TEACHERS' SALARIES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 27, 26 October 1907, Page 4

TEACHERS' SALARIES.

Tiikre is no/ class of people, in tlie community more worthy of the sympathetic attention of the public than the teachers in the primary schools.' They-perform duties, of .the .highest importance, and'' 'they receive salaries more, inadequate to the value of services rendered 1 th ! ah ; the' rewards'of-any' other calling. . Their ilives are often beset, so far as the country teachers are., concerned;-! witlr harassmeiits of'-a thoroughly disheartening character, and their very means' of subsistence are; at- the mercy of mischance's for which they are not responsible, but for which they are made, by official rules, to suffer as for neglect or'ill-perform-ance of duties.' This last handicap, : a' very old grievance of the teaching profession, was discussed by the local Education 'Board at ' its meetingon Thursday. The persistent currency of epidemics throughout the Dominion during- many months past has" seriously affected, the, school-attendances, and has resulted in sev.eral schools dropping in grade. This, in its turn, has necessitated the reduction of the staffs in ■many, places,, and the ultimate; dismissal, of many, teachers. . •' ; Some such regulations as those which ■have. ' so calamitously affected many assistant teachers are obviously necessary, and it should be added that provision is made for a measure of mitigation of their effect wh'e~ the fallingoif; in school-attendance proceeds froni epidemics of sickness amongst the children. That mitigation, however; as was plainly demonstrated at'the Education Board's meeting, is far from securing the teachers, against the injustices possible under the existing [system of school-grading. The Education •Boards' are in this unfortunate posi-tion,-that their finances and fall with the attendances, and, when they lack the funds, they cannot come to the rescue of the teachers..' The suggestion was made by one member of the local Board that the Board should not approach the. Government for relief from an -intolerable injustice unless they had a scheme ready which would do justice to the teachers without doing injury to the principle of prudent finance. ;We are glad that the Board rejected this view and decided to represent the matter to the Government as 'a matter of urgency," leaving ' the Department to find 'the remedy! Although prudence and' economy are cardinal requirements in the adminis- ! tration of a Department which handles over £800,000 of the public money every year, there is a clear line be-tween-ieconomy and cheese-paring. It ! is economy that frames protective regulations against leakage and extravagance, but it is cheese-paring that, insists on their rigid enforcement when rigid enforcement means undeserved' hardship to worthy servants, or that yields only inadequate and grudging modifications when modifications ore required by justice. The Minister for Education was declared by Mr. :Hogg to be enormously busy just, at present, but he cannot be too busy to listeu to the Board's .'deputation. There cannot be within his concerns any'more urgent and important matter than, 'this lamentable 'misfortune of the teachers.