TEACHERS, SALARIES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 205, 27 August 1904, Page 4

TEACHERS, SALARIES.

LOWER GRADES TO BE (By Telegraph.-Pa^ ae^ WELLINGTON, thi* i.. A lengthy debate on the pre____ __~ of sa.ar.__ to primary schoolIJB&G arose in the House yesterdJ 5 1 Kit—^^ Members on both .ides of the Ife »rged increases m the salaries of St lower paid teacners, and the Pr«-J ' who is also Minister f or 1M, 1 „_? ,,, agreed that this was necessary Mr. J Hanan opened the tt_.(*Bsif_. movmg to reduce the vote of mSpm for primary schools by £1 as an i___7 tion that the salaries paia to D X?** school teachers are inadequate Mr Hogg urged that country* teichiii I should reccve larger house afiSS as well as higher salaries * UOwta «i Mr. Massey sup r orted th* The peop c in the outdistiicts suß serious disabilities, paifieularly ™ _? gard to education. Many children w__ growing up in the outdistricts _bsolh_! ly without education. M™% & c buildings were absolutely th? fit for children to he in forK W !__ T 3 - a . day \ He declare * that m th. colonial scale had been mtrddZd teachers were in a worse position a.**! garded the average wages paid than __. fore. . . ■ Mr. Wilford urged that primary schob. teachers should be better paid, declarS .hat they were the worst paid of ail th_ civil servants. ' Mr. Symes brought up the cla__s 6. the backbiocks, considering that not a 31 u ngl f_ > echnical or secondary .*&& should be erected till every child in thi uackblocka had a Behool which it eoi__ attend. ™- This housed Mr. Baume, who m<iil out that the children in the backblo<l_ were not the only children who deserved consideration. It was important that the children in the cities should __ -aught to become skilful workmen. Wj heard a lot about _t -eemed to lum that the pioneers 61 tfr day wanted all the advantages of town life as well as those of the COnhtijf without the disadvantage, of city __.& tie considered it a wrong principle thai teachers' salaries should be absolutely dependent on the average attetdance, 4 matter which very often was altogether apart from the teachers' control He urged the importance of taking; ac_ioti which would result in good male teachr drs going into the profession. The Premier said that the gentle pressure brought to bear on him to increase teachers' salaries was much appreaated, but while he was asked to do thi. lie was continually being told that thert was undue increase in expenditure. ji_# went on tc say that the teachers ot thi .mailer schools were the ohes who had. _ui_ered under legislation passed wftk -eference to teachers' salaries. The Inspector-General reported it -«-iy last tnat he considered salariea too low, but they could not be iraisii without an all-round increase. _fc-ir .ould be done by adopting the Bedoni schedule of the Act. In his. opinion, the sole teachers of schools of froih 15 to 23 pupils were the worst off. He would favourably consider bringing-tlie second schedule of the Act into operation if the prosperity of the colony continued, but he would not bring in that schedule as it at present.;existedj; fbrxv che reason that an injustice would still oe continued to teachers of small country schools. The law would reiju-re'':fe oe amended to remove the faults that ac knew existed in respect to the sali.ies in these schools. Mr Baume: Do away with the averse attendance. The Premier: That will not do it. He proposed to bring down a bill aflie-U-ifig. . the present scale of teachers' Salaries'in the direction of giving teachers of small schools of the class mentioned by the Inspector-General larger i-dines than they at present revived. The Vernier went on to say that it would-m a; danger to the education systeni if we allowed male teachers to leave the profession, as they were at present. Be warned members that he would resist, any attempt to increase the salaries of the hig'er paid teachers; or to ifiake a general all-round advance when i&is bill came down. , . Mr Fowlds, referring to schools in t|ie backblocl-s, pointed out that the 4bSt of education per head in these districts was much larger than in the cities. With the object of reducing the: cost and increasing efficiency, he siiggfc-ted the establishment of central schools.in country districts. Mr Fowlds further urged the importance of the immediate establishment of training schools a_td • . teachers' superannuation fund. ,<; Mr Jas. Allen complained fiat many teaehe-s, after long terms of service, bad had thcii 1 salaries 'educed. He loowa with anxiety on the increasing proportion of female teachers, and quotedtw Mosely (America) Education CoiW-Us-sion's report in support of his contention that a large increase of fe™ l chers in any country was detrunCTtaU The obiect which Mr Hanan had in ▼** viz.. havipg the matter ventilated, har in» been attained, the amendment w put and negatived on the voices. ,