The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-09-30 00:00:00

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18th September, 1876.

ST. THOMAS'S SCHOOL, STOURBIDGE

Sir,—l am instructed to inform you that an
interview held to-day between the Managers and
the Board, the Board so far consented to comply
with the objections of your society as to agree to
take a transfer on the terms of a yefirly tenancy,
terminable at the end of any school year, by a
year's notice on either side, and to reserve the
use of the schools by the Managers on Saturdays,
Good Fridays, Ash Wednesdayr, and Ascension
days in addition to the times previously agreed
upon, namely on Sundays and after five o'clock
in the afternoon on Mondays and Thursdays. I
am instructed to ask for the assent of your society
to the terms thus modified and to state that this
Board, while they have every desire to meet the
proper requirements of your society feel that they
eannot assent to the proviso suggested by your
letter to me on the 7th July last, and to express
their hope that it will not be insisted upon. I
would suggest for the society's consideration
that the Board is not likely needlessly to enlarge
the school and that by virtue of the 10th section
of the Education Act, 1873, consent of the Educa-
tion Department would first have to be obtained,
and that such consent would not be given till the
Department is satisfied that the alterations, if
any, is required to meet the educational wants of
the district but it would not be fair to make the
Board dependent upon theconsent of the trustees.
I am, sir,
Your obedient servant,
GEORGE PERRY, Clerk,
The Secretary, National Society,
The Sanctuary Westminster.
The following letter was received in reply :
National Society of Education,
The Sanctuary, Westminster, S.W.,
19th September, 1876.
Stourbridge, St. Thomas's.
_ . _

Dear Sir,—With reference to your letter of the
18th bast, I am obliged to inform you that the
National Society cannot possibly waive its objec-
tion to the ommis3ion from the agreement of the
proviso requiring the managers or trustees consent.
Without such proviso the agreement would, in our
opinion, be highly inequitable. It would wholly
ignore the rights of ownership and simply place
the managers in the power of the Board.
The Education Department have on former
occasions recognised the reasonableness of this
demand on our part and we venture to think that
we should be supported in this case.
In other respects the society would not be dis-
posed to resist the proposed arrangement though
thoroughly objecting to the principle of such
transfer.

I am,
Dear sir,
Yours faithfully,
J. DUNCAN.

The insertion of the words " managers' or
trustees' consent" in the letter was a concession
as compared with the previous requirements of
the Board, which only spoke of the trustees'
consent.

The Chairman said he should have preferred
the original agreement carried out in its entirety;
but failing that, it •was their duty to see if they
could not smooth down the difficulties, and, as
nearly as possible, carry out what was originally
intended. The only difficulty now, it appeared,
was as to the clause which did require the consent
of the trustees before any money was sport.
That difficulty he thought was now to a certain
extent removed, and removed as far as they could
get it removed. Although the transfer of the
s3hoo7s legally only appeared to be an annual
tenancy, if they spent a few hundreds in putting
the schools in efficient repair, he felt satisfied
that the transfer would practically be as complete
and irretrievable as carried out in the way first
proposed, because if the money for the alterations
was borrowed on loan, the Managers could not
take back the schools without repaying the
amount.

The Rev. IL Sherrard, in reply to a question,
saii there was no probability of a difficulty arising
in obtaining the consent of the Managers to any
necessary outlay on the schools.
It was then resolved, on the motion of the
Chairman, seconded by Mr. Billingha,m, that the
terms proposed by the Managers, at the meeting
of the Board on the 18th September, be accepted,
and that the objection to the proviso, suggested
by letter, to the National Society of July 7, as
modified by their letter of the 19th September, be
no longer insisted upon, and that the Clerk be
instructed to take the necessary steps to carry
the arrangements into effect as speedily as
possible.