PROFITING BY WAR

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 121, 24 May 1941, Page 11

PROFITING BY WAR

PACIFIST SCHOOL TEACHERS OUTSPOKEN BOARD MEMBER (P.A.) CHRISTCHURCH, Friday. The term "war profiteers*' was applied in a discussion by the Canterbury Education Board to-day to school teachers who had been exempted from military service hecause they were pacifists or conscientious objectors. Such men. it was said, could apply for positions vacated temporarily by other teachers joining up to fight, get the jobs and get a higher salary with them. The report of a committee put hefore the board suggested that the position could be met by asking the Education Department to add a clause to the regulations governing these positions stipulating that conscientious objectors and pacifists exempted by the Armed Forces Appeal Board should not be eligible for appointment to positions carrying a higher salary and temporarily vacated by soldier teachers. The committee's report was adopted unanimously. When the report of the appointments committee containing this suggestion was before the board in committee, Mr. R. Wild (chairman) suggested that it be given to the newspapers. Mr. R. Smith opposed this on the ground that the position should not be made public until the Department was advised. "It should be made public," said Mr. W. T. Langley. Men who were putting forward paltry excuses in appeals against war service could step into jobs vacated bv men who were giving .their lives for their country. Only teachers on a lower salary at present could apply for jobs vacated, said Mr. Wild. Those exempted from service could thus become "war profiteers" and make more money than they had before.