THE PARK CASE

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 2, 3 July 1922, Page 8

THE PARK CASE

"AN ANOMALOUS SITUATION"

STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER,

"The casse of Miss Park is in itself trifling as compared with the far-reaching results that follow or the judgment of Sir John Salmond," says the Hon. C. J. Parr (Minister of Education) in referring to the judgment of .the Supreme Court in the Park case. ."The regulation giving the Minister power to cancel the certificate of a teacher has been' in operation in New Zealand for over forty years, and has always been' acted ■ upon. The Judge aays now that the regulation is not good in law. I think that every previous Minister of Education has acted upon it. It was made originally in 1878. .

"The regulations give the Minister power to issue a certificate of competency and fitness to a teacher. Sir John Salmond's judgment says that the Minister cannot subsequently .in any way control this certificate, no matter what happens. I suppose there are over twenty toachers who at different times in the past have had' their certificates taken away by tho Minister of the day because of prross misbehaviour. For instance, a' fow teachers have committed crimes which landed them iri jraol. Previous Ministers and myself have taken away their certificates undet the regulation which is now declared to. be ultra vires. One teacher (Miss Woitzel) wae convicted in the Police Court of open sedition and dismissed by the board. Her certificate was taken, away. If Sir John Salmond's decision is sound law, then it follows that in all these cases the ■Department and the Minister of Education for the time being have acted unlawfully, and it would seem to me as if we may be called upon to'restore their certificates to.people admittedly quite unworthy. . . . "In short,' the effect is that although the teacher fell from his high estate and become a forger, seditionist, or even murderer, the certificate of fitness that the Minister has given him is to : stand for life, and cannot be withdrawn. In the interests of the teachers themselves such a position should not be allowed to remain where it is. Common sense and ordinary decency alike require that a certificate of fitness, which is a' variable and) inconstant quantity, should bo subject to some controlling power." For the present, he could not say anything further. The Solicitor-General was advising him in the matter, and was now considering the position. A point to be considered., was that there were hundreds of Native school and private school teachers who did not come under the education board at all.V It appeared that under the judgment, the Minister could not in any way control the certificate issued to such teachers '.

In reference to Miss Weitzel, the secretary of the Wellington Education Board writes:—"The statement that Miss Weitzel was a certificated teacher in the service of the Wellington Education Board having appeared on more than one occasion in the press, it appears to he necessary to state the facts. At the time of her prosecution-Miss Weitzel was a "B" student-in-training at the Training College, Kelburn, that is, she had not served as a • pupil-teacher or probationer, nor was her course of training complete. On her' conviction , her studentship was teiminated by the,board under existing ragu lations. As stated above herj course of training was incomplete, the authorities .had made no recommendation fo* the issue of a certificate, no certific-ite Pad been issued to her. and therefore none could be taken away. She had not licen at any time a teacher in the service of th» board." ■-„.-' '•'.