THE COLONIST PUBLISHED TUESDAYS, THURSDAYS, AND SATURDAYS. NELSON, SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 1880 NELSON TOWN SCHOOLS.

Colonist, Volume XXIII, Issue 2688, 3 April 1880, Page 3

THE COLONIST PUBLISHED TUESDAYS, THURSDAYS, AND SATURDAYS. NELSON, SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 1880 NELSON TOWN SCHOOLS.

THE'adjourned meeting of the Town Committee of Education was held on Tuesday evening last; all the members present. After disposal of ordinary routine business it was resolved, That Miss Desaunais be recommended for appointment as junior assistant Tasman street school. A discussion took place as to the duties ana responsibilities of the head teachers, and it was unanimously decided that they are expected, as pari of their duty, to exercise a general supervision over the junior divisions in the schools. It was decided that the head mistress Toi-toi Valley Softool be

requested to prepare a " Time Table" for the use of the assistant teachers in that school, and attend to carrying out of same. . An application with the signatures of nine female teachers attached thereto was received, in which they requested permission to use the schoolrooms from 9 to 9.30 daily, for the purpose of giving " Bible Instruction." On a motion that'the request be acceded to considerable discussion took place. On the one hand it was argued, that the request having come voluntarily from these teachers, it redounded very much to -their credit, and such a. movement could hardly fail to do good, and would, be no infringement of the Act, which states that the teaching to be imparted shall be of" a purely secular character," inasmuch as it would be outside the hours prescribed for ordinary school work. Qn the other side it was contended that the introduction of religious instruction into the public schools either immediately before or immediately after ordinary school hours was a matter for serious consideration, as in either case it was simply an evasion of the Act by lengthening school hours, to introduce religious teaching, and further, the teachers themselves were not at all Unanimous in their desire for its introduction, as although all the teachers, some 21 or 22 in number, were invited to a preliminary conference to consider the best means of introducing religious teaching into the public schools, none of the male teachers attended ; swd further, all the headmasters are averse to the proposal, some of them contending that by tacking this extra lesson on to the ordinary school hours ife would materially interfere with their preparations for the ordinary work of the day, which were usually made during the half hour'they were invited to devote to religious instruction. It was also suggested that it would probably be the introduction of the "thin end of the wedge" to provoke a religious controversy between the various religious creeps: the Roman Catholics for instance who, although they decline to take advantage of our system, are yet compelled to contribute to its support, our justification being that our State system is " purely secular;" but if we extend the sohool hours for the purpose of religious instruction, even although the attendance be voluntary, we run the risk of giving them fair ground of complaint. Four membprs of the Committee spoke in favor and three against granting the request, and the -question was ultimately postponed until next meeting. The Eev. J. Leighton resigned the office of Hon. Secretary. A vote of thanks was accorded to him for past services, and it waß agreed to advertise for a clerk, at. a Balary of £25 per annum.