NELSON TOWN SCHOOLS.

Colonist, Volume XIII, Issue 1279, 28 December 1869, Page 3

NELSON TOWN SCHOOLS.

„ DISTRIBUTION OP PRIZES* On Friday last;thSinnual distribution of prizes took 'place in the Provincial Hall. Hi* Honor the Superlintendent distributed the prizes. The attendance of i pupils was large,ialthough nbtso'numerous as usual, .'as the postponement of the- day of-distribution 'naturally had the effect of lessoning the audience. 'However, there were several hundreds of happy, 'healthy faces, attended by their various teachers, and ■the audienoe included asprinkling.but only a thin sprinkling of parents, and the Inspector of Schools 'and members of the Committee of Education for the ;City. 5A -~.,'■ yi r , v...; r»'-- i ■ i v;•<■,-• ' His' Hcwob, in addressing the meeting prior to (giving, the prizes, Bpoke as follows:—Ladies and (Jentlemten/ Boys < and Girls,—l am sorry that today's proceedings have had to be put off so 'long; but the delay has. been unavoidable. I am pleased to find that the schools have been so prosperous, and that'the number of scholars is increasing, over 1200 children now being in attendance: at: the i»wn schools alone. The course taken by the Governors of the College of granting scholarships is calculated to raise the standard and increase the efficiency |of the teaching 'at our schools i <it is, however; attended by one danger; namely, that the Masters may be induced to push forward one or two boys, to the neglect of those not so far advanced. I hope, howlever, .that both the Committees and the Masters will guartt' against > this; i I am glad to observe an improvement in the method of awarding the prizes this year, and that ttey are allotted, not according to the 'marks obtained by the children at a public examination,1 but by those which1 they- have pained during | the year, as I have*found, that many who have been working hard for months are too timid to show their* •capacity at a public examination, and are consequently ■ 'disappointed in not receiving that which they have' 'earned, but which goes to a, child who has not'done so well, but is not so timid. There is one point to which:! must refer,—l mean the movement that has been made by one religious denomination for introducing the reading of ,the Holy, Scriptures into our schools. lam willing to admit that this might be attended with■ much good but; lor the explanations which must inevitably accompany it, and which of course would be differently given By different persons, thus opening the door to what we have always wished to avoid—doctrinal teaching. I am glad to learn that the town committee have refused to allow it, and I hope that, if admitted by the country committees, they will take care to hedge it round in such a way as to prevent it interfering with our present system of secular education., I have one word to say to the boys. The holidays have just; begun, and I hope you will thoroughly enjoy them; but I must tell yon that I have heard many complaints of careless throwing of stones whereby accidents have occurred. I hope and believe that after this warning you will take care not to throw stones where they are likely to hit passers byHe then proceeded to deliver the prizes to the successful pupils, of whom the following is a list: — Boy's School—lst Division. —Mr. Smith, Master. Ist class, Ist prize ...... Hugh Graham. 2nd „ Robert Hunter. 2nd „ Ist „ Thomas Sadd. 2nd , James Barltropp. 3rd „ Ist „ W. LechnerY 2nd „ ...... J. Wylie. EXTRA PEIZES. Writing ..; ..' A. Everett. „ ..; T. Chjsholm. 2nd Division.—Mr. Sadd and Mr. Barnett, Masters. Ist class, Ist prize J. Moore. 2nd , J. Ogilvie. 2nd „ Ist „ A. Wylie. 2nd „ L. Augarde. 3rd „ Ist „ W. Hibble. 2nd „ W. Rout. 4th „ Ist „ A. Karsten. 2nd „ H.Ryder. EXTRA PBIZES. General proficiency v M. Karsten. „ J. Hollyman. Gibls' School.—lst Division.—Mrs. Sait, Mistress. Ist class/lst prize Enphemia Clark. 2nd „ Emily Hough. 2nd „ Ist „ Matilda Lechner. 2nd „ PhcebeCator. 3rd „ Ist „ Eosa Clark. 2nd „ Mary Attuore. 4th p,, Ist „ Esther Sowtaan. 2nd „ EmmaElvy. EXTBA PBIZES. Writing Jane Batchelor. Arithmetic Isabella Haddow. Ist Division.—Miss Galland, Mistress. Ist class, Ist prize Annie Coward. 2nd „ Naomi Bibble. 2nd „ Ist „ Annie Capper. 2nd „ Eliza York. 3rd „ Ist „ Bertha Hooper. 2nd „ Julia Chisholm. 4th „ Ist „ Annie Clark. 2nd „ Lucy Leaper. EXTBA PBIZES. Writin Emily Jefferies Good conduct Eliza Hubbard. Haven-boad School.—Mr. J. L. Hodgson and Miss Dement. Ist class, Ist prize Susan Witney. 2nd „ Barbara Bobb. 2nd „ Ist „ Eoberfc Simpson. 2nd „ Frederick Witney. 3rd „ Ist „ Grace Lockerbie. 2nd „ Agnes Simpson. 4th „ Ist „ Grace Vaugnan. 2nd „ Alice Witney. EXTBA PBIZES.' Industry and attention Frank Hodgson „ „ '..i...-'.CharlesHart. Hampden-stbeet Schooii.—lst Division.—Mr. M'lntosh and Miss Tucker. Ist class, Ist prize Mary Barton. 2nd „ Caroline Haase. 2nd „ Ist „ William BatcHelor. 2nd „ C.Halliday. 3rd „ Ist „ ...... Peter Wooton. 2nd „ Eichard Lechner. 4th „ Ist „' James Rodney. 2nd „ ...... Catherine Cator. 2nd Division. sth class ~ Alice Bailey. 6th „ Priscilla Stringer. 7th „ Andrew Bogle. Bth „ Mary Simpson., EXTBA PBIZE. Good conduct George Kingston. Mr. Luckie, one of the members of the committee, addressed a few' words to the children, urging the cultivation of politeness of manner,, which .should have been shown<by all boys, as well.as.girls, in receiving their prizes from the hands of his Honor. Attention to these civilities was never thrown away, they cost nothing, and were worth much in progress through life, and he advised the children to begin the practice by being courteous and obedient to their teachers. He also - called attention of. parents. to the necessity of giving teachers their moral support at home in presence of their children; Teaching was not the "delightful .task" that-the poet said it .was. When he was young and curly, he had, in a fit of educational enthusiasm, got up an evening class of factory boys, and labored at it for a couple of winters, nearly four-and-twenty years ago, and he could testify that it was no easy duty. Teachers, therefore, merited all the support and respeot that parents could give' them for their<work's sake; for if light words and" reproaches were used in presence of pupils, the pupils themselves would fail to respect their teachers, and without respect, the progress of-education would 'necessarily be slower. <He .also remarked that heregretted to observe, that there were far too few advanced children, that those present were too young, and urged on parents!the. advisability of keepingtheir children longer at school. It might be a present sacrifice, by losing, a small sum that they might eanv but sending them to employment bo early, was a vast sacrifice of the children's future, for | it limited their education,and sent them 'abroad leaa qualified to fight the battle of life than they would b* if taofw *V tabiwL After iwntiiwriit tint

two boys, one" from tit. Smith's school, in the town,' and one from Riwaka school, had gained scholarships at Nelson College, he advised parents to cause children to be attenders at Bohool; because absence not only stopped their advance, but really put them back in the.clasm, besides' being' injurious to the school, and causing disorganisation, which increased the labor of the teacher. Three cheers were given to the Superintendent for awarding the prizes, and this terminated the proceedings'. ' THE LATE ENQUIRY AS TO THE WANGAPEKA LAND SALES. Bt the great pressure in our space, and the lateness of the hour which report of Mr. Domett was terminated, we were obliged to give a mere fragment of Mr. Domett's spoken observations which preceded the reading of his written report. We have extended the notes of his speech in full, and now give it as was spoken:— Mr. Domett said that his want of acquaintance < with judicial enquiries, had led him into! a slight misi take. Properly he should have heard Mr. Moss read his statement before the close of the Enquiry, of ; which, in fact, it ought to have formed part, so that he might have had it before him in summing up the whole case; not that, is matters stood, it would | have made any difference, for, having heard Mr. ; Mobs, had he to write his Report over again he would probably not have had a line to alter, chiefly because, ias would be seen when he had read his Report, ; that with; a very considerable portion' of Mr/Moss's {statement he thoroughly agreed. Mr. Moss had | thought it necessary to apologise for the manner in which he had conducted his part - of' the case "for the i miners. He could only say that be thought there .was no necessity for any such apology. Mr. Moss j deserved great credit for the ability, as well as* tact ;and excellent temper, he had displayed throughout. jHe had not often seen professional gentlemen who : exercised more of these qualities; and Mr. Moss, in acting as what he might call an advocate for one of ; the Bides in the Enquiry, had nothing to apologise 'for. He then alluded to the position of the Government officials. He thought that some misapprehension existed on this point.; Mr. Moss appeared to assume that there was something culpable in their proceedings with respect to the purchase of the land, and that they had made use of some information which they had officially obtained. Any real or supposed information they had was obtained outside the offices. The'news was well known, and if they 'took advantage of that intelligence he considered they had a perfect right to do po, bo long as they did not offend against any law. Mr. Moss had commented specially on four of these gentlemen. The 'first was the Superintendent, Mr. Curtis, who he said was concerned in these purchases. Had he been 'a purchaser he might have been open to the charge 'that in defending the action of the Waste Lands Board he might have been actuated' by greater zeal than he otherwise would have been. Naturally, it was the Superintendent's duty to defend the conduct of the officers of the Government whenever it was defensible, if it should be impugned, and it was difficult to discriminate bet ween the different, sources of that zeal and energy. With respect to Mr. Sharp, that gentleman was very candid,' and had fairly [ explained the matter. He knew nothing of the purchase in his name until after it was made, and then he went to the Land office and requested that liis name should be taken off the application, but was told that it was the rule of that office.that no applications should be altered. From his own former connection with the Land office, he (Mr. Domett) knew that wa3 a rule, which it was desirable to observe. No doubt had Mr. Sharp insisted very much upon it he miaht have succeeded in getting his name struck off. But this was perhaps not to be expected. On Mr. Gully's case some stress was laid, rather too much probably. Mr. Gully had admitted that he had an interest in the purchase, and if he did not do so on the first, day he very frankly admitted it on the second. With respect to' Mr. Broad, it was contended by Mr. Moss that the action he had taken shewed that the Government considered the land was a Goldfield. He did not think it necessary to tins Enquiry to go into Mr. Broad's proceedings; but, with respect to this argument, Mr. Broad's explanation showed he considered the land was not within the Goldfields, and that in taking money for the miners' rights, he did so merely to receive the names and preserve the priority of right for those persons who were already on thj ground. Mr. Moss had remarked that it was a mccc assumption by the counsel for the Government that it was their intention to exclude the Wangapeka district from the operation of the Goldfieids Act, that in fact it was a mere vague assertion on their part. The assertion certainly had not been proved, nor had he called for proof of it, as he (Mr. Domett) happened to know, from having been a member of the Provincial Government at that time, that such wns the intention of Government. How.rver, Mr. Moss was right in saying that if the proclamation actually did not place the Wangapeka without the Goldfield, such intention really went for nothing. He quite agreed also with Mr. Moss thit " mineral1' land was intended by the Act to be different from "auriferous" land. Mr. Moss was perfectly correct in that, and he (Mr. Domett) thought the Waste Lands Board was in error in not distinguishing between them. With respect to the omission to take a deposit for survey, as required by clause 35, he (Mr Domett) had thought of this point. It was beyond question that a deposit for the cost of survey should huve been made at the time the purchase money was paid. He did not understand why this was not done in Culliford's case, and if it was not done, as Mr. Daniell had admitted, then he thought that the purchase was not complete, and, therefore, would probably be held invalid. Mr. Daniell here said: In Culliford's case we told him he might have the laad surveyed himself at his own expense, because we thought we had power to do so, and that, therefore the payment of the money was not necessary. We relied on the other clauses Mr. Moss had referred to. Mr. Domett said that in his opinion they were wrong. He had little else to say on Mr. Moss's able statement, with the other points in which he generally agreed. Respecting the proposed amendment of the law, with which Mr. Moss concluded, he thought the alteration a very proper and reasonable one, and he had no doubt if it were proposed in the legislature in the usual manner it would be made law. Mr. Domett then read his Report as printed in our last.