NEW INSPECTOR

Taranaki Daily News, 11 April 1935, Page 7

NEW INSPECTOR

WELCOME BY EGMONT TEACHERS.

INNOVATIONS SUGGESTED.

There was a gathering of over 40 members of the Egmont branch of the New [Zealand Educational Institute and their wives at the Opunake school on Monday to meet the new senior inspector, Mr. C. N. Haslam.

The president of the branch, Mr. J. T. Linehan, introduced Mr. Haslam and extended to him a hearty welcome to Taranaki and to the Opunake district in particular. He hoped that during Mr. Haslam’s term of office there would be hearty co-operation between the inspectors and the teachers for the advancement of education in Taranaki.

Mr. Haslam in reply thanked the president and members of the branch for their cordial welcome and for the opportunity of meeting them in such a pleasing and informal manner. He hoped they would have many opportunities in the near future of meeting and discussing round the table various phases of their profession. Having had many years’ service and experiences as a teacher he knew very well the difficulties that a teacher had to overcome and it was his hope that he would be able to assist in overcoming some of those difficulties, to the advantage of the teachers and of the children under their charge. He was anxious to arrange that teachers in isolated schools should have opportunities of seeing something of the work of other teachers, so that they could set a good standard in their own little schools. With this object in view he was hoping that the teachers of the better schools and the better classes would be willing to have observers at various times. He was sure that nothing but good would result from a free exchange of ideas and methods of work among the teachers, and he hoped that those teachers who had ideas, and who had been successful in certain phases of their work would assist others in this way. The gathering joined in community singing under the baton of Mr. Harre, with Miss Carmichael as pianist. This was followed by a play-reading of “The Bishop’s Candlesticks,” the parts of which were splendidly interpreted by the following: Mr. M. S. Quigley (Monseigneur the Bishop), Miss P. M. Street (Personae, the Bishop’s sister), Miss M. McLellan (Marie, the maid), Mr. J. T. Linehan (the convict), Mr. R. Pickett (sergeant of gendarmes) and Messrs. Harre, Dormer and Kedgley (gendarmes). Three items were given by the Misses Hickey, Mangahume, with Mrs. Henderson accompanying at the piano. Supper was served under the direction of Misses Abraham and J. Bailey.