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97
The attention of the Vestry of this Parish has been directed to certain
remarks which you are reported in the "Times" and other newspapers as
having made at a meeting of the School Board, held on the 28th ult.,
reflecting upon the Vestries of the Metropolis, with special reference to the
opposition by many of them to the recent increase in the Salary of the Clerk
to the Board.
These remarks are, according to the "Times" report, as follows:—
"As to the Vestries' resolutions, the Board did not represent the
Vestries, and he suggested that those Bodies might find other
ground for economical work than the School Board; they might
commence in Vestry work, and in the Metropolitan Board of
Works, which was the direct representative of the Vestries.
The Vestries did not represent the people of London, and this
Vestry agitation was altogether a spurious one, got up to give a
fictitious opposition to an act of justice to an officer who had
great responsibilities and had discharged his duties with ability
and integrity during 17 years."
The Vestry would not deem it either necessary or dignified to take
cognisance of such assertions from an ordinary speaker, but when they are
made by the Chairman of the School Board, they acquire an importance
which possibly they do not intrinsically possess, and are received by many
persons as authoritative and official.
The Vestry regret that you should now object to the Rating Authorities
expressing an adverse opinion on a particular resolution of the Board, as
the action taken by many of such authorities at the Election in Novembers
1885, was directed towards supporting a reform in the administration of the
Board, in the success of which it was understood you felt deep interestThat
some measure of reform has been effected you have yourself admitted
more than once.
The last Election proved conclusively that the Rating Authorities were
then in closer touch with the Ratepayers than Members of the School Board
were, and it is quite possible it may be so now, inasmuch as, from the very
nature of the case, Vestrymen are in almost daily contact with their constituents,
while, as a rule, the Ratepayers only have the opportunity of
learning the views of their representatives on the School Board once in three
years.
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