The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 1889

Waikato Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 2639, 11 June 1889, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 1889

Equal ;iiirt exact mstice to all men, Ol whatsoever suite or persuasion, religious or political.

In criticising tho Educational Institute the other day w<: laid some stress upon the. increasing indications from that body to constitute itself a censor of tho actions of the Legislature ; that is to say, an organisation of public servants are arrogating to themselves political pretensions -with which tliny endeavour to unduly ipilnonco rlio deliberations of Parliament. We do not think we overstated the matter; the reverse is more, probably the case It is a subject to wlveh attention has been called in the public press on eiorc occasions th%n one, and the

notn of warning sounded. Let us take, for example, the latebt illustration .ilforded hy this institution of the clmracter it has been assuming. A mooting of the Wellington educational Institute was held last week, at which amongst other things the proposed alterations in the Educational Act wore discussed, and it was decided that a sub-committee, to be styled the Parliamentary Committee, 1)0 appointed to watch the interests of education during the coming session, and that the various branches be asked to submit their views on the proposed amendments. The only intentions of the Government with respeyt to the present system, so far as can be gathered from Mr Fergus' speech at Queenstown, are in the direction of providing a re-classifica-tion of teachers and to amend the scale of pay and promotion. There is no suggestion to trench on the principle involved in the educational policy of the Act. The stated purpose of Government is only to improve the administration of the Act, dealing with details of a purely departmental nature, similar to the intended re-classitication of the regular Civil Service. It is for this that the Institute, composed of salaried public servants, intend to take upon themselves to keep an eye on the proceedings of Parliament. Is not this insufferable arrogance 1 Is it, we ask, compatable with their position that a section of those who are in the fixed service of the State, and drawing annual wages from the public revenue, should calmly assume such an outrageous rohl Should any portion of the public service be permitted to assert special political privileges, and interfere with the integrity of Parliament, the chosen and elected assembly of the people with whose money these scholastic gentry are paid their, not-to-be-dos-pised, salaries? If one class of Civil servants can presume to surround themselves with political power, with which to coerce or manipulate members of the Legislative Assembly, then, assuredly, other sections, or the whole of the Civil Setvice,_ can claim equally as much. There is no reason why the line should be drawn no further than schoolmasters. But, let us imagine such a thing as an association of postmasters, or of policemen, or of all the aggregated Civil oflicials in the Empire city of Wellington, and that each or all of them appointed parliamentary committees to watch the Parliament of the country when dealing with any question of administrative reform, or of deparmental re-adjustment of the Civil Service. Can we imagine the representatives of the people being over-awed, brow-beaten or cajoled by their own servants ? If it is utterly out of the question as regards the classes of public officers we have referred to in imagination, then it follows that it is a serious abuse to permit the schoolmasters employed in the State Department of Education to pretend to any political license, approaching to vested interests, It is dangerous to encourage the growth of anything of this sort, for, once the precedent is allowed to take root in any. shape or form, we shall find our political institutions contaminated .vith corrupt intrigues and difficulties that will make popular legislation more difficult, and class legislation more feasible, than they now are. There has been much chafing already at the control the regular Civil Service is slid to exercise over the minds of individual members of the Assembly; yet, they have no organised guild. What will be the ultimate outcome of the second Civil Service, who have established an Institute, and are appointing committees to watch Parliament , ? Public opinion, and Parliament which is supposed to be its retlex, should put a check at once on such pretensions. Irresponsible bodies in the full conceit of self-importance, much less paid public employees, ought not to be permitted to assume a menacing attitude towards the Legislative Assembly ; it is insolent, as well as derogatory to the dignity and freedom of the highest governing body in the land ; in fact, is an offence against the people.

By all moans let schoolmasters, or any other class of Civil servants, form institutes, societies or clubs, if they are established for the purpose of creating some medium for promoting educational and intellectual exercise by discussing subjects which bear on the interests of society generally ; but, they should not be diverted from those objects and made into agencies for political agitation, or parliamentary logrolling. Neither the discipline of the ssrvice, nor the public interest, can be served if such abuses are allowed. There is no parallel between the position of schoolmasters, or of any employees receiving assured wages from the public revenue, and trade unions or labour societies. In the case of the 1 latter it is a question affecting private parties, influenced by the fluctuations of supply and demand in the commercial world. It is one that affects an economic problem, the relations between Capital and Labour, and which often requires the mediation of Parliament to restrain the one and protect the other.