TEACHERS' SALARIES COMMISSION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 131, 4 June 1901, Page 5

TEACHERS' SALARIES COMMISSION.

YESTERDAY'S EVIDENCE,

The Teachers' Salaries Commission resumed yesterday afternoon. Mr W. N. Mcintosh, headmaster of the Onehunga public school, was in favour of a colonial scale, because the rate of pay would not be subject to alteration. 'lie objected to the increased staff if it entailed a reduction of salary. The alternative scale of staff compared favourably with Auckland, and he favoured this. He objected to the proposed colonial scale, as it would result in reductions to a number of schools. *With few exception- be did not think female teachers should receive the same salaries as males doing equal work, because they bad not the same responsibilities as men. As a rule they could not control upper classes of boys as well, they could not stand the strain as well,* and they did not, as a rule, make a life occupation of teaching. He did not approve of a superannuation scheme, but favoured a pension scheme. He thought the salaries of first assistants should be three-fifths of a bead teacher's salary-, second assistants two-thirds, and so on. He thought that house rent should be added to salaries, and that teachers should pay rent to the Boards where bouses had been erected. He did not approve of bonuses on certificates. He thought the syllabus overcrowded.

By Mr Davidson: He thought, that a school from 40 to 65 would require a head teacher and a junior assistant at a salary of £GO or £70 a year. He thought the suggested salary of £90 too high. He considered 45 pupils the limit for a sole teacher. He thought that it was unnecessary to reduce tbe head teachers' salaries in order to bring those of the first assistants to the same level as the salaries paid in Otago. By Mr Luke: In his opinion his assistants were not paid as much as they should be paid. By Mr Gilfedder: He.accounted for the preponderance of female teachers by their relative cheapness. There was not sufficient inducement for males to enter the profession. Tbe majority of lady teachers could not maintain discipline as well as men. By Mr Hill: He thought that the B and A certificates should be abolished, and that there should be but two classes. By Mr Hogg: With equal chances at salary he would prefer a country school to his present position. He did not think that a sole teacher of a school of forty should be paid at the same rata as the first assistant of a town schooi of 600. Mr Hugh Campbell said there were three points which occurred to him: First, that there should be equality of pay for equal work; second, that there should be certainty as to emoluments, and that there should be a sufficiency of emolument. Young men taking up the life should have a knowledge of their prospects, and the emoluments should be sufficient to enable the recipient to maintain a status equal to others pf the same standing and education. It, was impossible that every teacher should have a high salary, but there ought to be a proportion of positions to which ambitious men eou}d attain. Unless the salaries paid were high enough to keep the best men in the profession it would become degraded. By Mr McKenzie: He would pay a female teacher doing the same work as a man at the same rate. By Mr Davidson: He thought that teachers doing the same work in Auckland and in other parts of the colony should be paid at the same rate. He thought that the best class of young men who entered the profession left it because the highest salaries were inadequate. By Mr Hill: He thought that the scale would be of as much advantage to teachers in one district as in another, and that the cost of living in various districts did not vary very materially. By Mr Hogg: He thought it would help the system of primary education if the prizes'were made higher than they are to-day. The best way to do this would be'to make the primary schools merge into the secondary. He did not favour a limit of age for teachers. He thought that the education in primary schools was not as-useful as it ought to be. He would prefer to have the children taught to think for •themselves. : , -_

Mr G. Squirrell, Chairman of the City Schools Committee, expressed his'approval of the proposed change in staffing. Of 789 teachers in the Auckland district schools, 484 were females. Females broke down frequently under the strain of teaching. He objected to the reduction of the higher salaries now paid, and thought masters of the larger schools were by.no means over paid. The suggested'reductions vvould debar good men from entering the service. The want of a regular method of promotion had in bis opinion as much to do with the scarcity of young men entering tbe profession, as had the question of salaries. The preponderance of women in the profession was accounted for by the fact, that more of them offered their services and from economy the Board were compelled to accept them. He thought that female teachers should not receive the same remuneration as males. The allowances paid to his committee were

ample

To Mr Hogben: Under the latest scale of the Auckland Education Board the headmasters of four of the city schools would suffer, but if a bouse allowance were added this would result in an increase.

Miss M. Newman, speaking on behalf of the infant mistresses, was pleased to see that a colonial scale was proposed. The infant mistress was really head of a department which sometimes included one half or in larger schools' one third of the pupils. She was responsible not only for her own teaching, but also for that of her pupil teachers. She had a peculiar responsibility in that the children spent more of tbeir school life under her than under any other teachers. They spent three years under her, and these three years either made or marred tbe pupil. The infant teacher required a peculiar natural fitness for tbe work, which made tbe number scarcer. Infant mistresses should receive higher salary for that fitness. Regarding women teachers as a whole the proposed scale showed thai a teacher might hold the same position for t years, and yet receive no increase in pay, notwithstanding her greater efficiency, and the fad*fc that her classes were growing. Lady

teachers thought that they were underpaid, and that higher positions should be advertised, as in the ease of men. The only reason: . __*. Knew for the. discrepancy between the salaries paid to men and to women iv the country was that the Board desired to induce male teachers to go to country schools.

Air G. Large, representing country teachers, said that under the new scale, he lost about £3 per year. By the new scale schools above 300 steadily lost. The minimum salary he would give to a married male teacher in the country would be £150 a year. A single man could not live on less that £120 a year. The minimum for a female teacher should be £100 a year.

.Air Stewart stated that under tlie second scale the witness would gain, considerably, and that the first, scale was practically out of court.

-Mr Hogben explained that neither scale was out of court. The first waa put in.by him before the Commission as part of his evidence, and was not under tlie authority of the Department. The alternative scheme was put in in exa.ctly the same way.* The Commission then adjourned.