"WANTED A FEMALE TEACHER, SALARY £60 PER ANNUM!"

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIX, Issue 4847, 10 March 1873, Page 3

"WANTED A FEMALE TEACHER, SALARY £60 PER ANNUM ! "

To tho Editor: Sir,— ]f our cooks and housemaids can obtain w&gos which (including board and lodging) coat moro than local committees ara oHoring for female tc.icherH, what inducoincnt ia thcro for .suitable persons coming forward to undertake tho nnpoitant and responsible task of training tho youth of our colony V Now, sir, I h.nl boon led to suppose, buforo I came hcie, that matters wore better managed, but I am bound to confess that a want of common cnteipiisc too much characterises the undertaking; and that it is impossible to expoct any good will result under such a miserable flyatem. What aort of bchools arc wo to anticipate in ictuin for a lifc-titno tax we aio cnlk'd upon to pay ' I saw frco education launched iu Queoualand, and although tho expense was taken out of tho genoral rovenuo fcho best of schools were established on tho most liberal punciple, and mtnaged in an oxcollont manner, by appoiutiug a lady and gentleman to preside over a school at good salaries, aided by pupil tcachcis, drafted from tho Normal .-school, at 11 years of age, at salaries of £10 per annum ; thus opening up a Hold of labour for liitolliL'cnt boys and cjn Is pui suing their studies with a view to training for succcaaivo examinations and increased rcinuuci.ition at progressive rates, wWh ouablcd tho Hoard to keep up a supply of assistants for tho district schools. Now, sit, our Board seems to have ovci looked thig important itom in tlic work: and let mo ask how a school of 200 or HOD child i en is to bo managed by merely appointing a master and mistiess, without rcndciiug tho necessary assistance Unquestionably not out of such salaries as tho local committees are in many cases offering 1 Why wo should blunder in launching this valuablo mcasuro I can't mike out, wlnlo euch oxcollout precedents surround ua. Tho colony I refer to had only n, central J'oaul, but I li.vvo all along been inclined to hopo that local committees and tho dncct tax would cicato a supeuor mterost iu tho establishment of fieo education; but at piescnt there 13 not much that pro nnscs succu&s to cusuio to tho public a quid pro quo, ;md which, I maintain, the committees aio moially bound to supply ; for t.illv as wo may, it is an cxpomivo necessity, taking into consideration tho sum each individual will have to pay during life. What a disgiace it will be, if a paterfamilias l-s driven to sending his childreu to a piivato school (\vhero thcio's auro to be renewed competition ) becauao tho (Government Bchools aro inadequate— I am, &c , FlilKNDLV '10 TJIK YOUNII. l'.S. — If a gentleman, for two or throe houta* labour (ornamental), is woith 10 guineas, what ih a teacher worth (non-orna-mental) for 12 months?