60

Given under my hand at Auckland,
in the said Province, the thirtieth
day of June, one thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven.

J. WILLIAMSON,
Superintendent of the Province
of Auckland.

Superintendent’s Office,
June 22nd, 1857.

HEREBY notify for general information
that the undermentioned gentlemen, Com-
missioners of the Board of Education, have
resigned:

Rev. D. Bruce,
Rev. A. Reid,
Mr. T. CheeseMan,
Mr. A. Clark,

J. Williamson,
Superintendent.

With reference to the above notification the
following Documents are now published.

J. Williamson,
Superintendent.

Auckland, 19th May, 1857.

Sir,—I am requested by the Board of Edu-
cation to write to your Honor on the following
points that have come under the notice of the
Board in taking the preliminary steps neces-
sary to bring the Education Act into opera-
tion.

The Board has been anxious that those
teachers who are required by the Act to sub-
mit to an examination should have the benefit
of the provisions of the said Act with the least
possible delay.

This reasonable wish they found could not
be attained, save by postponing the examina-
tion of the teachers referred to for some time,
a course which appeared to the Board to be
greatly recommended by the considerations that
the teachers would be placed in circumstances
to prepare for their examination, and that the
examinations would in all cases be more credi-
table to them, as well as more satisfactory to the
Board.

Influenced by these considerations, the Board,
at a meeting held on the 28th April, resolved as
follows:—

I. That all payments to the Superintendents
of Schools on behalf of teachers, shall in every
case date from the time at which the Board
shall decide that said schools are to be taken
into connexion with the Board.

II. That until such time as the Board are
in a position to conduct the regular examina-
tion for certificates of merit, all teachers shall
be paid at the rate of salary for the second de-
gree, provided that in the meantime, and in
every case the Board shall be satisfied with the
teacher’s moral character and fitness to conduct
a school.

III. That until such time as the Board shall
have appointed an Inspector, the work of pro-
visionally examining those teachers who are
desirous to be taken into connexion with the
Board be performed by the Reverends A. Reid
and D. Bruce, assisted by any other gentlemen
whose services they deem it desirable to
obtain.

Your Honor will perceive from these Reso-
lutions, that it was the intention of the Board
provisionally to examine all schools and teachers
to the extent of satisfying themselves as to the
condition of the schools, and the moral character
and fitness of the teachers to conduct these
schools, and to make the payments to Super-
intendents of Schools date from the time at
which the Board should, upon the Report con-
cerning the provisional examination referred to,
decide that the said schools, together with their
teachers, were entitled to the benefits of the
Education Act, and action thereon was ac-
cordingly taken.

A doubt, however, afterwards arose, as to
the power of the Board to make the payments
to Superintendents of Schools retrospective.
It was therefore resolved by the Board at their
meeting of 18th May, that the Chairman
write to the Superintendent requesting him to
obtain the opinion of the Provincial Law
Adviser on the following points—

I. Whether the Board are at liberty by the
Provisions of the Education Act to take a
school into connexion upon being satisfied with
the teacher’s moral character and fitness to con-
duct a school, deferring the examination required
by clause 17 until some future period.

II. If, upon such examination, the Board
shall be satisfied that the teacher is entitled to
a certificate of merit, whether they are at
liberty to date the salary of such teacher, not
from the time of such examination, but from the
period at which the school was taken into con-
nexion.

Your Honor will further perceive from the
second and third resolutions cited as having
been come to at the meeting of 28th April,
that the Board had determined on making a
provisional examination of all schools in behalf
of which aid should be asked under the provi-
sions of the Education Act, for the purpose of
ascertaining the moral character of the teachers
employed in them and their fitness to conduct a
school. The gentlemen named in resolution
third, aforesaid—appointed for this purpose—
proceeded under the express instruction of the
Board, given them at a meeting held on 4th
May, to examine all the schools from the
Patrons or Managers of which returns had
been made in answer to list of queries issued
by the Board.

An obstacle, however, arose, which put it out
of their power to execute the instruction of the
Board, and upon this being stated at the meeting
of 18th May, already referred to, it was
resolved by the Board as follows:—

"That the Chairman be requested to write to
his Honor the Superintendent requesting him
to obtain the opinion of the Provincial Law
Adviser as to whether the Board has the right
to demand admittance into all schools in behalf
of which aid is sought under the provisions of
the Education Act, previous to their being
received into connexion with the Board, for the
purpose of ascertaining in every case the fit-
ness of the teacher to conduct a school."

As the proceedings of the Board must