SCHOOL TEACHERS' SALARIES.

Evening Post, Volume XLVI, Issue 52, 30 August 1893, Page 2

SCHOOL TEACHERS' SALARIES.

STATEMENT BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE EDUCATION BOARD. Mr. John Young moved as follows at the meeting of the Jloard of Edncation this morning :—" That a committee, consisting of the Chairman, Dr. Newman, Messrs. G. Beetham, W. W. McCardlo, and tho mover, be a committee to take into consideration tho question of adequate remuneration to the female teachers of the staff, and alro to consider any other qnestion apperta'niug to the salaries of teachers generally that the committee may deem advisable, and to report to the Hoard at its next meeting." Tho lnofon was seconded by Dr. Nowraan. 'J he follow iug pr-tition from tbe femalo teachers m the service of the Board was read ■-" Wolhngton, SJth Augn=t, 1&93. To the Chairman and members of tho Kdncation Boaid. Wo, the women teachers of tlio Hoard, desire respectfully to ac'.drc'ss jou oti tho subject of our salaries We think that as you are about to consider tho question of a new scale of salaries wo may venture to lay before you tho vu'y low rate of pay lire aro receiving as compared with tbo teachers of other Boards. As our work is in every respect similar to that of male teachers, wo submit that the difference of pay is extreme. There are women teaching sth and Gth standards in thu city receiving 1 aj'ear. against JC22O a year paid to men doing similar work, 'ibo average salary ot nien in the City of Wellington, not including head-teachers and pupil teacher*, is £\sb per annum, as against ifiS for women. In tho city of Dunedin, the average salary is jElB7_, and for women jEUj, and the difference in Christchnrch and Napier exceeds thi3. According to the present scale, the highest Silary a female assistai.t can rue to is .£9O. Tiiero are femalo assistants in your service w ho ha\ e been teaching 15 and 1G years, and have not risen alove £'M In other districts the salary of female assistants rises as high as iISJ. Sonic six yearb ago, the lowest salary given to certificated females was .£9O, anil wo ventuie to hope that your Bo.ird may be in a position to return to a «oinew hat simitar ecalo We appcDd herewith a comparison between equal schools in this and other districts. Leaving our potition to your favoui - able consideration— We have, &c." The Chairman said he wished to make a few remarks with reference to statements which appeared in an article in tho Eveniso Tost last n-ght. There wero several statemeuts in the article which were not correct. The Board was accused of paying very low salaries to the female assistants in its service, but a loturn whioh he bad before him showed that, with the exception of Otago, the funds were distributed moro fairly than in any other pait of tiio colony. No one with a fuir sense of proportion would say that that was not so. The Wellington Board spont .£27,519 5s a jear rpon 298 teuchers, while tho Canterbury Board, with larger schools and laiyer returns, spent .£55.1)00 upon 603 teachers — double tho number Jin the Wellington district. He thouyht that the writer of tho articlo in the Post had been milled, and he (Mr. Blair) considered it waa his duty as Chairman of tho Board that be should make an explanation on the subject. There was i.o assistant in the service of the Board who was getting only i-GO a year. Pupil- teacheis who pas?cd wore permitted to continue as such at tint salary. The Boatd was not responsible for these people continuing as pupil-teachers Until they got certificates they could continue in the Board's service at £50 or £60 a year. Mr. P. H. Fraso — Other Boards are not so liberal as that. They let them go. The ( hiirman went on to saj% with reference to tho statement that the maximum salary o' a female assistant teacher was only £90, that he found that there was one asgis - ant who was getting jBIOO, while there wero threo w ho wero receiving J2IIO each. There wero also a number of females in charge of schools who wore golting J2120, while in ono cas? the salary was £H3. Ho aUo noticed that the writer of tho article was ur.der a misapprehension with reference to the eo"-t of the Technical School. Tbe school was sot down in tbe Post as costing £2000 a year, whereas as a matter of fact the total expenditure hut year was .£IOBO, tbe amount of the Board's funds absorbed being .£550. Against that the Boaid bad a special grant of -£'100 for the purchase of casts and furniture, and it also reeem d ioOO or .£6OO in fees. 1 hat was the position of the school upon which the Board was accused of spending J2OOO which should 1-e expended' in teachers' salaries. There was no such thing as a teachers' oalar/ fund. The Board received JE3 15s per head from the Government, and tho first charge upon that contribution was the salaries of tho Board's officers. The Chairman also questioned the correctness of the statement in the article regarding the deduction of 5 per cent, made some years ago from the salaries of the teachers. The Secretary stated that the average reduction had not been more than .£5. In very few cases had it been above tint amount. The Chairman said the charge nrndo against the Board was a grievona one. It was an offensive charge, and would never have been made if the writer of the article had been aware of tbe facts. He maintained that, with the exception of Ot&eo, tho Wclixß^ton J3omrsL H&d <2istrLbated its money more fairly and equitably than any other Board. The Otago Board, he might eiy, was in a much better financial position thiin the Wellington Board. Mr. Young said it might be perfectly correct, and he bad no doubt it nas so, that the Wellington Board spent as much money in proportion to tho number of teachers ns was spent in otber district*), with the exception of Otago. That, howover, was not tho question at issi?e. To argue in that way was to take the qnehtion into a side isMio. The question was as to individual distribution, and on that point tbe Chairman had said nothin?. Ihe return from which the Chairman had qnoted was not a safe guide, as it only gave the total sum spent. lie (Mr. Young-) was qnito aware that tho Board spent all the money that it received. He repeated that the Chairman bad not touched upon the qnestion of the eqqitable divi-io.i of the funds. If the Chairman wonM look ovdr the salaries seriatim, be would find that the femalo teachers did not get their fair share of tbe public money. It had been said that there were some teachers getting tolerably high salaries, bat as a mattor of fact they were receiving thorn under the old re. gulations, The Chairman — I sity no. Mr. loung— l say yes. Mr. G. Beotham did not think fiat the matter ought to be discussed now, as the Board would havo a report on tho subj-i t at next meeting, and could go into the whole mattor. He thought that if there had been misrepresentation in the press, the Board onght to set the matter right. Mr. Young said ho was quite agreeable to defer the discussion until tho next meeting. He considered the Chairman had boon tr^ mg to turn the whole thing into a side issue. It had been hinted to him that he had supplied the information in the Post's article, and be wished to deny that he had done so. Ho did not know where tho Editor got his information from, and bo did not know it was going to appear. Ho did not think it was a bad article. The Chairman — I think it is a most atrocious artio'e. Mr. Young— l am not here to defend tbe Post, or any other paper. The motion for the appointment of a Committee was then put and agreed to.