Manaivata Herald. SATURDAY, FEB. 18, 1893. Teachers and Labourers.

Manawatu Herald, 18 February 1893, Page 2

Manaivata Herald. SATURDAY, FEB. 18, 1893. Teachers and Labourers.

The Chronicle, annoyed at the rumour that the teachers in its employ contemplated attempting to secure the election of a member on the Wanganui Education Board to represent their interests, statfid if this was conceded " then the Corporation workmen will be entitled to a representative on the Borough Couucil." Such a remark only shows how onesided the Chairman of the Board views everything which in any way appears to reflect upon his capable management. He must be aware that at present the teacher is wholly unrepresented, that is to say he has no power to secure a hearing, as he is warned that he can take no part in the election of a committee, he may not propose a candidate and he must not vote for one, nor is he supposed to be allowed to raise his voice at the householders meeting. The teacher stands cut in this free country as the only serf there is in it, and to compare his lot to that of the Corporation labourer is adding injury to insult. The labourer can vote for every Councillor and every Mayor, he can propose a candidate, and if he pleased he could stand as one. View Mr Smith, ths M.H..8 of New Plymouth, was he not a Corporation labourer? and had he been held in the bound condition that the Wauganui Board delight to hold their teachers he would never have had an opportunity of being a member of Parliament. We hold that it would be difficult to find in this colony another body of intelligent men placed in so humiliating a position. The (Jhronicle, of course, says, "if the meaning ot the new move is that the teachers merely desire to see on the Board someone who has experience in teaching, then we should say that in that par icular they are amply ropresented at present." This we might expect from the Wanganui Board, but those who are not members, think very difterently, as the Board must be fully aware of by this time, or nothing will convince them. The supporters of the actions of the Wanganui Education Board wobble frightfully in their reasons, at times it is, that the teachers are so excellent because the Wanganui Board has upheld the status of the profession, then a friend strikes in, excusin * the Board's acts .by saying for years the Board has been troubled with bad teachers, which they have been unable to rid themselves of. The Wanganui Board assert that they intend to retain the salaries of the teachers at the present rate, presumably because they are worth the sum paid ; but the Advocate rushing to the rescue of the Board states, " they (the teachers) would be unwise, in fact, to lead the public to institute too close a comparison between thj lot of the teachers- bad as some of them may think it — and that of others in private employ ment." Of course the writer failed to perceive what a very nasty knock

lie was administering to the Be -ircl when be penned that advice. If the teachers are only receiving proper pay for the work they are doing they cannot be injured by the public making Comparisons, but if they are receiving too much it says little for the guardianship of the taxpayers motley shown by the Board, and the sooner fresh blood is introduced so that the facts may be ascertained the better it will be for all It must be clear by the half threats made by the Chronicle that teachers may, if not quiet, be reduced in salary. Is it right that snch threats, accompanied by insinuations that if the public had a voice in the matter the teachers would not have such good times as they How enjoy* should be made against men who are debarred from voting for a school committee man, therefore for a member of the Board, and are also debarred from newspaper correspondence ? The taxpayer wants a Board that will act fairly and impartially, and we unhesitatingly' say that the leaders appearing in the Chairman 1 of the Board's newspaper show that as the Board is at present constituted, it will not give him what he wants We trust every effort will be made to elect every new candidate that may be proposed^