bad language within the hearing of the children and struck the teacher across the face with his open hand. Mr. Towle stressed tlie seriousness with which the board regarded the affair. Its effect on discipline particularly should be taken into occount. In the opinion of Mr. Milne there was ill-feeling between Mcßae and the teacher which could be traced back to a disagreement over a stove. It was about the stove that the two men had visited the school on the morning of March 21. “When they arrived the children were in the playground,’’ said counsel, “but shortly after they assembled and went inside.” NOT JUSTIFIED Reminding the Court that there had been a considerable amount of dysentery early in March, Mr Milne said that Mcßae had seen two small children come out of the building and dip dusters in the dirty water of the blocked drain to moisten‘them, so that they could clean the blackboard. The teacher had then come out unasked, and Mcßae had removed his coat and commenced to clean the drain. “Defendant had a small boy. aged seven, at the school,” continued counsel, “and he had been sent to the school with a note from his mother to say that he was not very well and that he was to be sent home if necessary. That day the teacher struck him.” Mr. F..K. Hunt. S.M.: What has all this to do with it? You have pleaded guilty, and nothing can justify this language. Mr. Milne: I merely wished to show that the man had cause to be annoyed. He was also worried about his wife’s illness. Mr. Hunt: Well, he had his remedy, and there was no reason to act as he did. Before the magistrate imposed the fine, Mr. Milne asured him that there would be no further breach of the peace, as the teacher was no longer at Mataitai. Mr. Towle: This prosecution will stop any further breach, anyway. “We cannot have teachers insulted in this fashion,” commented Mr. Hunt.