WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 267, 10 November 1934, Page 8

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.

POINTS FROM THE PRESS. THE. TEACHERS' CODE. Bowing to the cooler judgment and broader vision of members of education boards who raised their voices in vigorous protest, the executive of the New Zealand Educational Institute has decided to delete Clause I. of the Code of Professional Conduct, as published in the .September issue of "National Education." The clause declared it to be unprofessional "for any teacher to apply for and accept a position from which, ill the judgment of the New Zealand Educational Institute executive, a member of ths institute has been unjustly dismissed." The clause meant, in effect, that the New Zealand Educational Institute presumed to place itself above the highest Courts in the land. In other words, the representatives of an important branch of the servants of the State considered themselves more competent to decide the iseue as between erring teachers and their duties than impartial tribunals charged with legal authority to determine the case of teachers who for various reasons suffered the penalty of dismissal. There remain one or two clauses in the code, however, which may yet call for some comment; for example, Clause V., which regards rt as an unprofessional act "for any teacher to impose upon another teacher out of the ordinary school hours an excessive and unreasonable amount of work of any kind/' Plainly, under tllie clause of the Code of Professional Conduct, the teachers out-of-sehool hours are not to be extensively devoted - ' to school work. But what of the child? In many instances, the burden of homework is. a positive nightmare to children —and their parents! But the outlook is not without hope, for the dav may come when the Code of Piofessiona. , . Conduct will condemn the teacher who., having his hours out of school safeguarded by .his own code of conduct, expects his pupils to face an excessive and unreasonable amount of essentially class work nut of ordinary school hours! — "Timaru Herald."

"THE NEW DESPOTISM." Mr. Vftrschaffelt's defence of the delegation of legislative powers to Departmental officers misses the point in one or two notable directions. It is. nonsense to say that delegated legislation ii» inevitable under the present Parliamentary system. Legislation could be self-operating, but to-day Parliament foolishly has imposed upon Departments the power to dispense justice or to administer their own regulations to an extent which has undermined self-government. We have eeen this principle proposed in the most dangerous degree within the last week in New Zealand, where the Government ha* already secured the second reading of a bill which would authorise a bureau of agriculture in effect to make regulation* having the force of law and setting at naught "any contact between man and man" which might bo violated by a compliance with them. Mr. Verschaffelt says nothing about this, but relies upon the electrical wiremen'e regulations to illustrate his case. He could not have chosen a more unhappy "meane of defending the tyranny of the bureaucrat, for Ohristchurch lias lately had a visitation from electrical inspectors who have put the citizens to substantial expense for alterations to their electrical wiring system that have been necessitated by the recent and unnecessary requirements of pettifogging bureaucrats. Installations that have been officiallv passed by Government inspectors are subsequently declared to be at fault, and this 'outrageous system of running the citizens into needless expense is sufficient to disgust them utterly with everything Socialistic, even down to State water power. —"Christchurch Star."

NOT WHOLLY GRATIFYING. Reductions in the fixed deposit and overdraft rates as announced to-day have been expected for sonic time. Months ago the Minister of Finance stated that the banks would make changes when tho ratee could bo conveniently rearranged. Borrowers by overdraft will now have the benefit of the lowest rate for very many years. But the reductions do not give ground for unqualified satisfaction. The position, briefly, is that there is moro money than confidence. The trading banks made great advances to the Government to enable it to finance its high exchange policy. These advances were then paid off, not gradually, but in a short period. by the Reserve Bank with Reserve Bank notes and credits. The trading banks have now substantial .credits with tho Reserve Bank. The money is lying idle and tho banks do not need and cannot use a great part of the public deposits which they hold. The exchange policy has really had an inflationary effect (though the Minister of Finance will, of course, deny this), but the inflation is not working out as it was hoped it would because confidence is lacking. People aro not taking their money from the banks and using it elsewhere. Interference with various forms of investment has contributed to this, and further interference is proposed to correct it. But stabilisation of interest at a lower rate and exchange at a higher rate will not achieve all that is desired. The. new political economy of interference (called "planning") may be praised as better than tho old oFder of limited laissez-faire (wo have never had unlimited laissez-faire); but it cannot succeed unless it has a basis. And the only possible basis for any system is that contracts shall be honoured. It is because tho banks have adhered to this principle, that they receive more public money than they want at 2% per cent, while many other forms of investment are passed by.— Wellington "Evening Post."

THE GREATEST AIRMAN. When so staunch an American as Senator W. G. MeAdoo, a former Secretary of tho Treasury, and now president of tho United States Aeronautic Association, says "the Australian deserves the title of the greatest of all annihilators of space since time began." there need be no , hesitation in describing Sir Charles Kingsford Smith as the greatest of all airmen. Ever since his famous dash across, the Atlantic, Colonel Lindbergh, in the eyes of the American people, has been without a peer. Lindbergh has made many notable flights since then, thus adding to 'his reputation, and others of his countrymen, such as Admiral Byrd, Wiley- Tost and Roseoe Turner, have earned the wreath of laurel, but of all tho thousands of men who have flown in tho postwar years- none has such a record of consistent "achievement as Sir Charles Kingsford Smith. He has now set the seal on his fame by flying from New South Wales to California, calling at Suva and Honolulu on the way. This was a repetition of his flight (in reverse) of 1928. In that year he burst into the sea of fame with an " astonishing performance. Overcoming financial difficulties, he, in partnership with Charles Ulm, purchased the Southern Cross, a monoplane that had been flown over Arctic seas, and with .Lyons and Warner as additional, members of tho crow, crossed, after many perilous moments, from California to Queensland, a distance of 8000 miles. Considering the circumstances six years ago, it was a magnificent achievement. That wns the beginning of the story of the Southern Cross, which afterwards carried King'sford Smith across Australia, across the Tasman Sea, to England, across the Atlantic from east to west, and across the American continent to his original starting place in California. Kingsford Smith has been a remarkably successful blazer of the trail. In his latest venture, with the Lady Southern Cross, he is the first to fly tho Pacific from the Australian to the Western American ooaet. —Dunedin- "Evening Star."