NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 17, 15 October 1920, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

The Government Is wfee in awaiting Sir James Allen's Tiws beforo embarking on the muctwieedcd reorganisation of the High Commissioner's staff. The principal defect is that the officers in London have become too much out of touch, with New Zealand. That can be remedied by the dispatch of other officers from tho Dominion and the recall of those in London, but the complaint is of a recurring nature, and what is wanted is a scheme whereby familiarity with prevailing conditions in both the Dominion and tho Old Country will be secured. With a permanent nucleus in London and a system of periodical relfefs from the Dominion for the balanoe of the staff this should not be difficult to secure. On tho commercial side tho office needs stitongthening, and it might be 60und policy to break right away from the ordinary Public Service appointment and -secure as our commercial agient ono of the most, experienced business men obtainable in the Dominion. At the moment, in view of the unsettled condition of all markets and thfe uncertain prospects ahead, producers need tho most expert advico from London that it is possible to secure.

Air. Theodore's policy of repudiation is proving scarcely more popular In Queensland than it was with the investing public in Britain. On his return from his unsuccessful expedition to borrow money abroad, Mr. Theodore found that tho Country Party was rapidly rising in public osteem in' Queensland. A general eleo tion was foreshadowed in fcho Governor's Specch when Parliament met, and thi? was expected to taka place when tho sea6ion expired next April. The excellent arrangements for the reception of tho Prins» of Walea revived the Government's waning popularity, and it was apparently decided to take the plunge withoutdelay before flnanoial stringency brought about a further waning of prestige, liefore the elections the. Government -had a [ majority of 22. What its majority is now is [not finally determined,sssomeosata are

still in the balance, but apparently it lias done little more than scramble back into office. Mr. Theodore's tasF is not an easy one. (By honeyed words ha has to endeavour to extract money from the pockets of investore abroad;' to retain the support of the extremists he must continue as an irreconcilable opponent of capitalism; and to carry the general public with him a plentiful expenditure of loan money iB essential. Last week the Queensland Premier announced that he had secured .£1,000,000 from tie Bank of England, and that he intended to obtain dC2,000,000 more locally from pa* toralists' profits and company dividends. It would be a "voluntary" loan, Mr. Theodore declared, but whether the,capitalists subscribed it or not the Government was going to havo their money. Bolshevism is on the down grade in Eussia, and Queensland also is tirins of her dabble in it.

Under its new scale of teachers' salaries the Government is distributing an additional <£250,000 among some GOCO teachers. This works out by and largo at an average increase of a year per teacher. Wo have no doubt that we shall still hear lamentatious from teachers that they are underpaid. This habit of mind is not confined to teachers, for there are probably few people in. any occupation who consider themselves fully remunerated in accordance with their deserts. This is not to gay that the teacher has not been grossly underpaid in the past. The case of the country teacher has been especially glaring, and wo are glad to see that steps have been taken by Mr. Parr to remedy it. Increases in the salaries of grade I, II and 111 schools (9 to 120 pupils) range from. .£7O to .£l2O per annum, and this should go a long way towards improving the lot of teachers in small rural districts. The other increases ore substantial, and a good feature is the JMO additional to married teachers. Mr. Parr's comparisons with the salaries paid to primary sohool teachers elsewhere certainly show the new scale in a very favourable light. We can only hope that the increases will have the effect of making, the school teachers more oontented with their lot than they have boon in the past, and leave them free to concentrate their attention on improving tho quality of the education provided in the primary schools.