S.C. BOARD OF EDUCATION.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1488, 3 April 1886, Page 4

S.C. BOARD OF EDUCATION.

A meeting of the S.C. Board of Education took placa on Thursday last. Pre-sent--Mr Samuel W. Goldsmith (Chairman), the Revs. Geo. Barclay an't T. Jasper Smytbe, Or Foster, and Mcsirs J. Talbot, JR. A. Barker, and J. Jackson. The Secretary (Major Bamfield) was present. In his epening statement the Chairman reported that dimrij, Meredith had been ' appointed to the Kakaku Bush School, and Mr A.'MoLean' to the Orari Bridge School. Regarding the nomination of a succsssoi to Mr Steward as a Member of the Board, some of the Committees had nominated Messrs A. Hayes and E. S. Stericker, but ss one gentleman had declined to stand, and the' other had not given his consent in Writing, the nominations were informal. This only left one other candidate, Mr W. B. HoWel l . He reportec that th? Secretary bad applied for a holiday at Easter, and in granting the request, he .thought the Board might also vste that officer a small bonus.

It was decided to follow the usual course with regard to the election of Mr W. B. Howell, and to grant theSeoretary (Major Bayfield) a bonus of £lO. Mr S. W. Goldsmith was re-elected Chairman, / As there was not a full Board meeting Mr Talbot postponed bririgiag ferward his notice of motion re scholarships till next meeting. The Education Department wrote statins; that the sum of £2452 17s, being the amouDt of grant to Board for the current year on account of school buildings, had been paid to credit; that as the fourth Monday in April fell on Easter Monday, the Board had better fix the annual meeting of .householders to elect Committee to be held on Tuesday, April 27th, arid that as the'Mibiiter 6f Education held strong views on the subject of school libraries, which, in his opinion, were invaluable to pupils, and should be eetablished at all schools if possible, he desired tbe Board to state how many of cbeir schools bad libraries, and to assist all in their power in furthering such an object. The Secretary stated that the Government had not stated whether they would . give grants in aid of such libraries, but he bad been instructed to distribute copies of tbe letter among School Committees and teachers. The Rev. G. Barclay and Mr Talbot spoke in favor of the proposal, and on the motion of Mr Barolay the letter was referred to the Scholarship Committee for consideration, the Rev, Jasper Smythe's name being added ♦herfto. The Architects reported that the Fairlie Greek School buildings had been completed in a very satisfactory manner, and that they forwarded plans and tenders for additions and new buildings at WinPleasant Point, Rangitata and Pleasant Valley. The tenders were, as follow:. ; For mastei's house at Winchester—-Mr Henderson, £236 4« ; Messrs Corner and Lar. combe, £206 ; Messrs Clinch and Lloyd, £2lO lis ; Mr W. Young, £2lO 10s; Mr Gason, £196 17s; Mr Foden, £194 (accepted); Mr Wood, £193 15s. For " matter's bouse at Pleasant Point—Mr Henderson, £238 4s ; Messrs McKay and Thompson, £207 ; Mr Dossett, £22l'; Mr Wood, £l9B 10*; Mr' Foden, £194 For new school st Kang'tftta' —Mt Henderson, £17795; Messrs McKay and Thompsdn", £175 lOi; Mr Gason, £l6B 18s ; Mr McClmtcck, £146 12s .(accepted), For repairs, to Peasant 'Valley School—Mr Prouting, £54 10s; Messrs Clinch and Lloyd, £55 ; Mr Foden, (accepted). ■ ' Tenders for painting were considered too high. The Architects forwarded plans for masters' houses, and it was decided to refer them to the Building Committee. Several members considered- them too costly, and Mr Talbot suggested, and Mr Smythe agreed with him, that Committees should be asked to give grants in aid of masters' houses. The Inspector in bis special report stated he had lately examined the candifor scholarship extensions, and had presented the report to the Scholarship Committee, During the month the result of the last examination of teachers had come to hand. The South Canier-

bury catididnltß had not been very ancrettiful, but failures had, the Inspector believed, a!go been taore numerous than heretofore in other du-tricts. Of the can- ' didatea in tbe Board's service Messrs Hamilton and Minzieß had completed their examination for Olhss E ; Mr Erskioe had had paitial i«ucc> ps fur the same class, and Messrs Auld, Browne, and McNaught paitial success for Class D. The Inspector's annual report having been reacj, the Chairman's report was dealt with. From it we make tbe following extracts:— •• School Diatri t«.—The last • report of the Board allowed that there were in operation on tha December, 1884, . forty-five ichools. Only one" additional school han been opened during the year—t'lo Upper Waitohi Flat School',' tbe new district being formed by : the union of •ortions of the ezitti-1 Kakabu Bush and Waitobi Flat districts. The south-eastern

ptrtion of the last-named district has also

been constituted a new school district District, and school buildings are now in course of erection there. Another distiict hat beeu formed at the Kangitata •Station, Aa area of forty acres has been obtained as a school site, and tenders are about to be called ifMtth'e-erection of a school building. A petition for the proclamation of a naw school district and the erection •f a schobloMlie agricultural settlement between the' Seariew and Parenra Schools haa been declined for the present, and on* of a somewhat similar character frorn the inhabitanWdr^oWa-'Valley, 1 Beyond Pleasant Point, is still under eoßiidera"Attendance. -The'46 schools under' tha control of the Board and in operatioa at the end of the year, are classified in reapect of attendance as follows :—Under 2b pupils ifll average attendance,, ii; between 25 and 50,17; between 50'"and 100, 8; between 100 and 300, 5; between 3W and 500,1 j between 500 and ,1000, 1; total, 46. -The number of scholars attending aliowa a still further increase on the returns for previous years, the roll

number at the end of the year being ' 4203 as against 4067 at the end of 1884— an increase of 136, and the average attendance of 3340 as against 3220 for 1884 an increase of 120. The

ratio of average attendance to roll number also shows continuous improvement, being a little over 79 per cent for 1885, tiR against 78.8 per cent for 1884, and 77.6 per cent for 1883. The compulsory clause* of the Act hare been put in force with apparently satisfactory results in a few cf the larger centres, but they still remain inoperative for reasons not peculiar to this district in the case of the vast majority of country,schools. In the earlier part of the-year the average attendance was by the prevalariceof diptheria,'from the effects of which at least one school has not yet recovered.

" Buildings. During the year the building operations have been far too limited considering the urgency of the requirements. It is much to be regretted that the funds annually placed at the Board's disposal are found to he quite insufficient to enable the Board to undertake works of any magnitude. Masters' residences have been .w.cted ,at Orari Bridge, Geraldine Flat, Kinged own and Mokikihi, and new school houses at Upper Waitohi Flat and Silverstrearo. The Katahu Bush School ha s been enlarged by an addition just doubling its dimensions. The Timaru School has been r#fenced, distempered, and otherwise repaired ; and in numerous cases the incidental funds of the School Committees bare been supplemented by special grant* for planting and repairs. In the month of Jane the Board appointed a Committee of its members to inspect minutely the condition of the bcljojls throughout the district, and much information of great value in deciding on the justice of claims has been obtained from their report. The Rangitira Valley School is now in course of erectioD, and steps have been taken to add a new classroom to the Geraldine School,: and to make an addition of 6,00 feet floor space to the. school at Fair!ie Creek. Other works already authorised or awaiting the consent of a full Board are the erection of a new School at Rangitata Station and schoolmasters' residences at Sutherlands and Rtdcliff, considerable additions to the residences at Winchester and Pleasant Point, where the Board has recently enlarged the school site by the purchase of two quarter-acre sectians, at a cost of £l2O ; the re-roofing and re-flooring of the Orari Bridge School; extensive repairs to the Pleasant Yalley School, and the repainting of some eight or nine, schools, whose cases in the midst of an almost universal want are either most conveniently dealt with first or show tbe most urgent need. These works, with those already under.aken, will exhaust the Board's share of £2452 17s allocated out of the building grant, and payable at the end of the financial year. "Accounts.—The balance-aheet, duly certified by the Provncial Auditor, is iipponded. The building account shows an expenditure of £4804 6s 6d, against receipts £3773 18s lOd, a balance of £IOBO 7s 8d being still owing to the maintenance account. The maintenance account shows a balance at the end of the year of £1589 2s 9d, from which the sum of £1?76 lis 3d must be deducted on account of money received from the School nominpsioners, which will be balanced by that amount less in the monthly capitation grant paid by, the Treesury for salaries in February. , ; '• District High Schools.—The two District High Schools of Wuitnate and Temuka continue to give secondary instruction to pupilf, whose numbers, indeed, are small, but whose attainments to judge by the Inspector's report, will bear fuvorable comparison with the attainments of pupils in other secondary schools which are supposed to occupy n more advant«geous position. The Wnimate High School Board of Governors has generously continued to. contribute towards the cost of maintaining the extra teacher in Waimate and in consequence the syllabus of. work in the secondary subjects taken up in this school exceeds that which it has been found possible to overtake in Temuka. In each school two graduates are now at work, and with the relief in respect of the number of standard pass subjects granted by the ne>r regulations, mors pupils may be expected to avail themselves of the advant»ge plsced within their reach. " Pupil Teachers.—The annual pupil toachers' examination was held in June Wt, and was as usual conducted by the Board's Inspector. The Board entirely sympathises with the wishes expressed in some quarters, to have a common system for pupil teachers throughout the colony, and a common examination. At all events, if a common examination be not found e'ither desirable or practicable, it can seß no obstacle in the way of securing a community of practice in the matters of appointments and promotions, and of adopting some general regulations in regard to the subjects of study and the standards of attainment." .After consideration-of-the advisability of removing the Opihi School to Fraser's Corner, it was resolved on the motion of Mr Barclay—" That no steps be taken at present to the Opihi School, aud thi.t the effoits of the residents inTotam Valley to build a new school be supplemented by a sum of £75, the whole cost not to be less than £l5O, the site to ba furnished by the inhabitants and duly invested in the Board. The accounts of the various Committees (with the exception of that at Albury) duly audited, were laid on the table. Correspondence was read and dealt with. It was decided tq defer the appointment of Mr A. Erskine as second master of the Geraldine School for another quarter; to leave the.request of ths new llangitita School Committee to lease 35 acies of tUe school site for three year* in the hands of the Chairman ; to agree to the request of the Scotaburn Committee re sewing mistress, and to inform them that after the Committee has taken enough of the school site for a p'ay groumd the schoolmaster can use ths balance, but it must not be leased without t\,t Board's, consent; to defer consideration of the Hilton Cominiitee's request for a new, bell, (the Committee , offered to erect a belfry) and for £5 to improve the school grounds ; and to take no further action, re the un- : 'favorable report of the Inspector re the < South Rangit»ta School. The Master Wrote explaining that he only took charge of the School at the beginning of the third quarter, when the children were very backward ; and the, Committee wrote declining to interfere, ni their t : me of office had almost expired. Accounts amounting to about £SO | | vt-ere paps»H for pyment, and the meet- , [ ing terminated.