SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13737, 19 May 1910, Page 9

SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS.

| ♦ ! CONFERENCE AT WELLINGTON. i (PRESS ASSOCIATION" TELEGRAM.) | WELLINGTON, May 17. j The members of the New Zealand j Secondary School Assistants'' Associa- | tion, inaugurated last year, held their ! iirst annual meetiii:. at thc Wellington i College to-day. Mr E. W. Andrews * (president), or Napier, presided, and ". the following delegates were present:— Miss W.illac" and Mis.s Morrison (Auck- ! land). Miss GifTord (Wanganui), Messrs : Manon and Turner (Auckland), Watson (Wanganui). Marty n, Pope, Renner, ! Gifford, Heine, Caxadus and Smithson i ' iWe!lin_.ton), Andrews, Philips, Mcßae : and Short (.Napier), and Fit. (Gore). ! The executive's annual report stated I that the Defence authorities had been j successfully approached to secure simplification of cadet returns, and | the executive had also interviewed j the members of> the Superannuation ! Board and the Education Department |on several matters that came up for rdiscussion at the inaugural meeting, i and there was reason to .believe that the wishes of the Association would be favourably considered. With regard to secondary school teachers coming under the Court of Anpeal, it seemed that .some of the headmasters and assistants did not favour such a proposal, but the matter should be further discussed. Tho balance-sheet showed that the Association possessed a credit balance of £11 6s 4a. There were sixty paid-up members. The most noticeable points in the return covering the salaries of one- hundred and twelve teachers were, continued the report, that female, assistants are wretchedly paid, and that male assistants seem to have little chance of reaching the retiring age. Only three were between the ages of fifty-one and sixty, and only one was i over sixty. What had become of tho rest s Tho report was adopted. The Conference resolved to request secondary school authorities to advertise vacancies in at least one newspaper in each of the four centres. It was also resolved that the Minister of Education should be approached with a view to extending to secondary school teachers the advantages of the Court of Appeal Act. A motion was brought forward by Mr Gifford (Auckland) —"That the Association's headquarters be movable." It was ultimately decided to adhere to the original method of locating the Association's, headquarters in Wellington. Upon the motion of Mr Pone, it was decided to brin*_* under the notice of the Minister of Education an anomaly in the wording of the Superannuation Act which prevents a teacher in service before the passing of the Act from coming under its provisions unless he should be appointed to a new position. Mr Maher moved —"That the Association endeavour to secure amendments in the Act embodying the principle that secondary school teachers be entitled to retire at the age of fifty-five or upon completing thirty years' service, and that the pension be oomnuted upon the ■ highest salary earned during any three consecutive years, instead of the salary received during the last three years of his service." The motion was adopted. The following officers were elected:— President, Mr H. I. D. Mahon (Auckland): vice-president, Miss G. Honderson (Christchurch); secretary and treasurere, Mr A. Heine (Wellington); committee. Messrs A: C. Gifford (Wellington), E. W. Andrews (Napier) and H. Alexander. (Dunedin); auditor, Mr J. C. Pope (Wellington). '