4 6 - Friday, June 14, 1985 - North Shore News Editorial Page. ae ‘News Viewpoint. ' Last straw! he plan by Canada Post to discontinue home mail delivery in new suburbs is a what the perpertually ailing Crown Corpora- tion is doing with its customers’ and the tax- payers’ dollars. . Canada Post president Michael Warren, who also wants another rate increase this month, says the proposed delivery cut is essential if the PO’s deficit of around half a million is to be eliminated by 1987. WHY? In recent years postal rates have skyrock- eted far ahead of ‘general inflation -- while the dependability of first class mail service has slumped to the point where more and inore businesses are being driven to costlier but more reliable: private courier facilities. Yet at the same time an ever greater. propor- tion of revenue is presumably coming from relatively profitable bulk commercial mail- ings, and automation must have. greatly ’ reduced handling costs. . With the U.S. Post Office now making a profit, the finger inevitably points to wages as a possible explanation of Canada Post’s . woes. But 25 years ago, with next-day home delivery Monday through Saturday and the price of a stamp only a tiny fraction of to- day’s, we don’t recall postai employees being a particularly underpaid class compared to ‘the general population. Have they, mean- while, jumped the gun on the rest of us as much as all that?’ _ Mr. . Warren’s latest threat, --. which discriminates sharply against many new home buyers -- is the last straw. It calls for a . tough parliamentary probe right away. Even with Canada Post there comes a time when . enough is enough. . n 4 i - Escort logic? 7" uddled /thinking, we fear, by some North Van City council. members on . escort services. If the latter. are, in. - should be banned. If not, last’ Monday’s: “bylaw. requiring ‘a-$2,000-business licence and ‘the names. of} clients (shudder!) is surely - discriminatory./If council is hauled into court ".under the Charter of Rights, it won’t be for ‘weak morals — just for weak Eogic. —e foe Display Advertising 980-0511 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Newsroom 985-2131 Circulation 986-1337 . \ Subscriptions 985-2131 1139 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4- 7 ‘t bone isl NOAY + WEOWESDAY + FRIDAY Publisher Peter Speck Gencral Manager Roger McAtee Operations Manager Berni Hilliard Marketing Director Advertising Director - Sales "Bob Graham | Dave Jenneson . Circulation Director Advertising Director - Admin. _ _ Bit McGown i Mike Goodsell Production Director Editor-in-Chief Chris Johnson | . Noel Wright Photography Manager Classified Manager Terry Peters | - Val Stephenson North Shors News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule ill, Patt tll, Paragraph lit of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd: and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Second Class Mail Registration Number 3885. Entire contents _ © 1985 North Shore Froe Press Ltd. All rights reserved. Subscriptions, North and West Vancouver, $25. per year. Mailing sates available-on request. . No responsibility accepted for unsoliced material inctuding - manuscripts and picluses which should be accompamed by a slamped. . addressed envelope. Member of the B.C. Press Council ; SW 55,770 (average, Wednesday ' SOA DIISION: _Friday & Sunday) Fee signal for Parliament to find out exactly - "fact, “‘illegally run prostitution houses”’, they - aware, Ne We e SES RON "UE INWELED: Weg “PENSIONS Paananser es ettenee cence s nn S 3 Hane eZee NWT ENE SS ARRESTS URNNRSAS NH Physiotherapy cuts feared Dear Editor: We wish to express our concern regarding the poten- tial’ closure of the UBC School . of Rehabilitation Medicine. - - As I am.sure you are the North Shore Health Depariment feels a strong responsibility toward the general! weil being of the citizens of North and West Vancouver for now and for the future. The physiotherapy services which are offered not only through our own many programs, but which are available through recreation services and privately, are of utmost importance in: the field of rehabilitation in the -com- munity. The ability to pro- vide these services'in the community makes the dif- ference between whether a person may carry on in- ‘dependently at home or has to be institutionalized in a care facility or hespital at public expense. Physio and occupational therapists re- habilitate people in many walks of life, being of most value to handicapped children, young people with sports related injuries and people of all ages who have disabling diseases such as arthritis, M.5. and strokes, and helping people manage successfully and maintain independence with the degenerative changes of ag- ing. . As there is no_ other School of Rehabilitative Medicine available in this province, it is folly to short change our citizens by removing our only source of supply of future physiotherapists in this pro-. vince. It is far from'practical to ‘have to either send B.C, students to another province for training, at their own expense, or to import physiotherapists from another country. For those few students who can find financial means to study in another province, it is not realistic to expect they. -will feel obliged to come back to B.C. The need for physiotherapists far outweighs the supply that we have now. How much worse will it be if we must rely on other provinces and coun- tries training sehabilitation | people for us? Currently, there is a 100% employment rate of all’ newly graduated _ physiotherapists. There are more physio. jobs ‘than: there “are ; qualified physios to fill them. Should not this, then, be an incen- tive to train more applicants to this profession rather: than cutting out the program in this rapidly expanding field?’ We would appreciate your consideration and ° active support. to prevent this closure of- the School. of Rehabilitation Medicine, or to supply a viable alternative so that we will be assured of an availability. of therapists for the future. | . : W.E. MacBean © 7 Medical Health Officer ; North Shore Health’ Department . : and 7 other health care . professionals ~ No proof smaller classes better Dear Editor: The recent letter from Don Burbidge claims that definite evidence exists to the effect that small class size improves the education of pupils. Much research has been carried out on the ef- fects of class size on learning with very mixed results. The research carried out on behalf of teachers’ organiza- tions and similar vested in- terests will always ‘‘prove’’ that smaller classes are better but unbiased researchers are much less definite in their claims although all agree that smaller classes make for happier teachers.- From 1973 to 1983 the pupil/teacher.ratio in British Columbia fell from 22.65 to 17.08, a decrease of 25%, at the same time the standard of education in‘ British Col- umbia dropped: sharply. If the arguments put forward by Don Burbidge are correct there should have been a remarkable increase in education standards during these ten years but alas there is no evidence of this. It would appear that the thoughts on small class size put forward by Don Bur- bidge are not shared by the North Vancouver School Board of which he was a trustee for twelve years and chairman for three years. Although for some years the North Vancouver School District has had smaller than average pupil/teacher ratio it has also had larger than average class size as greater priority has been given to additional specialist support staff than to decreasing class size. While educators such as Don Burbidge cry out for smaller class size no resear- chers can give an optimum for best results. Some years ago a class of fifty was con- sidered too big. Perhaps next year a class of fifteen will be considered too big by the educators. : Don Burbidge makes comparisons with the workload of doctors, lawyers, or sales clerks, but in most of these cases the laws of economics stipulate how many persons are ernployed in a store or law office. Reducing one’s work load by increasing staff will usually lead to reduction in salaries but I have yet to hear of this offer being made by the educators. Ernie Sarsfield North Vancouver