On Thursday 5th July 1884, Mr G. Smith of Cowick Street complained to the St. Thomas School Board that great damage had been done to his property by the children attending the Girls' and Infants' Schools. His garden adjoined the play-ground and the glass in his greenhouse was constantly being broken. He had collected quite a peck of stones thrown from the play-ground and he invited members of the Board to pay him a visit and see for themselves the extent of the damage. He was not the only complainant:
"Mr Denham said they had also been smashing his glass; the other day he saw a collection of children drawn up in line and at a given signal they all threw, and there was quite a shower of stones. He thought the teachers should be held responsible for the better conduct of the children.
"Dr. Woodman inquired if the girls as well as the boys threw stones, and on receiving a reply in the affirmative, intimated that he had hardly expected to hear that the girls were so bad, but other members intimated that where there was any mischief on foot the girls were quite as active as the boys.
"It was decided to require the teachers to report every case of stone throwing they saw, whether damage was done or not, to take steps for punishing the offenders, and to also call the attention of the police to any stone throwing in the streets."
As every Board School boy, or girl, knows, a peck contains 554.548 cubic inches. But yes, of course, Mr Smith is using the term loosely.
Source The Western Times, 7th July 1884.
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