RATIONED WORK

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 143, 14 December 1933, Page 11

RATIONED WORK

UNEMPLOYED TEACHERS

The system put into operation last year by the Department of Education for the rationing of,. work. .among unemployed teachers was the subject of some adverse criticism at yesterday's meeting of the Wellington. Education. Board. However, a motion that the.system should be altered as it Was . not. in . the interests of thje lower paid, section of teachers was lost by eight votes to four. Colonel T. W-. McDonald proposed that the following, system, bo adopted in lieu of the present rationing scheme:—"(a) That the highest graded unemployed extraining college students be selected to fill all probationary assistantships for the full >psriod of. one year, (b) That all other1 temporary and relieving positions, including additional assistanships, be allocated among the. teachers remaining on the unemployed list in the order of their grading, and be paid according to the relieving teachers' schedule." The effect of this, he said, would be to stabilise school'staffs for a year. In seconding the motion, Mr. P. C. Meyer remarked that the changing of teachers had had a general effect on the efficiency of schools. ■ Mr. J. Clark thought that teachers receiving : £100 should receive the full amount of salary attached to the positions they were holding. The motion,' however, would mean that 70 or 80 teachers would receive permanent employment, while many others would have no employment at all. : Mr. C. H.. Nicholls also opposed the motion on the ground that it was an attempt to give, a number of teachers permanent employment, while,others would be out of .work. The senior inspector, Mr. D. Macaskill, considered that .the, rationing system was working, as well as any system might be expected to work. It was his opinion that as many teachers should be maintained in employment as was possible. The chairman, Mr. T. Forsyth, said that he had interviewed the director, and he had definitely stated that not one penny was being saved. He thought that before the board asked the Department to throw over .the scheme, which had worked very efficiently in the Wellington district, the question should be very carefully considered. . Colonel McDonald, in reply said that his motion meant an extension of the present scheme. He did not agree with members who were of the opinion it would mean work to .some and none to others. The motion .was then put to the meeting and was lost by eight votes to four.