EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 30, 30 October 1917, Page 6

EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

EXEMPTION OF TEACHERS

NO AGREEMENT ARRIVED AT Tho Legislative Council met yesterday at 11.30 a.m. STATUTE LAW AMENDMENT. INDUSTRIAL AWARDS AND AGREEMENTS. The Statute Law Amendment Bill was roccived from the House of Itepresenta; tives $Jid read a first time. SIR i'EANCIS BELL moved the second reading of the Bill. Ho said that he realised ihe Bill, which bad been introduced late in the session, contained some im-

portant clauses. If 6trong exception should be taken to any clause he would desire the opportunity of withdrawing it. The Bill provided for the keeping of separate accounts by education boards. Some of the boards had been in the habit of spending upon maintenance the funds allowed them for replacement of buildings, and the result was that they

were now in debt as far as replacements were concerned. It was' admitted that the maintenance grant had not been sufficient in the past, and the Government this year was adding to it .£IO,OOO, including j£sooo taken • from tho replacement grant. The extension of powers proposed to be granted to the Prisons Board would meet the case of a prisoner who recently had undergone an operation for the repair of a physical injury which was believed to have been the cause of his criminal tendencies. The present Irw required "hat this man should be kept in prison or else pardoned unconditionally. The Bill would enable him to be released on probation- Sir Francis Bell stated that he intended to suggest a modification of Clause 19, which provided for the suspension of industrial awards and agreements for the purpose "of securing the employment and training of disabled and paritially-dis-abled soldiers. The Government felt that awards must not stand in the way of the employment of discharged soldiers who were unablo to 6arn a full wage. On the other hand the employer must, not bs allowed to eat up tne soldier's • pension by using it merely to supplement wages. The Prime Minister had agreed to frame the clause so that the Arbitration Court would have the power to make modifications when necessary in the interests of the soldiers. The difficulty was to make the necessary provision without the Arbitration Court dictating to the Gover-nor-in-Connoil. The Governor-in-Council could not dictate to the Court. The Hon. J. T. Paul: The Court is the better judge. , Sir Francis Bell: I trust Court

absolutely as far as its justice is eoncorned, but I am not quite clear whether or not the Court is the bettor judge of how far its own awards should be modified in the interests of discharged soldiers. Probably tho honourable member is right. The Goverhment, added Sir Francis Bell, did not want to interfere undnly with the rights of organised Labour, but could not allow organised Labour to interfere with the employment and training of partially-disabled soldiers. _ SIR WALTER BUCHANAN protested against' the conglomeration of proposals in a single Bill. The measure before tho Council dealt with half a dozen different subjects, and had been brought down very late in the session. He thought that some of the clauses could havo been made clearer.. Unless undergravest' necessity Parliament should not make tho laws unintelligible to the many people outside the legal profession who had to obey them. The extension of the powers of publio departments ought always to be guarded. Publie departments in too many cases forget that they were created for the use ot the people, and hot for the benefit of the officials. The publio was continually running against the jealousy of these departments, and finding it impossible to get the services for. whioli the departments were created. He had been a member of an education board for forty years, and cosstant difficulty in that time had been to get tho Education Department to give attention to tho details of difficulties that confronted the board. He had experienced absolutely cast-iron resistance to what, the board, regarded as reasonable requests with regard to getting children to school. Ho had given up his connection with the Education Board beSause yew by year the Education Department was taking to itself power that properly belonged to the board. I'ho Bill proposed to ; increase the capitation in tho smallest country schools from .£6 to -,£9, and this would be of material assistance.

The W. MORGAN said he approved of the increased capitation for schools with an average attendance, of not more than nine cnildren, but the extra money would not meet all the. difficulty. Accommodation ought to be* provided for the teacher in every case. The Hon. Captain W. D. H,: BAILLIE mentioned the difficulties of education ia the early days of settlement. The troubles to be faced had,been enormous, and wore scarcely comparable with the smaller difficulties of to-day. •

The Hon. I'. MACGIBBON objected to tlie inclusion of many important matters in. a single. Bill. • The Hon. 0: SAMUEL said laws of this kind gave much more trouble to' the lawyers than to the general public. The war had produced a period of confusion in law-making. Parliament. had taken actions and given powers that would not have been proper in ordinary times, and he hoped that what had been done under tiie pressure of war would' not bo regarded as a precedent in years to come. The Hon. J. G. W. AITIvEN objected to clause 8, giving the Minjster of Education power to make regulations modifying the provisions of the Education. Act to meet conditions arising from the w?r. It seemed to him that the policy of the I Department was to administer pinpricks to the education boards with tlio object of forcing' them to resign. The policy might succeed if it wero carried much further. If the Government wished the Department to have unfettered control of education it should deal 1 with the matter in a straightforward -manner by legislation. SIB FRANCIS. BELL said ho agreed it was not desirable to have many different matters in a single Bill. But the Government knew that if it produced •half-a-dozen separate Bills amending as many Acts, there xvould be great loss of time owing to members raising all sorts of kindred matters by way of amendments. Tho Bill was committed at 2.30 p.m. At the suggestion of the Hon. ,J. Barr, .'■i.MUi! the definition -of a technical school, was amended to read: " 'Technical school' means a school recognised by the Minister of Education, in which technical courses or technical and vocational courses are given.'- 1 Clause l'J, containing provision for tho modification or suspension of industrial awards, etc., to allow of the employment and training of discharged soldiers, was omitted from iho Bill at the suggestion of Sir Francis Bell. * A new clause was added, on the motion of Sir Francis Boli, providing that prisoners who had been sentenced to imprisonment for more than seven days, or prisoners awaiting trial or on reniauci, j might be detained at a police station i for any period not exceeding seven days, i Any person sentenced to imprisonment ] "for seven days or less might bc - detained j at a police station for the period. j Progress was reported at this stage, j