EXEMPTION OF TEACHERS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1746, 30 October 1917, Page 2

EXEMPTION OF TEACHERS.

THE Auckland Herald, commenting on the action of Parliament in exempting teachers from military service, says: “By a narrow margin of four votes the House inserted in the amending Bill a clause which would destroy the universal application of the Act, and pave the way for numerous other claims for class exemptions. If all in given employments, regarded as essential, arc to be exempt by Statute, a stronger case could be made for farmers and engineers, seamen and miners, than for teachers, whose places have been, and can be, taken by women. Even if women substitutes are not always able to maintain the pre-war standard of teaching the balance of advantage has been with the State, for male teachers have' been able, as officers of the Expeditionary Force, to give exceptional service at the front. If the Bill now under discussion becomes law in the form in which it left the House, any unmarried teacher who feels more comfortable at home than in the trenches, and who is indisposed to make the sacrifice, can shelter behind the Act, while the fathers of families fill the New Zealand reinforcements. The clause is an injustice to the Second Division, and to the great number of teachers who have gone willingly on active service. Its adoption was a deplorable display'of weakness on the part of a majority of the House, for it is apparent that neither the interests of the teachers nor the cause of education entered into the consideration of the matter. In justice to the Government it should be said that the proposal was not approved in Cabinet, and that the Prime Minister, Sir James ..Allen, and Messrs Herdman, Herries and- Fraser voted against it in the House. Further, it will be noted with regret that with perhaps four exceptions the division followed the old party lines, with Sir Joseph Ward leading the supporters of the exemption. There is matter for congratulation in the emphatic rejection of the obnoxious clause by the Legislative Council, This is not the first time that the rauch-despis-ed Upper House has justified its existence by standing for the national interest against the vote of the representative chamber.”