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Changes in Ontario's school law which passed second reading in the Legislature yesterday reduced the age at which children can be ad-- mitted to kindergarten from four to three years, in face of objection from the Opposition, and amended the Board of Reference Act so that the Miftister of Education may in-- quire into dismissal of a teacher and may direct continuance of his contract for a year and may direct a judge of a county or district court to act as a Board of Reference. Where a Board of Reference recommends 'Ccontinuance of the teacher's contract, the Minister may order it continued under penalty to the school board for non--compliance of stoppage of Provincial Govern-- ment payments to the board. "We propose to put teeth in the act," explained Hon. Dr. Duncan McArthur, Minister of Education, "so if there is a recommendation from the Board of Reference it can ne put into operation." Objection by Mr. Henry. H. E. Welish (Prog. Con., Hast-- ings East), said he felt, in connec-- tion with the Board of Reference law amendment, that "that affair at Runnymede has done the teach-- ing profession some harm. I wonder what the pupils in the school think." Kindergarten Age--Cut Voted by Legislature "Isn't there any responsibility for the parents at all or is the State going to take charge of the children when they're born?" was the objec-- tion to the three--year age for kin-- dergarten -- pupils expressed _ by George S. Henry (Prog. Con., York East). Hon. Dr. McArthur replied that the schools of England had gone much further along this line. Bills to continue cheese, hog and sugar beet subsidies passed commit-- tee stage, and while Col. T. L. Ken-- nedy (Prog. Con., Peel) praised bonuses and urged a subsidy on eggs, Premier Conant observed that "the bonus syvstem is fundam>ntaliv Lowering to Three Years Favored:; Act Amended Permitting Minister to Act on Teacher Dismissals ®F. R. Oliver (Lib., Grey South) fie. clared bonuses were up to the Do-- minion Government, but insisted: "Bonuses are paid as an equalizer, and I'm not so sure we won't have to continue bonuses after the war and perhaps widen their applica-- tion." unsound. Bonus on beef, eggs, po-- tatoes--where is it going to stop?" Paid as an Equalizer. The bill to appoint a committee of not more than 25 to consider social security and rehabilitation of members of the armed forces and civilians also passed committee stage, as well as the bill to provide a 55--cent subsidy for sugar beets. Agriculture Minister P. M. Dewan stating that Canada supplied 20 per cent of her own sugar needs through this crop, thus saving ship-- ping. The provision of State scholarships also was approved in commilteeo., The basis for expanding _ rural Hydro service and for the consoli-- dation of all rural power districts into one with greater uniformity of power rates in these areas, is contained in an amendment to the Power Commission Act, Vice--Chair-- man W. L. Houck said in the Legis-- lature yesterday. His bill was given second reading over the objection of the Opposition which sought to have the bill held over until certain points had been clarified, The Opposition took exception to a section of the amendment dealing with investment of Hydro funds. It was claimed, that under the new provision, the Hydro Commission could invest its funds in any type of bond or security, thus departing from a practice as old as Hydro it-- self, It was explained that the sec-- tion dealing with funds investment was aimed at permitting Hydro to invest in Dominion of Canada Vic-- tory bonds. It is likely the section will be amended in committee stage to make it more specific. Section 8 of the bill provides for the amalgamation of -- rural power district funds upon the amalgama-- tion of rural power districts, and Section 9 sets out that where rural power districts are amalgamated, it Mr. Houck predicted that the changes in the act would also lay the basis for a big postwar rural Hydro program. In 1941 81 rural power districts operated with a surplus of $408,000 and 103 operated with a deficit of $194,000. Move to Consolidate : Rural Hydro Districts _ APRILC 6 may be desirable to retain an exist-- ing difference in rates between what were formerly complete rural power districts and are now sections of a larger district, This section au-- thorizes such a practice.