BAN ON SMOKING IN SCHOOLS

Southland Times, Issue 23306, 16 September 1937, Page 4

BAN ON SMOKING IN SCHOOLS

Consideration By

Board MANY LETTERS OF PROTEST MEETING CALLED TO ORDER (United Press Association) AUCKLAND, September 15. “I am honestly sorry for teachers if this prohibition is to jeopardize their sense of loyalty,” said Mr T. U. Wells (chairman of the Auckland Education Board) when the board was giving further consideration to the ban on teachers smoking at school at its meeting today. The matter was raised by numerous letters of protest from school committees and teachers’ associations. Mr Wells’s reference was to a letter from the Auckland branch of the Educational Institute which stated that the ban has caused discouragement, if not resentment, among teachers, and this was likely to react to the detriment of the wider fields of voluntary service undertaken by teachers. It was suggested that the board should reconsider its decision which was jeopardizing the loyalty and co-operation which animated the service. _ The chairman remarked that judging by the amount of protest smoking must be much more prevalent among teachers than when he retired some years ago. He conceded that after consideration of the ban he found that perhaps some hardship was being caused to school committees and to teachers who went to school early to prepare work, or stayed after pupils had gone home. If it was the wish of the board he was willing to give notice of motion permitting smoking in these cases. EXAMPLE TO CHILDREN This was a retraction of the previous steps, Mr Wells added, and ignored the grounds ,on which the ban had been first imposed, namely, the danger of fires. Teachers should not set an example of smoking to children, he said. The spectacle of teachers strolling around the playground smoking their pipes was degrading to the profession. Smoking was not permitted in wellconducted offices. The Hon. A. Burns, M.L.C., suggested the matter would be settled harmoniously if smoking was forbidden only in the presence of children, thus relaxing the ban in common rooms. In reply the chairman remarked that teachers should be out patrolling the playgrounds. He classed smoking with drinking and card playing as things that, although they were sometimes permitted in the home, should be discouraged as part of a teacher’s duty. Mr W. J. Campbell stated that he had nothing to say until the chairman’s motion was considered at the next meeting. “I know what is at the bottom of all this and I intend to expose it,” he said. “There is too much backscratching on this board and it has been going on for some time.” * Mr W. I. Bowyer: I hope you are not referring to me. At this stage the chairman called the meeting to order. The matter will be considered at the next meeting of the board.