TEACHERS' SALARIES.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 10635, 20 April 1900, Page 2

TEACHERS' SALARIES.

KEPLY BY THE EDUCATION BOARD. At Wednesday , !* meeting of the Education Board, the chairman made the following statement, which waa approved by the members : —With regard to Mr Laurenson's letter in "i'he l'ress" of the 7tii inst.. the chief question at issue appears to be the total amount of reductions made in the nalaries of the Lyttelton bclwol teachers. It is true that in his first letter Mr Laureneon made passing reference to the bonuses granted by the- Board, but it is equally true, and, perhaps, more to the point, that in computing tho saving effected he omitted to take these bonuses into account, thereby leading readers to believe the loss to be £80, whereas it is £53. As these bonuses will at least continue- until May, 1901, when, if necessary, the question of* their renewal trill be considered, their existence cannot be so easily set aside as your correspondent would wislt. Mr Laurenson goes on. to state that schools with an average attendance of from 400 to 500 have been almost crippled by the new scale. This, in face of the fact that at 491 the new scale allows an aeeifltant master in place of a pupil teacher, and at 501 an assistant mistress on the same conditions. The difference between the •alary of an assistant and that of a pupil teacher in itawslf goes a long way towards meeting tho total present redaction in ealariea From this point of view, and when it it remembered that, owing to the decrease in attendance, the Board was called upon to reduce its expenditure by about £2000 per annum, it can hardly be said that the Lyttelton school has been more severely dealt with than the Board's circumstances necessitated. Unfortunately, the average at Lyttelton has fallen below 501, and the school, tlterefore, does not at present reap any advantage from the extra staff allowed; but should the school regain something like it* normal attendance, or even, if it should fell below 450, it would at once feel the relief the new regulations were intended to give, a* compared with the scale superseded. The Board is quite with* Mr Laurenson in h:» sympathy for the teacher* whose saline* are lower than they should be, having regard to the services? rendered, and, indeed, in personally urging, when in Wellington, as the Board's representative at tl>e Education Conference, tbe absolute necessity for an increase in tho capital ion grant, I but voiced the unanimous opinion of all tbe members that teaehorß were not receiving adequate remuneration. It is unnecessary to follow Mr Latireneott in his comparisons •bowing how the reductions affect the different sclkhils. There were circumstances connected *vith the city schools, as also with some of the small country ones, which precluded any general proportionate reduction, a fact upon which the Board, in its report, placed some omnhasi*.