LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1641, 14 May 1925, Page 4

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

OUR SCHOOL COMMITTEE

Sir, —The report in your last issue announcing that the seven gentlemen who had resigned from the School Committee as a protest against the defeat of the chairman had thought better of their hasty action and had decided to withdraw their resignations is worthy of more than passing comment. The action of these gentlemen in the first instance was a- slight on the twenty-four householders present at the meeting who did not record their vote in favour of Mr Battson. What a beautiful precedent they have given our politicians, who in the event of their leader not being returned, •should resign as a protest and at the same time question the intelligence of the majority of electors. There is undoubtedly a clear case for an apology from the members concerned to the householders of Te Awamutu. Regarding the Board's letter which appears to have helped in the arriving at the decision to withdraw, all that can be said is that the members were either glad to accept the frail excuse that they did not want a Commissioner appointed, or that they could not see through the Board's little bit of bluff. Could the Board in the face of things have appointed a Commissioner seeing that a representative (according to Mr Clarke it was not representative) meeting had elected a committee of which two still remained true to the trust imposed in* them by that meeting. Another statement made by these gentlemen which is ridiculous in the extreme is that the meeting was packed for the purpose of defeating Mr Battson. One has only to analyse the voting to see that such was not the case. Even supposing that such was the case, is Mr Battson free from criticism in this respect. It is well known that at a previous householders' meeting he made no secret of the fact that he was out to bring about the defeat of one of the candidates, in which he was unsuccessful. Perhaps it is only a case of the chickens coming home to roost. There is no doubt in my mind that had another election been held the householders would havef shown in no uncertain manner what they thought of the action of these seven gentlemen, and if what one hears on the street can be taken as a guide not one of them would have been returned. In view off this I maintain that there is an apology due to the householders who attended the last meeting whose wisdom was questioned in defeating the chairman. Why not question their wisdom in electing the seven members who, resigned?— I am, etc., FAIR PLAY.