GEORGE GEORGE AGAIN.

Observer, Volume XXVII, Issue 38, 8 June 1907, Page 2

GEORGE GEORGE AGAIN.

An Inaccurate Teacher of Accuracy

FOR a gentleman charged with the direction of technical institutions, which above all others should be sticklers for accuracy, George George is afflicted with an unfortunate failing. He is not too accurate in his recolllection of his dealings with other people. We saw this a few weeks ago, in his attempt to wrest from its original meaning the special arrangement as to hours of duty which he made verbally with Miss Sutherland-Smith, teacher of cookery and laundry-work, when he transferred her from the Thames to Newton. In that .instance, George George's inaccuracies as to statements and agreements were convincingly exposed by Mr Northcroft, S. M. , and the editor of the Star, and George George was left with little to say by way of rejoinder. And now there is a new trouble — it has been called a misunderstanding — at Whangarei.

VVhangarei is proud in the possession of a technical school. In its curriculum of two years ago a conspicuous item was instruction in the art of typewriting. However, the typewriting classes did nob last very long, and the present trouble arises on the question whether the local committee or the Education Board has to foot the bill that was incurred for the purchase of typewriters. The supplying company looks to the school committee of 1905 for payment. The committee, on the other hand, has been advised that the Board is the responsible body, inasmuch as it received the students' fees and paid the teachers' salaries. Seeing, also, that since the discontinuance of the classes the Board has taken possession of the machines, it is not very clear with what consistency it can dispute its liability. Nevertheless, the question was deemed worthy of a formal inquiry by the Secretary of the Board at Whangarei last week, and here it was that George George's little idiosyncracies came into prominence.

Apparently, a great deal hinged upon the question whether the local committee controlled the school on behalf of the district, or merely as representative of the Board. Under this heading the committee scored heavily, for it produced a letter under Mr George's own hand, showing that it was simply acting on behalf of the Board. From the opening of the inquiry it became evident that the very commencement of the friction between Mr George and Whangarei arose from a difference of interpretation as to the amount which Mr George had asked as a local contribution prior to the establishment of the ■school. Local authorities aver that all that Mr George bargained for at a preliminary public meeting was £100. Mr George's version of the matter is that he asked for £200— though even this did not prevent him from afterwards raising

bhe bid to £250. When several witnesses contradicted this statement at bhe inquiry, Mr George does not seem bo have been able to confute them. But surely, if the records of technical education were kept as they should be, such a matter would not; depend upon the personal recollection of either George George or Whangarei educationalists.

Another bowl-out to George George was concerned with the contents of the prospectus That prospectus specified typewriting as one of the subjects of instruction. Mr George declared that lie had never seea the document until after i t was printed. Then up-rose Headmaster MoKenzie, and stated that Mr George had not only seen the manuscript, but had even amended it, and attached his signature. Moreover, there was a letter from himself referring to the prospectus, that could be produced. Cornared in this pitiable fashion, Mr George admitted that he liad baen mistaken. On a matter that bore so materially upon the question of responsibility, there certainly ought to have been no room for mistake or misinterpretation

However, this does not exhaust the list of George Georgisms exposed by the inquiry. Mr George had given offence to certain people at Whanprarei by alluding to Headmaster McKenzie as the " self-styled superintendent "of the school. On this point lie was so conscious of his superior virtue that he appealed to all who had been present to support his own statement that the expression he had used was "superintendent by courcesy." The distinction is not very material. In any case, the words were offensive. Unhappily for Mr George, every witness to whom he appealed testified against him. There was, by the way, a letter extant, from Mr George himself, authorising Mr McKenzie's appointment as superintendent. The whole exhibition will be instructive to people of other districts that may be launching out into technical instruction. Clearly, Mr George George is a gentleman with such a memory that the smallest details of a negotiation are best conducted in writing.