MAIN SCHOOL TROUBLE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCIV, Issue 14481, 30 June 1911, Page 5

MAIN SCHOOL TROUBLE.

SECULAR, LEAGUE'S COMPLAINTS DISMISSED BY COMMITTEE. KEGHET EXPRESSED EOR PUNISHMENT. Last night the Tiinaru Main School v-Ximmitt/OO dealt with a letter from the Timaru Secular Education IXfelKX' League complaining of theway m which religious instruction wm being given at the Main School. i/iM duet' complaint being that the school assembled at 9 o'olock oa tin? dayn on which religious instruction is given instead of at 9.30. The letter' of complaint has already been published in the "Herald." The chairman (Mr Andrew Wilson) read t/he letter in its entirety and then invited discussion, stating' that he would like to see the' letter fully and freely discussed. Robertson ■ thought that such a subject should be dealt with in committee. < , Mr McCalton was of a similar opinion, but other members considered it better that the matter should be made as public as. possible, and this course was agreed upon. •' CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT. After reading the letter the chairman said the matter was .very easily d s ait .yrtb. , The Board of Education allowed Bible teaching; the Act did not -forbid it; and' th©, school, on the morning that Bible teaching was not assembled When the children who intended to be present at the Bible lessons were wanted in schoohtbey had to be called together in some .way, and they had to march into 'school in some sort, of ordeir. The' beilil was there Sore rung to call them . together, and they marched in, in orderly fashion, but there was no compulsion on those who" did. not want to .'attend Bible lessons to do so j they' could remain, in the school grounds to play, .until 9.SS, or they need not'come on to the grounds until 9.30. Ringing, the., beJl. at 9 o clock for some of the pupils'.'could not be properly' said to b6 assembling the ; school,y He desired to' make' it clear that the school wass not • assembled until 9/30' on the days on w'ludi religious'instruction • wa»< given,. and the cliildren wiho attended tlie Bible lesson did' so of their own free 1 will or at . the wish of their parents. The teachers, had just as much, right ss at/yone else to take part in these Jessons, as that half hour was not a part of the school clay. He said all honour to tbose teachers who did take part in the Bible lessons—(hear hear) —it would be a sorry' day for Ne\t" Zealand when teachers oeased to take an interest in tlje school children outside of scltool. ljoiirs.—(Sear liear.) There ' were some remark ini Goodwin's letter ,to whidh ho took strong objection. These were. as. 1 follows:—. i

'Not only are. the supporters of secnlar education being; treated with a lack of consideration in this matter, but. the manner in which your resolu- - tion has been sidte-stepped, savours of the deepest forqi of contempt of you as governors of education in this district. M ' • • Mr Wilson said this w-is • entirely; without justification; they. liad:'the' highest respect for every member of the Board of Education j aaid he could not help thinking, that if. Mr Goodwin had his letter to write over again, he would' omit tliis paragraph.— ; (fiear, hiear.) MOTION PROPOSED. The Rev. A. Hunt said he had pre'pared a resolution on the . subject as tol'lows:— . in reference to the correspondence of -the . Secular Education League, forwarded for our consideration by the Education Board, we submit the following report as 'tho opinion of this committee: —Summarised, tlio statements resolve themselves into four specific charges as follows: (i) That the present system of Bible lessons is ah identification of the State with religions instruction, and a direct contravention of the New Zealand Education Act.—ln reply we submit that if such were the case •no Education Board or School Committee would have given t'heir sanction to them; and if they had done so erroneously, they woujd have, been corrected by the Educational' Department. On tlie other hand, not only have several Education Board's and a large number of School Committees sanctioned .the svstera, but the highest authorities in the Dominion, notably the Hon. C. C. Bowen (who framed the Act of 1877), Sir Robert Stout, Judge Cooper (in his decision in the Wangahui appeal J£se), and the present Minister of education. the Hon. Geo. Fowlds, ftare all endorsed, the legality of the action. *

f2) That tlie headmaster's letter to ■Barents, and the assistance of members of tho staff at t!ie BibV dessons, a violation of the neutrality of tho S*nfe school system.—Hie letter of the jteadmaster, a copv of which appears 'in the correspondence, was merely sent to aswrtain the wishes of the parents in question with regard to their children, and was in no sense mandatory. Seeing that these classes are held outside the school hours of that particular day, we submit that there is nothing in the Act to forbid the headmaster or any member of tho staff from taking such action, or from rendering any assistance to the ministers. providing always that such attendance and assistance are purely voluntary.

3- That the assembling cf the children by members of the staff nt 9 a.m. is an infringement of tho resolution of tlie Board.—Wo respectfnlJv submit 1 hafc fc . t ,o : r~-?r hrity in innmbers nf the staff assembling tlie children for Bible lessons given mtp"'h' s-bro l fhnp -r-onld hj« in assembling them for a Punch and Judy show, a garden party, a magic h»ntern entertainment, or n Coronation procession, and any attempt to forbid them would be, in our opinion, ultra vires.

C 4) That the Ministers* Association and staff have utterly ignor<*2 the resolution nf the Board. and treated the Board in f a manner savouring of the deepest .contempt.—ln our opinion this charge is utterly without fotmdation.

Tn Te<rard to the formulated requests r/ the deputation, we are of opinion that the first has already been done; the second and third are, in our opinion, ultra virps." REV. A. HUNT'S REMARKS.

Continuing, Mr Hunt su.d thai as a. member of the Slinieters' Apseciatiou citizens, most anxious to obey the law no i'lmngernent of any solution or regulation. "ihav were 1" w-abichng citizens, most anxious to obey the law of "ie land, and tlie resolution of the Education .hoard in reference to ihj;» matter. Tho Ministers' Association would never have taken stejte to hold these Bible lessons had tli .y felt they would be iut'rin<_.tng any Act or regul;.-

tioii. A great deal hud boon made, in the letter of complaint coprCTninjj -» paragraph which had appenrud in the paper*. That paragraph ? as written by him; and ho sunpl'ed it to the no\v«-:pap;rs, md h<- took the full responsibility for m. It or>uoorn<<l th-a exempted pupiU. ;utrl if. was drawn up to meet tli9 wishes of pnr<*jiL> who felt that the r children w»-ro h--"n«» deprived of h:.lf :M1 h«.ur'« si-e: ration owiim to th<« »,f f !;,• BiM<> losso-is. In order that no parent* <<>uiu feel oliat they were losing cnytiling he

askod tJio .masters if they would be. willing tu Ijol<l an oxuuipliun cliis.f. rmrl tiiey mtsmfiod tUc.,- willji E u.-ss to do so. But tlio MmisUrs' Associi:,;on aiterivuids IwiriLcd timt tlie Act would not pornnt tU;a to I;<j donje, tnd it was iioiwidoned, not buoause of any action of tha Secular Education Dofiiico League, or rotnarlia at tlio liouseboldei's nwietmg, but bocauso no regular cluas could, by law, be held before 9.30 on u,o days on which instruction mis mven. Tlio Boaid of Education deoiocd that tbo ordinary ocliooi -HorJc slicmld btcin at 9.33 on these <liivk, and as rolicious inetraction was g.vcti between 3 and 9.30 it wa™, ouUidu of school hours. That bcin" «o nff eould not nnderstn.id liow the Socu'ir Education Defoico League could bring forward such a document m this and cnorgj the committee with contravening a rc-Bnlution of tho Ednoation Board Wl ctover took place dura'f ' 10u " bad nothing to do mth the committee or the Board (Hoar hear.) Here tlio J>aguo liad made a fundamental mista.ee. It had ako made a mistake in supposing thai the 1-..solution 0 f the Board was a oontrajention of the Act. He could not tikB r +V t w did not , | tlie trouble to look up the A'ct l>efore making such charts l or set 1..ral advice upon the matter. He was i er sur l' riM<J tbat the 80/.rjl shon d Iravo forwarded this Jetter of oomplmnt to the spltriof commrttee, a s the Board. ™ "that ■ir!? 1) H enfc J 0 deal 't seein K sohoo 1,1?; I' Wlt l' outside the t * C( ? uld uot "n----dej *tana the League sett:ng ut> their Tiff h i gll as that referrecTto m tho motion he lad proposed. In 190S there wore no less than 174 of these Bible classes Ixire ' >e! " ct an increase of 64 w""^b^ ar f , TJi r thit; K,™ ber school committees nmst ind * f ,' , n ]»™:«2ion for thoße lessons, aspect TW™ tho Te * al aspect. Xhere was absohrtelv notliinrr part of TtM mZr Commifoee. Mr McCahon seconded the motion and said he agreed with every'word in

'•mDI.VG BEHIND THE ACT." ivlr G. J. Wallace said that ' thev untn qqn +r , 001 WM not to open until J.dO on.the days for rolicious iti-semwlT-to^ UalJ y Si Zaembjed at 9 in the ordinary wav Thov were hiding behind the -Aotf * .•.\lr Jiuut said no; only a> T>zurt of fhr school assembled at. 9. P ' ot tJjc rane f at il 9 la tL Sai vi? at bell niSrt go ii,. Ch ldrea they Mr Huiit gaid the faot remained that %m d ° % S O6 said tiiat at one school Hidriri*' S^eod S, V<l that if a child rl m i Soho^ 1 whon tbe bell on .days when the Bible lessons l ii," K'ven it would be dealt with school d£l^ n that the Biwe ii d o„ n iyr embloat 9 tW ~i£ r Z°? el ? r ; Jield that tha half

Ijour from 9 on Bible ' nevtW a tl»P ° f da y«. that tlry n al !i I 1 0 " 1" "T Wue were tli'p e ' n S <lono i>-as against' tie "spirit" of the.Aot \Vlio !>Td the ASf spirit of tlie Aot. Tlie Education Board had Kiven permission for religions SstnS aSt a +,i tb^-. silo t U y lin « w «"?ethS,« ? sp i Lrlt! ot t,le Act; the oomPTrtrr 01 i V <o a J i ttle ab «»t it. T s . C said: Tlie sohool buildings may be iwcd on days other than those used for purposes, upon such terms as the rnittee mav prescribe." Jf tlierpfnrw' chose to aIW fc of » f°' asse s lb,e the school lad , I T°" dliys ' no one ? 'Th be C l° =ne i ° S B ri'li 6 shall be entirely of a wciilar nature," . This was more than fully complied with and as thev bent open four hours per dav for secular ™v+ ? n *i c °mpl.vint;.with the' .nint.of t.ie Act. And there'was notnrI K , allowing Scrinns wn^l«" S 1° U S ' de m of scl,o< ' l 1,0 "« H 0 °" e ' Thev Ji-id-not nonorii,r^ -tbe letter

AT : t R ACriONS. nr>rf r,f a ti C e S J? O,CS in sup■on +fc» motion, _ and commented b 7 Mr (LXtn-l 2ot h hSyKSL" nil vbiA Bhould Mr Voßjler said that Mr Goodwin wrHti 1 ' 3 ' i tie ciar e e ™ a letter wntten to the jumpers. Mr Robertson asted whether Mr had not himself violated the "i "Tf " 1, a °y invitation, he wnlked into the room when Scripture Jessoa were teng given and drew tho attention of the class from their leaf°7- • lumse| f- .He was surely lacking JI) courtesy to say the'.least wiwn he did this.

The chairman said that Mr Goodwin was no doubt anxious to hear what \ 'JcuiW tiHiirl.it, but 3i)p 'had! no iiKlit to enter the room without permission. lor the time being the school was ui charge of the Ministers' Association.

Mr Vogeler said that Mr -Goodwin !ia<l iViide ample apology in his letter tor this.

McCahon said the apology should have been sent to the committee

T»-t{ r Burmester said he approved of ' JJible reading in the school's, but he thought it should 1 b© taken between 3 and 4 o dock in the afternoon in- i i<} . inora inp when the : rhilqr-r»n had their liome lessons fresh m their memory. Tho.se who did not -tush to stay in the afternoon , ecmd hr> <vi.«i?y dismissed. Mr Wallace said that this matter hnd created a lot of ill feeling and would' be more yet. Mr Stead said thev must not lot that stand in the way of doing the rin'ht t-biiur. It hnd Wen decided to alrow religions instruction, and it should he niven a fair trial before being condemned. i THE MOTION POT. |

Tlie motion was "then put and carried unanimously, Mr Wallace stating that he had no objection to it so long as parents and children were yiren to understand that on Bible lesson days the school does not assemble until 9.30.

The chairman added in conclusion tlit parents of children attending the school, could rest n«sured that the interests of all would he equally looked after; no section would ba catered t >r at the expense of another. (Hear, hear.) Th.« headmaster, i-n pp'dv to a a»"*i - iiil th*U ho would forward his r^n 1 ;.- t i the Hoard in a separate letMi? CASK Ti 'f Mr r-' TT. Refers .-hilrT ho \\:is for not attend'nfj Bible lesson©, was next dealt with in

committee, as oomplaints ngaijwt tearmcra .are alwaya dealt -\dt'h. Jhe huding ni the coni'njttec it. embrxliod in the following motion which, was earned unanimously:—*- , ye ipcpresß our deep regret to Mr U. H Besley oil tlie punishment ivi i , C J 0r nou-utUuHlunce ufc iiible lessons; and inforin him t'hnt any such punishmejifc is unautliorißed and utterly opposed to the willies of the eommitteo and headmaster " . Jtov- Mr Hunt stated that the ilinjsters A«jocaatiori were opjKwed t<t the by the toacjierfi. of any chiJd.for faxlmg to attend Bible lesRons. Such punishment should be administered by parents and not by teachers. , J , The chairman said be.did: not think it right on the part of the papers• to have published this complaint of Mir Jlesley H before ft tsd retched the committee.