DUNEDIN NOTES.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1815, 25 July 1891, Page 3

DUNEDIN NOTES.

(From our own Correspondent.)

The members of the Otago Education Board are determined to do all they can to bring themselves into the worst possible repute with the public. But as they have already succeeded in accomplishing this feat, perhaps I would be more correct in saying that they arc trying to discover how far they could go in showing their contempt for public opinion. I have already informed you of their harshness to the teachers in cutting into their bonuses, and of the additions made to the salaries of the Board's officers in such a manner as denoted an intention to conceal their action from the cognisance of thepublic. The clandestine manner in which they carried out this last proceeding clearly indicates that they were conscious of doing something that was inconsistent, and that contradicted the pretended zeal for economy that dictated their previous action in connection with the teachers bonuses. But in criticising the conduct of the Education Board, one must always remember that Mr P. J. Pryde has got the bit in their mouth, and can lead or drive them in whatever direction his own interests demand. The last piece of procedure of the Board is eveu of a more flagrant character than those just referred to. In the most recent instance, not only have they- acted arbitrarily but they have actually trampled under foot one of the most important provisions laid down in the Education Act in connection with the appointment of teachers.

Those of your readers who concern themselves with the proceedings of this dignified body will have noticed that at their last meeting Wm. Thompson, second assistant, Albany-street, school, was appointed first assistant, Jas. Garrow being appointed to the position from which the former was promoted. Of Mr Thompson's appointment nothing need be said ; but in the appointment of the other gentleman a deliberate injustice was done to another teacher, and a breach of the Act committed in addition. The first assistantship was duly advertised as the Act 'directs, and after the appointment being made, Mr Garrow, one of the unsuccessful applicants, was there and then, without any further formality, appointed second assistant in Mr Thompson's place. Now the Act plainly states that no recommendation to the Board concerning the appointment of a teacher is legal unless every member of the school committee interested in the appointment has received notice of the matter three days before the meeting. There was no attempt at complying with this regulation ; and, therefore, the Board's action was manifestly illegal. It should be stated, in order to show the motive, apparently, that influenced . the proceeding, that Mr Matthews, the fourth assistant in the school, would have been very strongly recommended for the second assistantship; but as that gentleman gave great offence to Mr Pryde not long since by giving one of the young Prydes a birching, and thus bringing down on himself a hostile visit from the enraged parent, his chances were nullified by making the appointment at once. It is a pitiful state of affairs to see the members of an important public body led by the nose by their official in this manner. But the moral of it all is that teachers eager for promotion would do well to cultivate the friendship of the Board's Secretary. But what a commentary is not this on the members of the Board. !

I had the pleasure the other evening of listening to an address from the Rev. L. M. Isitt, whose name is so prominently indentified with the Sydenham temperance victory. Besides being a prominent temperance reformer, Mr Isitt is also a splendid platform orator, and to that and to his unique powers of organisation is no doubt due much of the success he has achieved not only at Sydenham but throughout the colony. His brother, who is an intense admirer of Mr Gladstone, and, like most of the dissenting clergy, to use an Old World expression, a man of the broadest and most liberal opinions on all questions, delivered a lecture here a year or more ago on tbe great statesman whose name I have just mentioned, and he proved himself to be an orator of the first -water, The rev, gentleman, who has been just amongst us, has not possibly in so large a measure the great natural gifts as a speaker of his brother. As a debater the latter is about the readiest and most .resourceful man I have seen either among clerics or politicians. His readiness to grasp a subject and, as it were, to dive down into the heart of it is extraordinary, and he has the, power of thinking on his feet— a gift, for, such it is, rare among speakers. The Rev. L. M. Isitt on Tuesday evening painted with the hand of a master, and an enthusiast to boot, the crimes and the domestic miseries for whicV the drink traffic is responsible—of foul deeds done

and misery endured in the homes of drunkards in the large towns in the colonies. He also told some interesting stories showing the power of the liquor ring in the colony. I fancy I have myself in that connection already told your readers how the publicans worked the oracle in keeping Inspector Pardy out of Dunedin. But it is worth giving again as Mr Isitt told it. " Somewhere between 18 months and three years ago the gentleman who was in charge of the police at New Plymouth was appointed by the then Government to be head of the police at Dunedin, and a telegram went from the Dunedin liquor '* ring ' to some of the leading representatives of the trade in New Plymouth inquiring what sort of a gentleman he was in regard to his feelings towards tho liquor trade. The answer was not satisfactory, the political wires were pulled, some of the members of Parliament exerted their influence, and at the bidding of the liquor ring the Government of the country, after appointing this man to be inspector of police, recalled the appointment, as he would not suit the liquor traffic, and another man was appointed." He also furnished other instances in which members of the force had been snubbed for their zeal in performing their duty. The lecture was altogether a most interesting one, full of pathos, eloquence, and humour, and must have its effect in promoting the crusade against the traffic in this city.

One of the most amusing incidents of the week is the trapping competition between our two evening papers. The editor of the "Star" appears to have been annoyed for some time at the wholesale manner in which the " Globe " have been pirating news from the country editions of the "Star" and working it off in their town editions. Things, I understand, have lately become that bad that the " Star" people, losing all patience, determined to put a stop to the business once and for all by making a public example. The editor of the " Star" accordingly arranged a ! cunningly-baited trap last week, and, just as everybody expected, the pilferers walked straight into it and got securely hooked, as all literary vermin deserve to be. The bait selected was a tempting " par." from the Star's Wellington correspondent in reference to an interview between Mr Gourley and Mr Seddon on the subject of the St. Clair breakwater, and so dressed and marked it that eveu though the rats got away with it, and gnawed and tore it about, as is their custom, still it could be unfailingly identified. The subject of the St. Clair ! sandhills is one in which the " Globe " pretends to take some interest, and ' there was, therefore, no great surprise when the paragraph appeared, almost without change or alteration of any kind in the columns of their town edition. The " Star," having caught the larcenist red-handed, very properly charged him with the theft, and to prove its allegations placed the paragraph as it appeared in its own columns, and afterwards, very slightly transformed, after the rats had made off with it, in the columns of the " Globe." A blind man could almost see the similarity. This was all very amusing, no doubt — for the trappers ; but the shrieks of the trapped were heartrending almost to listen to, though the tricks resorted to to get away were amusing. The moment the " Globe" man recovered from his consternation, he appears to have run to his back files with the object of proving — not that he wasn't guilty of the larceny alleged against him — but that his accusers had been guilty of the same offence on repeated occasions. He went to the trouble of reproducing a number of " Star " reports side by side with his own on the same subjects in order to prove that his accusers were just as bad as he was himself. Now, nobody who understands the feelings of the editor of the " Globe " towards the " Star" will give this the slightest credence. Had he possessed a particle of proof at anytime to establish the charges he now makes, he would not deliberate a moment in giving them to the public in their most exaggerated and sensational . form. It is rather late in the day now to re tor b in this manner; and galling though the exposure is, it would have been much better to have borne it quietly. The Melbourne " Age" trapped) J the "'Evening Herald" of that city in the same complete manner some twelve or eighteen months ago. The ' ' Herald " had been pirating the " Age's " Home cables wholesale, when one day a bogus cable was fixed up in the "Age" office and one copy printed in which it was inserted and left as an exchange at the " Herald " office. All the other copies of the paper appeared without the "bogus" cable. It was . a sensational cable, and, the moment the "Herald" editor's .eye lighted on it, he had it out, and just giving it a practised twist or two in it went into the " Herald." The exposure j was just as complete as it has been in the case of the " Globe," though the evidence was not a whit stronger. What makes the offence the greater in the present instance is that the editor of the " Globe," while daily accusing his contemporary of everyimaginable treachery, was himself" engaged in unlawfully profiting by the industry and enterprise of those connected with it. But as the editor of the " Globe " professes himself to be a Sooialist, it may be that in appropriating the property of his neighbour he was merely giving practical effect to his opinions.

Mr J. M, Ritchie, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, delivered himself of some very sensible remarks at the annual meeting of that body a few days ago. Mr Ritchie is a shrewd, practical man,and the nature and extent of his commercial pursuits give him opportunities for observation and thought which he is not slow to take advantage of. He understands both sides of the industrial question ; aud when he says that the late strike has inflicted injury on both capital and labour few will be found tq differ from him, Of course the injury toihe workingmen has been of a more material kind, and more visible to the public eye than that which the capitalists aud employers have had to bear. But the latter have been heavily hit, and they feel it too, Aud if they have shown any desire to be aggressive or renew the fight, it is only because they have been rendered desperate by loss, and also because they feel the other side still cherish designs of renewing hostilities when the occasion suits. The strike, Mr Ritchie states, not only cost huge sums of money, but it has also dried up the springs of enterprise, and the people are still so full of the fear of another outbreak that they have buttoned up their pockets and refuse to take part in what should be the natural develop* ment; o.f the colony and. its resouroes. Mr Ritchie does not believe in the Legis-

lature attempting to interfere in stopping the fight, or in passing any legislation to prevent conflicts in future. In this I don't hold with him, and I fear the opinion is very much the outcome of a belief, now very prevalent in capitalistic circles, that if they are left to fight it out between them the workingman must in the end go dawn. Well, that may be ; but before he goes finally down, and has the requiem sung over him, there will nob be very many of the class left to which Mr Ritchie belongs. For the general good, therefore, it is bettor than the Legislature should intervene before the worst comes. Mr Ritchie has the manliness to condemn the project of completing the Otago Central with borrowed money, and hopes the Government will stand, firm and resist the pressure of the agitation. On this point I am in thorough accord with Mr Ritchie, and have from the outset advocated the same course.