The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-05-27 00:00:00

lIIE LYE.
THE SCHOOL BOIRD QUESTION.

A large and rather turbulet meeting waa head in tie
Temperance Hall, at the Lye, on i uesciay evening, to
consider the formation of a School Board tor that place
and Wolleseote.
The Lev. W. Cochrane presided, and having opened
the meeting, the Rev. Mr. Parker gave an explanatory
statement of the way in which the question had cropped
up. The Bii ish Scnol4 some time ago became I:6U in
d,bt, partly owing to lines front the managers having no
pupil teachers. The trea3Urer resigned, and they were
placed in a difficulty with regard to the schools, and did
notknow what to do. Some pinions would not subscribe,
because, they felt it woo d prevent the formation of a
School Board, and as they could nut give up the school
without involving the ratepayers, wno would have to
find school accommodation to supply the deficiency, it
was eventually resolved to lay the matter before them.
Air. Parker urged that the best thing which could be
done for the Lye and Wollescote was to bring into ex-
istence a School Board, and Tie proceeded to argue that
this could not involve any but a light addition to the
rates. The, speaker was a good deal interrupted during
his remarks. - _

Mr. G. Rhodes said it appeared this was only a pounds
shillings and pence question, and if the £6O had been
laud for the school they should not have been there
that night—(cheers.) Let the school go on as usual, and
he WOdid give a subscription, and he believed others
would do the same.
Mr. John Pearson moved that it was desirable to form
a Senool Board for the neighbourhood, and his remarks
supported the view that the interest 4 of every man
would best be served by adopting this course. What
Mr. Pearson wisned to say could in great part only be
guessed at, owing to the confh4ion is the meeting.
Mr. Hyrons seconded, and Mr. Jo3eph Heatncock sup-
ported, the motion.
The Rev. R. Fletcher (vicar of the Lye) moved, as an
amendment, "That the formation of a Scaool Board
should bo deferred till a pressing necessity called for it "
—(cheers.) Mr.. Fletcher spid the present estimated
population of the Lye and Wollescoto was 8,400, and
school accommodation for one-sixth of this number
would be 1,400. The accommodation for this number
already exiF•ted, and if the schools in existence were
ce.rried on as at present there was no necesiity for a
School Board. He did not say there was that number
of •qhildren at sehocil ; he knew there was not, and that
all would not conte without. some kind of compulsion.
That, however, would be supplied by the recent pro-
posals of the Government, and ne believed that Church
people would be willing to contribute to the maintenance
of Mr. Parker's school; as well as their own rather than
a School Board. If formed, he believed, in a neigh-
bourhood like that the burden would fall chiefly on the
poor, and he considered the present time inopportune
for raising the question, and that if the present schools
were maintained they would afford sufficient accommoda-
tion for the district.

The kev. A. Wright seconded the amendment, which
Iwo carried by a very large majority, only a few hands
being held up for the original resolution.
The proceedings closed with a vote of thanks to the
chairman.