TEACHERS' DISPUTE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 171, 22 July 1930, Page 5

TEACHERS' DISPUTE.

DIFFERENCES IN BUSINESS.

SUPREME COURT CLAIMS.

Two claims arising out of the same set of circumstances, in which a retired headmaster, Robert Theodore Reid, of Otaliuhu (Mr. Chalmers), and a Whangarei teacher, lan Battman Macken (Mr. Trimmer, of Whangarei), were alternatively plaintiff and defendant, came before the Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Myers, in the Supreme Court to-day. In one claim, the plaintiff Reid sought a complete statement of accounts from the defendant Macken in connection with a correspondence course for teachers; and, in the other, Macken sought an injunction to restrain Reid from acting independently, in promoting the salt of * stationery. ~ '

Robert T. Reid was the headmaster at Waikino school when John Christopher Higgins committed child murder for which, he was tried . 1 and sentenced to death in 1924. One of .the shots injured Reid and he subsequently retired, said Mi-. Chalmers. Macken had arranged with Reid early in 1929 to be Dominion organise): for a course of instruction for teachers, called "Business in Education/' known as 8.1. E. At the outset Reid was to receive 20 per cent commission on all sales in the Auckland province and. was to be paid c.i a percentage basis on all orders he booked for the rest of New Zealand',

When Reid found after-a short time that he could not make the arrangement pay he said he would require a salary of £1 a day in addition. In February of this year Reid endeavoured to make a new arrangement, under which he was to have complete control of the stationery side of the business and. a separate arrangement was to be made for the conduct of examination tests and the distribution of a "teacher's guide." In evidence, the plaintiff Reid said he was first approached by Macken, then an ex-member of his (Reid's) staff. He (Reid) understood that an effort was, being made to reduce the cost of instruction to teachers and to lighten' their work, and he was informed that large supplies of materials were on order from England to arrive in May, 1929. Macken suggested plaintiff should act as organising manager and' arrange with a retired teacher in each educational district outside Auckland to carry out organising work on a commission basis of 20 per cent. "I thought the 8.1. E. was an. association of teachers, but .was told by Macken that it was his personal business," said plaintiff. Defendant gave an assurance that he had £2000 "at call" and had arranged a bank overdraft of £§00, if required. Plaintiff agreed to undertake the work for a couple of months and then found the commission arrangement unsatisfactory, as he put in long hours at the work.

His Honor commented, during crossexamination of the plaintiff, upon the difficult and embarrassing position of the Court in trying to decide between tlie truth of two sworn statements which, were diametrically opposed. That difficulty would not have arisen, he observed, if the two parties in tlie case had reduced their agreement to writing before" they set out to teach "Business in Education."