SCHOOL ALLOWANCES

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 149, 27 June 1930, Page 16

SCHOOL ALLOWANCES

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—Alter failing in repeated attempts to obtain a commissioner for the three le Aro Schools, the Wellington Education Board has itself had to' assume the responsibility of cutting down- the already inadequate wages paid to the cleaners. The blame does not lie with the board, but with the miserable allowance voted by Parliament for the incidental expenses Of primary schools. Even after cutting the wages of the three cleaners, the board is left with only £27 out of the capitation grant to pay for the coal, lighting, repairs, and the hundred and one other charges against a school committee, which have averaged out at about £130 p.a. In the case of the Willis Street School, the wages paid were £2 per week.' The school has eleven large rooms, with corridors, staircases, etc. All these must be swept and dusted daily, fires laid in each room, coal carried in to keep them going, fireplaces must be cleaned put daily, all rubbish burned iv the incinerator, all drains aud lavatories kept clean, and quite a number of incidental jobs looked after. No one has ever suggested that £2 a week was too much for this work, which every member of the late committee and every member of the staff is prepared to say has been satisfactorily done. The wage has been reduced by the board because the people's representatives appear, to be indifferent about this and other educational matters. It will be remembered that when the matter of wages paid for cleaning Willis Sfreet School was discussed in Parliament when Mr. Wright was Minister of Education, he indignantly wanted to know why the committee did not pay more than £2 per week. "It was the committee's job to pay the wages, and they should pay more." It is not the job of the committee to provide the money, but it is the job of every member of Parliament to see that enough money is provided by Parliament to allow o£ fair payment being made for work done. It is the personal responsibility of every member of Parliament to satisfy himself that the 25s per head that is allowed for each of the 28,942 pupils attending our secondary schools is a fair thing and then to fiud out why only 7s per head is allowed for each pupil attending a primary school of 400 pupils or more. He might even try to find out why the primary school is further penalised by a reduction of 10 or 12 per cent, by being judged on average attendance, while secondary schools are paid on roll numbers. If the Government does not sufficiently increase the amount upon the Estimates to allow committees to carry out tVeir work without continually- cadging for the money to pay for the ordinary services of the schools, it is, I believe, within the province of any ordinary member of Parliament to show disapproval—by moving a nominal reduction in the salary of some prominent fcfficial in the Department concerned. Al vote on such lines would be informative and could, I believe, be taken on a'nontparty basis. This matter affects the gtneral welfare of the 216,000 children attending our primary schools, and I trust wi 1 not be ignored or evaded by our Parli mentarians during the coming session.—l am, etc.,

L. HENNESSEY, Chairman of Te Aro Schools Parents' Association,