TEACHERS' SALARIES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIV, Issue 249, 20 October 1893, Page 4

TEACHERS' SALARIES.

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—l waß struck with amazement when I heard of the Board's uniquo arrangement to replenish their exhausted coffers at tho lady teachers' expense (for they are in the majority). For the space of three years they have been buoyed up with the hope that a salary scheme in their favour was to bo issued. Time after time it has bo6n deferred, and now bhe mnney which was in hand has beon misapplied bo building purposes, and a deficit is the result. They are coolly informed bhe Board proposes to retain half their pay the first

month, all the second, if ill, to make up the deficiency. They cannot absent themselves more than a week on illness without a doctor's certificate of the veracity of their statement, which entails additional j expenses, for in many eases they could ! doctor themselvea, but now pecuniary j anxiety ia to be added. While I have uo sympathy with loafers, the Board has certainly guarded itseif against imposition, and the salaries of the majority of teachers is none too large. At Wellington, Iheardwith pleasure, the salaries of teachers of both sex were to bo raised 10 per cent. Lady teachers iv Auckland must be asking themselves will the good times ever come to ue ? I would reply, " Yes." You have the power now, as Sir Goorge Grey informed ! you, of having grievances redressed. You may not be able to nominate members for i the Board of Education, but you have j it to vote for men for Parliament j who will advocate a universal scheme of payment through the colony, an equality of j payment to men aud women._ _ If this wore done by educational authorities, it would | set an example for payment in other! branches, and the competition bottveen | men aud womon in the labour spheres would cease, each being paid equally. If better results were obtained by mon, mon would be employed, and women would be shut out, instead of the other sex. Men now Bay women monopolise the labour market. It iB their selfishness thab has led to ib. I certainly hope there are but few lady teachers like the ono I read of in the " Herald," who have the munificent sum of £20 per annum. If they take half their pay first month, tbe whole the second, 1 don't know how they will pay their doctor's bill if even on the most reduced scale.—l am, etc., An Obsebvkk.