THE EDUCATION DEADLOCK.

Colonist, Volume XXXVI, Issue 7701, 7 August 1893, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE EDUCATION DEADLOCK.

MEETING OF HOUSEHOLDEKS. A cbowded meeting of the householders of Nelson was held in the Provincial Hall on August 3, the building being full a quarter of an hour before the time appointed for the commencement of business. Both galleries were occupied by ladies, and many persons were unable to gain an entrance to the Hall. At eight o'clock the Committee entered the room, and were received with loud cheering, those present being Messrs Graham (the Chairman), Boy J. H MacKenzie, and Messrs Cooke, Grant, Bolton, Low, Haddow and Topliss. Mr Graham took the chair. He said that meeting had assembled in response to the invitation of the Committee to consider matters in connection with the Town Schools. He said the Committee regretted the cause that had rendered that meeting necessary, but ha certainly felt gratified at such a large and very respectable gathering. (Ironical applause). He had never seen a larger attendance. He explained the object of the meeting at considerable length, but the facts are so well known that it is needless to recapitulate. He showed that the Board wanted to depart from its usual custom in the appointing of a head master of the Town Schools, and had ignored the request of the Committee that applications should be advertised for. The Committee admitted that Mr Ladley was eligible as was any certificated teacher, but the Committee felt they had a right to obtain the services of the very best man procurable for a salary of £300 a year, and they would admit suoh a salary ehoald secure a really good master. (A.pplauae.) He stated how the Board thereupon deoided to "transfer" Mr Ladley to the position, and how, aa a protest, the Committee closed tha sahaol. No other course was open to the Committee, aa before tha Board's meeting tha tiaoher they objected to would have been in the position of master. It was never, he explained, intended to close the sohool long, and as soon a* the Committee obtained advice aa to their position they resolved to re-open tha sohool, and would have made the first announcement to that meeting but for the action of the Board in opening another sohool in tha Prinosss Sink. He was very sorry to say that a number oE tha boys went to witness the opening of this sohool, and, as he was told, failed to behave themselves very well. They had had a bad example set them from the Hoa?e of Commons and their ovn House -(a voice .* And the City Counoil) — but while that was no real excuse, yet, when men forgot themselves, there was some exousa for ohildrea. The boys declined to enter the sohool, and he denied that the Committee had encouraged them to do so. By the action of the Board the teaohers had been put in a very awkward position, for they did not koow whom to obey. He understood, however, that the teaohers also took legal advioo, and ib.it it was to the samo efiSot as that reoeived by the Committee. They were told they had to obey the Committee, (applause.) The Board was endeavouring to thrust upon them a teacher without finding out whether he was the best they could get — (applause), — but the objeat of the Commit- , tee was to improve on their teaohers it possible. (Loud applause.) Rev J. H. MacKenzie said he was a man of peaca, and he had no great pleas are in being connected with that strife, but sometimes even a Quaker had to fight, and sometimes ha ghonld fight, and with. both hands and his whole heart. (Applause.) What he bai to say he would like to say in the kindliest way possible. They were in danger parhaps of introducing bitteme33, but he hoped, that m what he had to say there would be no bitterness, for he had no intention to ba hitter. (Hea-, hear,) Ja the first place, he would give Mr Maginnity credit for a desire to meet the Committee. That gentleman moved that Mr Ladley should prooeed as acting master. That was a concession, it acknowledged there was something in the Committee's objection, an i had that beep adhered to, thera woald have been a possible .way of the difficulty, (Hear, boar.) But the Board's chairman objected to the word • acting,' and it was withdrawn. Thereupon the Committee was forced to take a Btand, and the present meeting was the consequence. (Applause.) The Chairman bad explained what had taken place, and it was very undesirable indeed that the boys should have treated a certain gentleman with derision. It was most un« fortunate, and he greatly regretted the faot, especially as he had found the Nelson children tha most respectful he had. ee.en \a the Colony. The Board was to blame. (Applauss). He bad no pleasure in oausiog pain, and he felt that Mr Ladley's position musi be a very painful one, but nevertheless the aotions of the Committee had been necessitated, They were present there for the purpose of chopping logic, and their meeting would ba even drier than a Prohibition meating. The first question was had they a right to be consulted, Mr Maginnity said no, (800-o-ea.) He wis speaking of what Mr Maginnity oontended at the Board That gentleman told the Board he was not giving them a legal opinion, but what did that mean. Had a solicitor two opinions. (Loud laughter and oheers.) Could a solicitor give, an honaat and dishonest opinion, an opinion for which he was paid and one for which he was not paid. (Laughter.) In Mr Maginnity's case that was out of the question, for they knew and respected him. The meaning of the statement was this — when a solicitor told them ba was no: giving a legal opinion ha was reajly sajjng "I have not looked, carefully io^o the matter," that the opinion was simply that of a general oitizen and not of a lawyer. (Laughter and applause.) The opinion *as therefore praotioally of no more weight than that of the man ia the street. That being so, it was Qoly the opinion of an ordinary oitiaen they had to d.eal with. Mr Maginnity eaid the Committee had no right to ba consulted, and reasoned that the Board had a right to remove without consultation. The Committee contended thas every removal involved an appointment (Cries! "So it does." A Voioa : " No.") He argued that the reason why the word " remo?al " was omitted from the portion of the clause referred to by Mr Maginnity wes that the Board should be enabled to take a teacher from one diattiot even against the wish of the Committee of that district, it being natural that there we uld b 9 objwtioa to Iq^ good n^aij 4 h^uhe

reat of the olause showed that before an appointment could be made the Committee Bffeated must be consulted. Wakefield, for inetanae, could not object to being deprived of the servioes of Mr Ladley, bat it bad to be consulted as to the appointment of a successor. If the contention of the Board was oorreot, it might evade the Act by using the word discharged instead of dismissal when wanting to get rid of a teaoher without consisting a Committee. If Mr Maginnity's reading of the law was correct, the Board oould make any change it ohose by terming it -a removal, and going through the form of making it suob. As to the question whether they had been consulted, Mr Hurstbouae had said that the Committee had been. Well, the Board reoently went to its solicitor for a consultation, but he asked whether it made up its mind how to act before the lawyer was seen. (Cheers.) Certainly they went to consult him with the intention of being guided by his advioe, and so it should have been with the Committee. (Loud applause.) The Board had not put before them one word touching the qualifications of Mr Ladley. It had I simply Baid that it had resolved to appoint him, and it was said this step had been taken with the object of carrying out a system of promotion. What did this system mean? It meant that Nelson was to be an educational reserve for teachers, that no teachers were to come into the district, but the lads and lasses who came up as pupil teachers were to be promoted. But, he asked, did the national system exist for the teachers or the children. (Loud applause.) He held^ that if the teachers were given a fair field and no favor that was all they had a right to ask for. (Hear hear.) Some professions were merely mechanical, but that of education was progressive— why, when he was at school he got as many canings as would serve a dozen now — it was a progressive business (laughter). A man who had been ten years a teacher might therefore be more eligible than one who had served 30. If a local man was as good as an outsider by all means favor the local man, said he, but what thoy had to consider was getting the very best skill they could, whether a man came from John 0' Groat's or Timbuctoo (applause). They had had, however, a peculiar statement from Mr Hursthouse, who said at the Board meeting that the studying of applications and testimonials was a farce— that it had been a farce inviting applications for the post of sub-Inspector. That was a fine thing to tell the children, who read the papers as well as Mr Hursthouse could speak matter to put in them. It was not for ability, but because a man happened to live next door to somebody else that he was chosen. He cared not whether they were Free traders or Protectionists in secular matters, but there was nothing in that Colony that was so important as its national system of education, and if that was to be maintained in its tre position they must have the best men they oould secure for instructing their children.— (Loud cheers). Mr Low said his desire as a member of the Committee was to render an account of his stewardship. His reason in opposing the appointment of Mr Ladley so far was this— that when the householders resolved to establish a Central Sohool they fait it waa necessary to improve, if posaibla, upon their staff. Mr Ladley had asked him to support his application, and he replied that if that gentlemen put in bis application with others, and if all things were equal, he would give him his support in deferenoe to the long time he had baen in the service of the Board. He pointed out this, that if the Boird thought that it had suoh a genuine case why was it not willing to let Mr Ladley send in his testimonials with others, and thus prove that that gentleman is what the Board wished them to believe Lj is. (Applause.) But while the Board forced this gentleman upon the Town Committee the Board was oaref ul to advertise foe applications for a minor position at Haven Road, and also for the Wakefield Sohool. In his opinion, it was more necss-. sary to have done so in respect to the higher and more important position. (Applause). The Committee had been blamed for not having allowed their late head mister to act as Inspector, but he urged it woald hava baen unfair to have taken that gentleman away from his pupils three wesks before the Scholarships Examination. Soma anonymous correspondents hal siid taiCamauttea was a one-man Committee, bat ha ridiculed thia, though, ha said, they work*9i together and Battled their minor differences amicably. Be dil nob (ike to descend to personalities, but he thought it right to tall them what he knew, Mr Maginnity had said he waa inflaeooal by tha Executive officer of the Board, bat if tint officer was to rule there was no neoaaaity for the oountry members to attend at some expanse to the Board. The day before the Board met and appointed Mr Ladley, Me Denoker asked him to support a motion to aivanisa for applications, and he replied that that was what he intended doing, bat Mr Osnoker supported the motion that Mr Lidiey be transferred. Thn*e must have been some reason for this. (Some remarks were made from the audience.) He did no: wiah ta impute anything against Mr Harsthouse, but that gentleman once wooed the electors, and Mr Ladley was Chairman for him, and one good turn deserved another. (A voice : What has that to do with the presenj oasa ? Mr G. Harper protested against the remark.) He asked what certificate Mr Ladley had, and he did so not because he did not know, but in order that it might be macle public In conclusion, no one regretted the present position more than he did, but it frequently happened that out of evil came good, and he believed the present difficulty would be the means of putting Education on a better basis. Mr Hiddow siid that bo far they had heard only one side, and he was anxious that anyone on the other side should have a fair hearing. (Heir, hear.) He denied that the Committee had been consulted, and said that it was bsoau3e they had not baen that the difficulty arose. (Hear, hear.) All things having been equal, it wag very likely Mr Ladley would have got the appointment. Mr Hussthouae, in his usual unthinking manner, spoke first and thought afteiwards, and thus ran his head against a post. That gentleman said the Committee was consulted, but he (Mr Haddow) denied that. He related the f aota, and said had it not been for the Committee conferring with the Board it was likely the Central Sohool Bite seleoted woald have been as unsuitable as that of Toi Toi valley and Haven road. Mr Maginnity had dispensed aheap law on the subject, bat like some other cheap artioles, it was not of much value. (Laughter ) That gentleman urged the adoption of a tyranioal resolution, but had the Board dared to act upon it? They knew better. He spoke of the Board as it was constituted a few yeara back, and said if Bishop Suter had still been its ohairman suoh a difficulty as this would never have arisen. (Oontiued applause.) The Committee had been insulted by its be'ng stated in the evening paper that it was a one-man-Committee, though on this question they were united as one man. The Board had flounderei from bad to worse, bat the Committee had staok to Us position. (Hear, hear.) There were many institutions in a free country that outlived their usefulness, and he thought the Eduoation Board had outlived its usefulness He spoke in complimentary tern\s of tha Chairman of the Qjmmitee and stated what had been written about Mr Graham was untrue. He concluded by Baying that the conduct of the Board was contrary to the spirit of the. age, and expressing his belief that the householders woald not submit to it. (Loud applause.) The Chairtßan said they v really wanted to know if they had the confidence of the householders. (Cries: Yes.) Unless the people jaalously guarded their rights and privileges, they we to gradually denuded of these till no h:ng was left. The Committee had no p^sonal motives, bu.t as representatives oi she houßghqldera it was their bounden duty to see that they got the very best services possible, (Hear, hear.)

Mr Maginniiy said he appeared not aa a member of the Board but ac a householder but he might have to refer to Ms actions aa a member of the Board, and he thought the* would then see that his actions had been con" siatent, and that he had had no idea of depriving' the householders of their proper rights. (Hear, hear.) He complained thai the Chairman of the Committee bad oast an muendo upon him, and he regretted to say that gentleman bad noi takeo the opportunity of putting him right. It was injpUed that he received paymens for attending the meetings of the Board, but be had not raoeived a penny. the Central Sohool Bite, .but ft 3 far as he was aware then was no ictention to aoee t another bi^ (4 voice: Oh. Mr Hftddow. You were not at that meeting,) Perhaps it was ajj w# i» wa.a s<«, Be. $m «^a

explanation o! the events that had led np to the present position, explaining that Mr Lad • ley was seleoted by the Board ia aomplianoe with its resolution to adopt a system by which its offioers would ba promoted. He held that this system was of the utmost importance, aa calculated to make the service attractive to officers of every grade. The whole thing was a storm in a teipofc. The question was not whether the action of the Board was just ot unjust. (Cries: Ye 3.) He said the olimax the Board arrived at was not a question of justice or injustice to the householders,— (A voice: Yes -your law is bad)— or whether his law was bad or not. He was not the legal adWser to the Board, and he thanked the Bey Mr Mackenzie for his fair explanation. Hit effort had been to bridge over a difficulty. The final resolution of the Board had bean spoken of as a threat, bat it was no such, thing. He grieved that tha schools were closed, and thier children deprived of education - (Cries : Oh !) -and he trie! to overcome the difficulty. He read his propjsals at the Board meeting, and said they wanted the law — (A voice: No, we want justice I)— and till thay got a ruling they would not ba able to work harmoniously. He had nothing to hide, and anyone present was welcome to his seat, but what he did want was to aot rightly according to the best of his abilities, and after all that was the index for both bodies. There was no intention to break opt-n the sohool, and be said the Oommittea tried to ooerce the Board. (No.) He read the Act, and contended that his reading waa the oorreot one— (a voice; It's very thin). He siid, let the two bodies work harmoniously together— (a voics: Why don't you?)— and he hoped that meeting would hasten the hour when the administration of the Act would be put on a more satisfactory basis. (Applause.) Mr P. Oooke said no member of the Oom~> mHtee implied by word or deed that Me Maginnity ,was paid; for they knew who re* oeived the money. Dm Maginnity had been touched simply because he had bean chaffed by some of his friends. Mr Stewart Eaid in reading the reports it appeared to him that Mr Fraaklyn had inadvertently explained the foundation of tha Whole position. The Board, through the aivice of its Exeoutiva Officer, wished to translate Mr Ladley to the highest position in its gift ; and they de aired to do it quietly— for this reason, that if they advertised in the usual way there was great probability that a better man would apply. (Applause ) Me Maginnity expressed grief, and said he would do all in his power to assißt them out of the difficulty, but what did he do. He moved a resolution that might have been satisfactory, but then he allowad tha only word that was of real value- " aoting "—to be expunged. (Loud applause.) Mr Graham then replied at some length to Mr Maginnity, in the course of which ha pointed out that he made ns imputation against Mr Maginnity, and gave some particulars as to the payments made to members of the Board for travelling allowances, stating that for two meetings Mr Tarrant drew £7, Mr Hursthouse £7 odd, Mr Phillips £9 odd, and Mr Sinclair £8. As to the law on the question of a consultation he claimed no speoial power, but said common sense enabled him to read Mr Justice Williams' decision, which he did. He urged that the reference at the Board meeting to a janitor and duplicate key Bhowed the Board intended ta forcibly enter the School. The Board had acted hastily, but with the support of the householders the Committee would uphold their position. (Applause.) Mr Maginnity spoke in explanation, Dr Mackie said, after the lucid explanations given by the Committee it was not necessary for him at that hour to speak as he had intended doing. He would move "That this meating hereby express its cordial approval of the s:aps taken by our Sohool Committee to resist the arbitrary aotions of the Education Board, and its at* tempt to igoore the right of our Committee to a voioe in the selection of a teaoher for the important appointment of head master to Bridge Street Sohool. Thi3 maeting hopaa chat tha .Committee will take such further: aotioa as may be neoeaaary to vindicate its right to a determining yoioe and influence, in all such appointments in thi3 school diafcriot." —.(Applause)— and he spoke briefly iti3un« port of that resolution. ' Mr Pefctit seconded the motion. The motion was put to the meeting and" carried, a forest of hands bemg heli up ia its favor, and only two against. Mr Webster then moved— " That in the opinion of this meeting the time has arrived when Education Boarda should be abolished aa being an ancumbranoa and obstruction to Bduoation, and an unnecessary cost to the State ; that tha work performed by the present Boards could be aa well done by the Town Committees and County Gouaoils, and that Inspectors should be under the oontrol of the Bduoational Department, a^nd that oirouits should ba so, arranged that no Inspector shall inspaot the same diatrht more than two years in succession ; and that a copy of thia resolution ba forwarded to the members for the district asking them ta press for legislation for the proposed change thi3 seasion, an! to tha Minister of Education." Three or four householders rose simultaneously and seconded tho motion, which was put and carried without dissent. A vota of thanks was accorded the Chairman, ani oheer3 having bean given for tha Chairman and the Cjmmit&ee, the meeting dispersad shortly after half-pan ten.