NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1867, 29 September 1913, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The Minister op Marine is to be congratulated on the arrangement ho has been able to make with the Union Steam Ship Company for the benefit of boys on the Government training vessel Amokura. The scheme which is at present in an experimental stage, is that a certain number of thelioys will be takenby the Company each year and trained to bo officers of the Mercantile Marine. Up to the present the lads who have undergone training on the Amokura have had nothing definite to look forward to in the way of a seafaring career, but should the scheme now introduced by Me. Fisher prove a success, as there is every probability will be the case, a direct incentive will be given to them to strive for the_ opportunity it will afford for their future advancement. Not only will it provide a valuable source from whicli to recruit officers for our Mercantile Marine, but it will give the boys on the Amokura a stimulus to show the best that is in them, and, moreover, should popularise tho training-vessel, and thus increase her opportunity for usefulness. If New Zealand is to bo the seafaring nation which most people expect, then facilities such as are now ottered by the Amokura to the youth of the population will require to be increased and extended. In the meantime, however, the Minister of Marine is to bo commended for the step he has taken, which is certainly calculated to add to the attractiveness of the system of sea-training introduced by the previous Government,

The secondary school teachers, who like the primary school teachers are now bestirring themselves to secure a more adequate return for their services to the State, have unquestionably made out a good case. There are many secondary school teachers who are worse, paid than a masteiv carpenter or a mastorjbrickl&yer, and yet politicians and public men generally are constantly harping on the nobility of the teaching profession and its importance to the future of tho nation. Men who spend time and money in completing a three or four years' University course . are surely entitled to be not only regarded as professional men, but be paid as sucn. A lawyer or a medical man, after obtaining his degree, starts his practice, and in four or five years' timo usually earns a comfortablo income. What are the facts in the case of assistants in secondary schools? Men who have 25 and 30 years of service behind them are in receipt of the comparatively poor remuneration of from £300 to £325. In fact, it is astonishing to find that the 'average salary paid to assistants in our secondary schools should be just over £234—and this to men upon whose efficiency and sense of duty much of the future of this Dominion depends. That this state of affairs which has continued so long is to be put an end to, or if not altogether put an end to, to be remedied, is apparent from the -Hon. J. Allen's reply to tho deputation that recently waited on him, and to tho questions 1 put to him in the House. It must bo gratifying to secondary school assistants to hear that the Minister is foreshadowing some scheme of classification —in other words, the introduction of a colonial scale. One of the great faults of the present system is that no one governing body pays secondary school teachers as another governing body does. Different governing bodies have different idea-s of what is tho proper remuneration for tho teachers they employ. Wo feel sure that secondary school teachers will welcomo some sort of definite scheme that will put an end to the haphazard one at present in vogue. Tho Executive of the Secondary Schools' Assistants' Association makes it quite clear that they have waited for over twenty years to get justice, and in the person of the Hon. J. Allen the teachers feel that they have a Minister who., if anyone can, will see that they get justice.

Although Sir Joseph Ward is nominally Leader of the Opposition ifc would almost seem that the member for Avon, Mr. 0, W. Rothem, Rotually, (ilk the ollioo. Probably

Mr. Russell's frequent appearances in tho limelight are due to the fact that ho has grown so accustomed in recent times to jumping to his feet to represent the views of his party that lie iinds it a little difficult to relinquish tne habit. Moreover, ho apparently has come to be regarded as the most effective speaker on his own side of the House, and so is given greater liberty than is permitted the rest of the rank and file. On Friday evening, when the House was discussing the Post and Telegraph Department Estimates and Sir Joseph Ward was making protests that the salaries of classified officers appeared as a lump sum and not in detail, the member for Avon took tho matter out of his hands, and advised him and the Minister to include in the Estimates a list circulated by the Government for tho information of members, a course which eventually was followed. Again, when discussing tho question of a site at. Ohristchurch, he did not hesitate to give bis Leader a nasty back-handcr by condemning in vigorous language a proposal to adopt a site at Aldington. This, it transpired, was tho site chosen by the Ward Government and which tho Mackenzie Government had thrown over as a piece of wasteful extravagance. Still another instance of his disregard for the feelings of his party chief was afforded by a dissertation on how much he had been able to save the country by his alteration of the Ward Government's methods of advertising for mail services. Sir Joseph Ward, we fear, must find the indiscretions of his fluent first-lieutenant somewhat irritating at times.

"The ever-increasing burden of the hospital levies" receives some attention in the annual report -of the Inspector-General of Hospitals, which was presented to Parliament on Friday. He reoognises that the increase of expenditure on hospitals and charitable aid is occasioning some concern, and the following comparison of Hospital and Charitable Aid expenditure for tho past ten years shows that this "concern" is not without a considerable amount of justification:— - ' Cost per Total head of expenditure, population. £ s. d. 19034 ' 243,000 5 101 1904-5 259,G1G 6 1 1905-8 270,710 G 2 1900-7 288,50S 6 1907-8 315,197 6 10 ■ 190S-9 359,941 7 7{ 1909-10 375,075 7 8 1910-11 416,384 8 41 1911-12 482,G45 9 51 1912-13 500,443 9 GJ The principal cause of the increase of hospital expenditure is no doubt to lie found in the fact that there has been a. large increase in tho proportion of tho population making use of our hospitals, and in the inevitable extension of their functions. They must bo kept up-to-date. New buildings must be erected from time to time, and tho latest appliances for the treatment of disease must bo obtained. It is no uso to expect any appreciable diminution of expenditure of this sort, and if the pressufe on tho contributing bodies is to bo relieved it must be by an increase in the amount received in the way of fees. No one would like to see the enforcement of any harsh measures to extort the last farthing from poor people who may use our hospitals, but tho full cost of maintenance should bo insisted upon in the case of those patients who are in a position to pay it, This policy is strongly advocated by the InspectorGeneral, and it is so obviously reasonable that it is quite to laboUi- the point.

One of the most interesting features of the proceedings of the House of Representatives during the past week was the appearance of the member for Hutt in the role of prompter to the Opposition party. We have remarked before on the habit of this member of assisting the course of debate with playful asides and carefully-selected witticisms, but this new departure is far. more effective in emphasising the importance of Mr. Wilford to tho party. It was most noticeable during the debate on the lloyd Garlick charges. Hardly had an Opposition member risen to his feet to speak than the- member for Hutt was interjecting advice or had crossed the floor of the House and tendered notes to assist tho speaker through his task with credit to the party. In.a little time it became a matter of pleasurable speculation whenever an Opposition member got on his feet as to whether he would succeed in completing his speech without the aid of the member for Hutt. Mr. Wilford apparently was so conspicuously successful on that occasion as party "coach" that he has since continued the task. In the early hours of Saturday morning he was even "coaching" Sir Joseph Ward on a point arising out of the State Fire Insurance Department's Estimates, for which well-meant effort Sir Joseph seemed at tho time insufficiently grateful. ,It is customary with most political parties to conduct these instructional lessons within the secret recesses of the Whips' room and with closed doors. The method of the member for Hutt, however, has this advantage:; it enables the world to see who is really the brains of the party. Unless Mr. Wilford did his prompting on tho floor of the House before all men it might be imagined that all tho wiso and witty things uttered by tho rank and filo of tho party were actually prepared by the members, themselves, and that they could get through their speeches unaided.

The service rendered Dn. Ranoihiroa amonest tho Natives in the Northern Maori District during the smallpox epidemic was very properly made mention of by the Minister of Public Health during discussion on the Estimates on Friday evening, Dr. Ranoihiroa has just returned to his Parliamentary duties after spending some weeks in his constituency treating, cases of the disease amongst the Natives, and the Hon. R. H. Rhodes took advantage of the occasion in the House to publicly express appreciation of what he had done at a very, trying time. Tho outbreak was most severo _in tho North of Auckland district, and, being familiar with the country and having considerable influence amongst the Natives there, Dr. Ranoihiroa was able to render valuable assistance to 'those engaged in keeping in check and stamping out the disease. In another column we publish an interview with Dr. Rangiiiiroa, in

which he states some of his ences. Those of the public who were inclined to be sceptical as to the necessity for the ; precautions which the Health took to prevent the spread of the disease will probably find reason to modify their opinions after reading what lie has to say concerning the condition of things he oncountorod in the jiorfcli.