TEACHERS SMOKING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22819, 28 August 1937, Page 17

TEACHERS SMOKING

Sir,—Mr. Donnell's substitute for a smoke will not appeal to teachers as a body. During a rest interval all the headmaster arid staff want is a quiet "spell" for a smoke and a glimpse at tho daily newspaper, or a chat. The Education Board's ukase is childish and that body might bo better employed in more important activities. An most men smoke, the board is up against public opinion—just like the City Council, which is forcing the Domain Drive project on the public. Public bodies are apt to be like that; wisdom, they think, will die with them. K.H. Sir, —Tho assertion of J. Henrys in Wednesday's Hkrai.i) that school hours are from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m., with one hour for luncheon, is definitely not based on fact. " Duty " teachers will bear me out that their hours are from 8.30 a.m. till 4 p.m., with 15 minutes for a hurried lunch, and as they must bo on playground duty all tho time, it follows that teachers are deprived of a smoke for seven and a-half hours. Can any sane aud broad-minded board bo thus congratulated on its Hitlerite policy of muzzling its sorvants? What inducement is there now for a teacher to remain after school, coaching in football and cricket and concert work, or to givo up his Saturdays at home to control school games and helj) to_ entertain visiting teams, or to assist in gala day functions to raiso money for school purposes. Do tho public realiso that this prohibition not only applies to teachers, but to evorv human being entering school grounds. What will the fond fathers do on gala days and at other school functions hold on school premises when they seo displayed over tho entrance gates, "No smoking allowed "? Tho enterprising school committees have thus received nasty setbacks, for money seemingly in their grasp will thus bo diverted into other avenues, where " smoking " will bo allowed. It is to be hoped that not only teachers but . every broad-minded person will unite and strongly protest to tho board that such a curtailment of freedom is not in keeping with the grand traditions of the British race. Liberal-minded,