TEACHERS' SALARIES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 259, 20 July 1918, Page 9

TEACHERS' SALARIES

•TWENTY-FIVE PER CENT. INCREASE DIiJIANDED AN "OPPORTUNE TIME" :."That the Minister of Education be asked to. instruct his "Department to draft as a matter of urgency a new sala- . ries scheme, whereby it wj'il bo secured that the minimum salary to any teacher shall bo ,£lsl).per annum, and that all salaries not affected by minimum be raised approximately 25 per cent, on esisting rates.';' . , This motion was submitted to tho meeting of the UoHington branch of the New Zealand Educational lnstituto by the Management Committee of • the branch. Mr. ■Wμ. L. J-ostei- was entrusted with the.motion. , lie said that fciio Manage■ment Committee, thought that the present was an opportune timo for teachers to apply, to .their ,cmployevs-the .piiblie.tor increases in' , ].ay ( and the proposal embodied .what tho teachers would consider their minimum demands: A iVcllsutisned personnel was an essential to effi;oiency of teaching, and there was m> need to apologise on .behalf of k-aehers for , Winging forward a motion apparently sordid in ■, character. Tho position of the teaching proictssion. was acute, and for ■ threo reasous-(l) the loss bt tin- services ,ot men gone to the front, (2) tho--lo« by youug people leaving tho profession, (li) tho tact that the people were not entering the proicss.on in the right numuers ■or ot the right quality. , Tnciv! A\6. no hope of improvement of tkrteadiing protession unless lusher salaries wito , paid Hβ pointed to the fact that .even in uirskilieil' occupations tho minimum wa»es were higher than the minimum o! .fjal) now being asked for trained, truchers a, list which ho had received from tho irades Hall, it .appeared tin I. tho only workers receiving. a lower minimum, •were some | brewery employees ami semo inferior employees in hotels. Hindis entering the drapery trade, or via ths going into tho Pul.lio Servico as endets earned more money and began to .-an it at younger ago (him.youths entemg'tho teaching profession. ~As; to-the req,uesß far tho 25 per cent increase, ho said that ho 'would not ask that tho ruler about the increase should bo rigid. ■ Personally ho would like t 0 seo teachers in tho lower grades get 33 1-3 per cent, inerensa, and ho believed tho ■teachers m the higher grades might receive, say, 20 per cent, increase. The demand was not unreasonable. Even in the Government service, where salaries were not, considered to bo high tho pay |Was very; much better than in the ieachling profession. , The timo was opportune ior tho , raising of this question. Never m thejpast 40 years, had there been such .general '■■ interest' in education. The , 1 ress and tho public, were. with the teachers; the Minister of Education was with .them. But tho Minister must have • ttie support of the teachers if lie was t) do any good. He would have to put a good case to Cabinet—"a mighty good case to tho National Cabinet—beforo ho would have a ohanco of gettin" anything. , ' • ■ ■ :. ° Mr. Bouhtreo,'seconding tho motion, .said that tho : reason why people were not entering tho teaching profession was that the. rewards were so small. Under jPresonfc conditions only 8\ per cent, of teachers could • reach, a salary of .£3OO ■e year, and only 2. per cont. could get J.MOO a year. . Mr. B. ,T. Blake said thai he did'not accept the statement that the Government coukl not find the money for the increases.for: which the teachers asked/ ile believed tho money could bo found. Ho answered the argument of those who said that it was "infra dig" for teachers to ask for tin's. . His answer was that lmless they asked for it they would have to go on for .years and rears with their present JBIIO or ,£l2O "minimum. J-he system of government made it necessary that they should ask, and ask loudly,_ for what they wanted. It.was recognised, that teachers were essential When miners asked for more if; was 'recognised that the country,could not got along without miners, and they eot their increases. . •

'■ A r vo i ce i. An(l wc don't Ret the coal!• .. Mr. BedingJiekl said Mat it would ,be .Jmpossiblo to got. the. profession up : to strength,..-unless-increases' were 'offered' Mpvr. Teachers could not be trained in eis _montbs, and it would not <lb tiny good to say that pay would bo increased after, the war. Owing to Ihe inflation ot the,, currency in. New -Kjaland an increase ;n nominal wages would not mean fin increase in real wages, a? compared with those ruling .before tho war .flio motion' wivs carried. It was decided -to forward the motion to other branches of (he institute.