WORTHY OF HIS HIRE THE TEACHER AND HIS LOT

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 8, 9 July 1912, Page 2

WORTHY OF HIS HIRE THE TEACHER AND HIS LOT

-COMPARED WITH OTHER CALLINGS. INTERESTING EVIDENCE BEFORE nOYAL COMMISSION. Perhaps the most interesting evidence before the Education Commission yesterday irae given towards the end of the aiterrioon session by Mr. J. Costin Webb, headmaster of the Normal School, on behalf of the Wellington branch of the Educational Institute. It consisted of a. long and elaborate series of tables giving comparisons between eh© emolument of teachers and the pay of other members of the- community itt other calling*. Ilia salaries of teachers were compared first with other branches of the Civil Service, such as the Railways, Public Works, and the Post and Telegraph Departments, then with bank clerks, miner*, policemen ship's officers , telephone cadetfi, and even the office^ of the Territorial force*. The typewritten statement put m covered n&arly a score of folice, and would occupy several columns of The Post, if printed in full. Only the barest summary of this analysis of the teacher's financial position can be published. It may be added that it wa» not received without considerable opposition' on the part of the memtwrs of the Commission. PAID LESS THAN THE CIVIL SERVANT. The digest appended to the first comparative tables showed that in the lower stages of the teaching profession, with salaries rising from £95 to £155, a year, there were about 1866 teachers (of whom 270 were men) whose remuneration ranged from that of a second grade horse driver to that of a second grade painter in the railway service. The next stagesi in the profession Awarded by salaries of from £160 to £205 a year, included 1831 teachers (of whom about 450 .were men, .mostly married), who would receive salaries ranging from that of a 6econd grade sailmaker, to that of an eighth grade clerk in the railway service, or from that of ' a second grade to that of a first grade letter-carrier in the postal service. In these stages were comprised 2681 out of the total number of 3269 teachers in the Dominion. The remainder (456), the best paid teachers in the service, received salaries ranging from that of a oeventh grade clerk to / that of a third grade clerk in the railway service. These salaries were all under tha new scale, which in 1909 raised the average salary per adult teacher from £149 14s 2d to £151 Us 9d, an increase^ per teacher per annum of £1 17s 7d. The salaries of secondary assistants in district high schools under the new scale could' be reduced from an average of £170 17s 4d to £158' Us lid; and over 60 per cent, of them were .university graduate*. NOT SO WELL OFF -AS MINERS AND POLICEMEN. Further statistics showed that whereas 5j per cent, of the officers in .the First Division of the Railways received salaries, of £300, and 18 per cent, of the officers of the Public Works Department; only 2£ per cent, of the teachers in our schools were equally fortunate financially. As compared with the Public Works Department, officers, whose minimum salaries, even for storemon, were £125, teachers' minimum was £90. Pupil-teachers and probationers started on £20 anil £25, whereas the lowest in Civil Service cadets was £50 a year, and in the Bank of New Zealand £50, and in miners £62. By the fourth year the cadet in the Civil Service was drawing between £70 and £95 a year, the junior bank clerk £iOO, the youth in the mine (Waihi specified) £109, and the pupil-teacher— £ss. The average salary in the Railway Department of engine-drivers was from £171 to £195, of firemen from £132 to £148, of carpenters £148 to £195. The average salary in the Police Department was: — Sergeant* -£2lB to £254, detectives £273 to £300, constables £142 to £191. Miners under the Waihi award received a ininimum of £171.6, telegraphists averaged £183.6, and teachers (including pupil-, teachers) — £134.4 (excluding pupil-teach, ere), £155.4. NO COMPARISON WITH SHIP'S OFFICERS. Compared with ship's officers the officers of our school system showed up badly, even when the fact that on_ board ship the'living was free was count.cd out. The comparison ' was made between captains' and officers of ships from 4000 ions to under 1000. tons and headmasters and assistants of,schools with average attendances of from 600 to 100 pupils, the headmaster being compared with the captain and the first assistant with tho first mate; and so forth. The seafaring men came off much 'better than the educationalists, the position being best shown by the fact that the skipper of a 4000ton vessel got £516 a year and his keep, while 1 the headmaster in charge of a 600pupil school "got "a maximum of £400, .and had to iceep himself. Additional figures showed that increments to teachers came only' in small lote of £5 per annum, in contrast with £16 rises to Post Office cadets. Branch managers of banks received up to £500 a year. Tho teacher's maximum was £400, 'and only 1 teacher in 147 could reach this, then/ being only 30 such positions in the Dominioni To crown all the statement quoted salaries of Defence officers — from £160 for junior lieutenants to £400 for captains, as against the average balary of £173 for high school assistants. SOMETHING .PRACTICAL. After detailing in full the many disabilities of teachers and their hard lot compared with, the automatic advancement and less arduous career of the Civil • servant, Mr. Webb read the-con-clusion of the statement, at? follows: " Finally, while we believe that these comparative tables loudly in our behalf, we -are content to rest our recommendations on the sound basis of the actual value of our work to the State. We consider that the time lias now arrived when the estimate oft reiterated in Parliament, in the press, from s th© public platform, and from other and varied sources as to the superior importance and work of the teacher's work should receive their confirmation in the practical shape of a more equitable remuneration." The recommendations of the Wellington branch of the Institute prefixed to the statement were: — (1) That the minimum in every grade be increased by £20, proceeding by annual increments of £10 for nine succeeding years. (2) That the principal woman assistant in schools of from grade 7 upwards should hold equal rank and equal salary wft-h the second aesiat&nt. (3) That all married assistants shall receive liouae allowance on the .same flcafo as head Wclieiw. (4) That no tea«hei- klut.ll be reduced in salary owini; to a reduction in k'rade pf his school through failing attendance. NOT THEIRS TO WEIGH THE COST. Itt answer to numerous questions, Mr. Webb &aid the branch did not consider tho cost of the proposals ; it was not the concern of tho branch. The State »hould pay the teachers what their tervic»s weie worth' to thi» State. A member of the wmmismou ; Yoa, ,

have nob told as very much about the worth of your services! — only about two lines on that point. Mr. Webb: Our attitude is that the profession has nob had its share in the increasing revenue of the State. Mi*. Pirani: You have compared the pay of teachers with the pay of the police. Have you ever heard of a teacher entering the Police Faroe? Mr. Kirk : What is the average salary of male teachers now? . Mr. Webb : About £196. Have you made a comparison between thai average and the average, of other professions? — We have not gone fully into that. EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK. Do you think there should be equal pay* for equal work, regardless of the sex?— Yes. Is that the opinion of the institute? — I cannot say bo. Mr. Pirani : Do you think, Mr. Webb, there is a bigger strain on a teacher than an engine-driver? — Yes. Have you ever ridden on an engine ?—? — No. Then you ought to take a ride, and you would be abl« to speak with experience then. - Mr. Webb, in reply to a query as to the reason why the statement compared teachers and ship's officers, was understood to aay that the work of the teacher was more intellectual and less mechanical and muscular than that of sailors. A member of the Commission : You think 9 captain's work is muscular. Mr Pirani asked if tbe witness was aware that the reason for the alleged comparatively low wageß of male teachers was that; the money had gone to level up the women's salaries. He instanced the difference between the salaries of women telephonists and men telephonists and telegraphists. He further asked if the witness did not considei that the houße allowance should be attached to the condition — married "or single— of the teacher rather than to ni» position — headmaster or assistant. BY WHAT AUTHORITY? Mr. Davidson : Have you the authority of the New Zealand Educational Institute to bring up this question of salaries? Mr. Webb : That I cannot say. - The Chairman : Mr. Webb represents the local branch. Mr. Davidson : In it not a rule of the institute that these questions should not be put without the consent of the executive? Is there not a rule of the institute that no matter affecting the service as a whole should be brought before any Minister of Education? Do you not think it would have been wise and proper that the Wellington branch (should nave got the consent of the executive before bringing this up before the Commission? \ Mr. Webb : I should have imagined the local branch knew what its duty was in the matter. I am only speaking en behalf of a sub-committee of the branch. At this stage the Commission adjourned. '