TEACHERS' SALARIES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 341, 30 October 1908, Page 8

TEACHERS' SALARIES.

THE NEW SCALE. , . THE MINISTER'S, SECOND POSITION. ! . (CONTBIEOTED.) ' > ■ - - ' Owing 'doubtless to the support which tha press and members of' Parliament have'given to The Dominion in its contention that the Education Act! Amendment Act means something vastly different from what" the Minister and his Departmental officers : say ' it means, the Minister .has changed his ground, end changed it very decidedly for the worse. His first position was based on the 'interpretationVof Section 7, Sub-section 3. Now Buch interpretation was either right or wrong. • If right, then so much the better for the •Minister's law; if wrong, then the worst that could be said of him was that he had made a mistake.. But he has shifted his ground from" the comparative' security of which meTe interpre--1 tation, of a statute afforded ;him to the absolutely dangerous ground of political jugglery, arid the Minister has been -.endeavouring •to cloud the issue as far as tho - public, are concerned. .'■ _-_ ' For what in actual fact, does the Minister 6ayp First, that the average. attendance of a school is.,taken as the basis for grading that school; second, that in the^old scale certain artificial and mathematical limits were assigned each grade, thus:—• Average attendance. Grade. i to is o 16 to 20 1 ' 21 to 25, . 2 26 to 32 3 ' 33 to 40 ' 4 41 to 50 ' - 5 " " • 51 to 60 6 ' ' And so on. rhird, that in the nejv scale the sa,me basis, i.e., average attendance, is taken, butthat other 'artificial and mathematical ,limits are assigned to' the grades, thus: — • 'Average attendance. Grade. 1 to 8 . O-r 9 to 15 .................. 1 .16 to 25' ,;2 - ' ■ 26 to 35 J.. '3: 36 to so • 4 81 to 120 5 ' And so on. Now, solely becauso th 6 artificial,..limits thus assigned to grades have been'changed— and this not from any inherent, alteration in the size of the schools themselves—it iB clear that some schools formerly in grade 0 are now in grade 1; some formerly in grade 1 are now in grade 2; while others, formerly .in. grade 5, are now m grade 4; and so" on. That is to say ; by the merest accident of a fresh designation, and /from the, fact that 30 grades in the old scale-are replaced by--15 grades in tho new scale, the Schools have, a different grade. Now, the Minister, says that where the grade has gone "up"—that is, from "0" to "1," or from'"l to "2"—. new positions have been created, teachers filling those, positions are to receive the mini-, mum salary on January 1, 1909,-and, there- , after, proceed to the maximum; But when a school has a fall in grades say from'grade 5 -to grade 4, then,' the Min-. jster_ says, there is no alteration-in and it must be assumed that he means there is no rise in grade, for there assuredly is an alteration in grade—no fresh "positions are therefore created, and teachers are to receive £s'per annum on their present salar- •. ies. ,-

Incidentally, it may be remarked that, if the Minister is correctly reported, he holds that a school in grade 3 (old scheme) and in grade 3 (new scheme) las gone up a grade I. and- its ; teachers are to benefit;- but there is such a depth of abstraction iu this belief that one-is not prepared to attempt to interpret it in the light of everyday common sense.

rhe- Mimster has deliberately drawn a red herring; across;" the -scent. "To. anyone "ildfc seised in the intricacies of the" schedules of the Education Act," to say that a school has gone "up in grade" is to'_lead them to believe that the.' school has increased in size; that the • duties of teachers have ' increased ; and that,, therefore,- they 'desene the increase' which..the' Minister -says - they are to have. Conversely, to 'say 'that-a school ;has not faltered its grade" or, what is worse, "has gone down" in' grade, ,'is "to lead, .the • public ■to think that a school' is either standing still or going down in average attendance.. The Minister says that teachers.of such schools are to start.below the minimum' and work up 'by increments of £5 annually. . ' The schools are the same under the - new Act as under tho old—the figure denoting the grade alone is changed, and the Ministei seizes on a mere- accident in these figures to say-that such schools having gone up a grade-(that is, "figure"), their teachers benefit accordingly; others having gone down W. figurej' their teachers shall, not benefit. his first position, -Mr. Fowlds was prepared for anomalies' in the same grade of schools; now he is prepared, not only for these (for they will still come), but for. this anomaly : that while two or three, grades are to receive justice, ten or fifteen grades are 'to receive injustice. This' second explanation of Mr. Fowlds's is bo obviously at variance with justice or commcnsense, that it may confidently be believed he himself has already seen that it will'not go down with the press arid people of this eourtry It will. be interesting to see what will be the Minister's third position.

the board and the teachers. The action of the teachers' inprotesting agamst. the Hon. G. Fowlds's interpretation of the salaries clause of the new Education Act has-not altogether met with the approval of Captain T. W. McDonald, one of the members of the Education Board. .At the board s meeting yesterday he expressed' the opinion that not a little of the,trouble, which had arisen might have been obviated had the_ teachers approached the central aui thority. by the proper channel—the Education ISoard. As it was,'the board had nothing what had appeared in the press. He went on to say that a wrong interpretation had been put . upon the salaries provisions of the Act. by. those con-, cerned in the present agitation, and' this would not have, happened had "the teachers taken right course. , He moved"That this board is unable to give an opinion on the new Act, as no grievance had been laid before , the board by the teachers." Mr. Vile seconded the motion pro forma. Captain McDonald, however, elected to withdraw his motion.

VIEWS OF SIR W. RUSSELL. (BT XELZQKArH.—SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) ' Hastings, October 29. In the course of his address to-night Sir William Russell, one of the candidates for the Hawke's Bay seat, criticised the Government system of doling out monies to the Education Boards for buildings, and he advocated an automatic system whereby the boards would know each year the amount of money, at their disposal." Ho" also spoke strongly of tho interpulation placed upon the Education Act Amendment Act passed last session, which, although it fixed a minimum salary for each grade in the service, was apparently not to be allowed to ; benefit those teachers already occupying positions under the boards. In other words, any new teacher getting employment under the boards would Teceive the minimum salary attached to his grade under .the new Act, whilst those in the service of the board would still b« getting a salary below that fixed by the Act as the minimum salary. , FURTHER REMARKS BY THE MINISTER. (BI TILISKAFK—PIZS9 iSSOCIATIOH.I Auckland, October 29. In a speech at Eden Terrace to-night the flon. J. 'Fowlds referred to the criticisms on the Education Bill. He said they had to remember that the position was surrounded with difficulties and technicalities, tut he intended that the best had been done, , and that the majority of tho teachers would be greatly benefited. by tho measure.