The Daily News. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31. SCHOOL TEACHERS RESIDENCES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 264, 31 October 1908, Page 2

The Daily News. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31. SCHOOL TEACHERS RESIDENCES.

It will no doubt surprise most, people to 1 t L ul'll that ordinary wall-paper. tjie univernal decoration of every kind »f j modern house, ambitions or otherwise, is deemed a luxury by the Tarauiki 1 Education Board, and not even at his own expense is a teacher permitted to hide the nakedness 01 the walls of 11 is "j home. We were, evidently mistakenly, under the impression that the Taranaki s Education Hoard was a reasonably pro- J gressivc institution, but this evidence of retrogression is too conclusive to ignored, lieoause some veal's ago the Hoard adopted the system of match- ' lining teacher*' residences, it is held hv till, iioard to be conclusive evidence that , ! the best method is in operation. It niatI ters not to the Hoard, evidently, that match-lining throughout the modern dwelling-house is almost as extinct as the dodo; their verdict lias gone forth , that modernity, comfort, and taste are quite nonessential so far as teachers residences arc concerned. We are tut acquainted with tile aesthetic tastes ,:1 Hoard members, but we have little doubt that a match-lined house would receive but scant attention from any one of these gentlemen if required for liis own habitation. Why, then, should a class of building which the average houseseeker, unless he had no choice, would decline to occupy, be considered good enough for a school-teacher? What sur-l ■prises us is that teachers have not been more persistent in their complaints, and we can only conclude that the hopelessness of protesting has impressed itself upon them. We hear front time to time of the> Board, in its magnanimity, 'favoring teachers by installing a cookingrange, without which the most miserable' dwelling, is nowadays incomplete. Chimneys that refuse to carry away the smoke are a cherished possession of Taranaki schools, and no doubt resij dences also, but such disabilities are, i-r I should be remediable. From the tcivjr | of the discussion at the Board's table |: 011 Tuesday, however, 110 remedy is left I j the teacher who desires to make his I I abode more like the average home. Tie II may not even beautify and improve his home at his own expense. This, we conaider, is a ridiculous state of allairs demanding immediate attention and radical alteration. When the Government is rightly doing its best to improve the lot of school-teachers and attract the best men to the service, Education Boards should, by every reasonable means in their power, second these efforts. The Taranaki Board's attitude towards the domestic comfort and welfare of its servants, however, is not likely to work ill that direction. We hope that, ,without necessarily sacrificing economy, the Board will, when next considering the question of teachers' dwellings, give evidence that they have the welfare of teachers at heart.

THE STRATFORD "LETTERS." At his meeting at .Stratford on Wednesday evening, -Sir, J. B. liinc naked us to mark the date of a letter sent by Mr. Symes, M.]?., to a West Coast settlement lessee demanding commission for certain services about which there has been a lot said in the Stratford electorate during the -past few weeks, and on which we commented at the beginning of the week. The-date in question was the 28th July, luuti. after the last gJ'ieral election. Mr. nine's point was that we were wrong in assuming that this particular letter could have been produced before last election. We blamed Mr Hemingway (who produced this unl another letter at Mr. Symes' Stratford iro"tii:g and charged the member with what amounted to political corruption) ! .v not producing these letters prior 'o ! ':. general election, and having the ; m:". Iter out then and lher"\ .Mr. Hine uiil notice, if he looks up our remarks, that we used the word "letters," not "letter," though we frankly admit tint we were under the impression that lio;h the letters in question were written be fore the last, general election. As a matter of fact, we know, as also duo Mr. Iline, that one of the letters was written, before tin* general election. -:o that our argunfent that the matter should have been ventilated at the time still holds good. It was a matter of common knowledge, even in New Plymouth, before last genera] election, th.'ct a leading light of the Opposition party ill Stratford claimed to have certain alleged incriminating letters that, if produced, would displace Mr. Symes. What we complain of is that photographs ')f the letters should have been hawked round the electorate for the purpose of damaging .Mr. Symes. H would have been much more straightforward to hn»e demanded an explanation from Mr. Symes i n the lirst instance, and after that electors could have formed their own conclusions and acted according!'/. In any ease, we don't think Mr. Iline has anything to feel proud of in championing the circulation of a leltcr which was marked "private and eoiilidenlial"' a letter which, whatever the nature of its contents, should never have got into the hands of outsiders. In regard to Mr. lline's reference U, Mr. Symes having demanded and received a commission from an elector, we await Mr. Svmes' explanation. That given, we mav'refcr to the matter again.