THE PARTING SHOT OF INSPECTOR HODGSON.

Inangahua Times, Volume V, Issue 5, 24 July 1878, Page 2

THE PARTING SHOT OF INSPECTOR HODGSON.

TO THIS BBLTOII OV TUB TISMH9. Sir :—•■ I'll toll you what, Humphry Dobbin, thero is not a syllnblo of seino in all you hnvo boon. snying.. But, I sup* poso you will mentnin thoro is P- *• ifeom Comedy of Poor OonUomaw' Tho annunl Iliodßßoninn dish ,of Educational Kodgcpodgo has boon duly sorvod> up fo» tho delectation,, or other* wiso, of tho Nelson Provinoo, and to thnt part oookod spocially fo» tho lloofton district,, which has. boon, Intoly dispensed by that ' ontorprising f> caterer of public : morals and instruction, tho oditor of tho Hamte, I request ob> public grounds, bho liborty of making n fow remarks. It would nob bo too unreasonable to °xpeot in. M» Hodgson, that, when the timo arrived for tho Bovonanoo of his official oonnootion with Bfc Joseph's Sohod, ho would oxhibit somo oEtho cul* turo of gootlemanly instinot^ and rotiro with dignity and graoo ;. or at loftst frame his final) Boporfc in aooordanoo with tho dictates of plain truth and common justioo,. ovon though ho substituted ogo<* tism and oant for reason and logio. When this roranrkAblo document comos to bo 'oarofully oxamined, monaurodj. and pulflo fait,.' f\m\ road botwoon tho linos, it simply monnn ferocious animosity to mysolf individually, nnd uncopqu«rable prcjudico to Oatholio sob sola gonorally. In a fow remarks £ will mako this more palpable, than tbo ' palpablo bneak down in April last.* His Report may bo summanißod briefly thus s— • A palpable breakdown. No class acquitted itself tolerably in any single subjoot. , Of tho 57 soholans- Jpsofiont only mo passod i» tho fir»t four rules. Execrable spoiling and reading; Too muoh prompting. DiiioipUno fttill falls short of what is attainable.' To givo it fho ftppparanoo of impartiality^ ho givoa • tho faint praise whioh damns.' Saying 'An unfor.tunnte delay of books oooarrod,' bat adds Tho Education Dopartn »it is not to blnmo. A ohango of mastors took plaoe at tho bo* ginning of. tho year, but as Mr Dolany's suooossor »'* an experienced' teaolltr it is diffbmtt to supposo that tho sohool can havo suffered from that cause.' Let as suppose that all Mir Hodgson has stated to be- true, which 1 dony ih tato^ and, as ho is proiumably akillod in motn» physioal flttbleties, will 1 ho kindly oxplain how tho following prodigious feat of mental baoksomorsault, was pevfbrmod by tho 50; scholars who failodi to pasa in i tho first four rules,, for sotno of tho ' many of tho best pupils' who had loft Mr Brown's sqhooi b few weeks previous, woro among thorn, tho remaindor being composed of MrDolany's fioholarp, who did fuirly in sovoral rospeots at his pro* \ vious examination P' Now if tho loarnod Mr Hodgson, attempts to provo that, and say, that 66 children, who had boon up to a vovy short poriod, undor tho core of two good toaohors, wore then im* mfidiatoly tranafcrod to another 4 cx

porioncod tonohor ' and had previously passed thoir exarainatiou crodila ily in several rospocts^ had, ono and alt boomo suddenly paralysed and loat their montal faculties— bo much so, that thoy could not add or multiply two digita— and furthor, that neither thoir parents nor toftdior porooitod tho change, ho will proro that parents, children, and teacher, aro developing the Darwinian theory re« tvogreasivefy in * Tef 7 tß&tkeA and rapid man&er. ' But .again* if he» pMtrea that, Uw trUl h»aooou»tfor the 'prompting P' AnAi/ the discipline wai bad, why did be not draw my attention to it at the time, whtoh would behia botmden doty, if there wai a noeosiiljF forty, Th^re*, wa| tl «» Wf sity, and Mnie<meotly h« did aot do, lt. , It ia no* tho fet^lma thai I haw had^ to ; «poif &t inoompeton^ and bigotry, toccata** Tb# present •atlsfwtory Hate of the school, v expreiied by the Oommittee andptredti, it after al* tie' Se^aaiwer to hi! eaiittf* niosand^ii jto^aV.tb^^^ M^fP|f care Ut«O 111 public, and as W'tKa^Wt^ll^JC sbal always ddten^lplp^e oensared itt its colamns* for a oorapJiment from that | quarter, would imply a total loss of honor and self rasneok I am, Tours &c, J. J. Obovts. Koofton, July 23rd, *878\