Professors and their Salaries.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19221, 30 January 1928, Page 8

Professors and their Salaries.

We have repeatedly drawn attention to the ridiculously low salaries paid to University professors and lecturers, and it is encouraging to note that other papers are taking up the case. The Wellington Dominion of Saturday last refers to our recent articles, and after mentioning most of the facts we have put forward to show that the present salaries are not creditable to the country, adds that it is "not merely a "bread-and-butter question of fair " treatment for the professors " but " a "matter of educational efficiency, of " having and retaining in our presence, "and at our disposal, men of intellectual attainments whose value to "the country should far overleap the "boundaries of the University class- " rooms, and assist us in various ways "to solve our national problems." The plain fact is that, whereas to-day the average salary of a New Zealand University professor is £BSO, thirty or forty years ago, when the purchasing power of money was much greater, the average salary was over £IOOO. It must be remembered, too, that the University aims at doing away with external examinations, and whatever one may think about the change, it means that the responsibilities of professors will in the future be greatly increased. As a further argument the Dominion adds, somewhat unkindly, that the professoriate "consists largely of elderly "men who have been too long here to " try their fortunes elsewhere," " or of "young men who, though they may "possess the academic qualifications, "lack teaching ability." We do not think this is a fair generalisation, but in any case this much is certain: that the present professors and lecturers, however they may compare with those of other countries, are not paid nearly as much as their qualifications entitle them to. We hope that the Dominion's article will help to stimulate interest in this matter in the North as we have endeavoured to do in the South, for it is only by enlightened public opinion that anything can be done to remedy the situation. The professors themselves have already drawn attention to the injustice they suffer, but men in their position cannot be expected to start an agitation for higher pay, and unfortunately the constitution of the present Pariiament does not encourage the hope that their case will have an immediate and sympathetic hearing in that quarter. Apart from any question of efficiency in the University, the public should realise that men who are perhaps the be6t qualified and most distinguished of the State's servants are being treated abominably.