TEACHERS' INSTITUTE

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXV, Issue 10713, 30 August 1915, Page 4

TEACHERS' INSTITUTE

MEETING OF WATRAHAPA BItANCH. A general meeting of the Wairarapa branch of the Teachers' Insti- [ tute w,as held in the Masterton Technical School on Saturday last. There was a fair attendance of members, Mr D. E. Leslfe, President, being in the chair. At the outset of the meeting the President made reference to the heavy casualty lists daily coming to hand, and expressed sympathy with the many homes whose hero sons had fallen in the war; and the meeting, standing m silence, carried a motion 1 of \vmpathy with Mr G. B. %kes in the loss of his son, -.Cyril,- killed in action. The chief business of the meeting was the consideration of a motion affirming the need and outlining the mctlfod of reconstituting the Executive of the N.Z.E.I. Mi- Combs, the mover, argued soundly that a change in the constitution and in the election of the Executive was needed, and that the method of election advocated in his motion Mould best secure this end. . - 1 Mr H. A. Parkinson, a member of the Executive, present at the invitation of the local management, gave his views upon reconstitution of the Teachers' Institute. The present constitution, he said, had served its purpose very well in the past, but the material strength of the Institute had outgrown its constitution, while a broader outlook upon things educational required that the Institute should move forward upon new lines for the attainment of ■■ higher ideals. He outlined his plans for improvement, which in the main coincided with those put forward by Mr Combs, and pointed out that it lay with the individual teachers themselves to make any scheme of reconstruction a success. (Mr Foss also spoke to the motion and complimented Mr Parkinsoi upon his interesting and optimistii treatment of the subject. The motion was then put and car ried without dissent. A very hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mr Parkinson for his clear and practical statement of the case. The business remaining on the order paper, it was decided, should be held over until the next general meeting. In closing the meeting, the President made reference to the appointment of Mr J. A. Hanan as Minister of Education, and the meeting jfassed a motion of congratulation to him upon liis appointment.