TEACHERS' SALARIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14357, 29 October 1908, Page 8

TEACHERS' SALARIES

EFFECT OF THE NEW ACT, GRADUAL INCREASES. (Pis United I'ekss Association.) WELLINGTON, October 28. Teachers arc still dissatisfied with the announcement that the minimum salaries fixed in the amended Education Act of last session are not to come into force at once, but must be worked up to by increments of £5 per annum. Mr Wilford, M.P., suggests that the teachers should ask' a judge of the Supreme Court for a funding under the Declaratory Judgments Act of Jast session. That /course would only cost a few shillings. STATEMENTS BY THE MINISTER. (From Oub Ovv:.' Co rues poxdent.) AUCKLAND. October 28. This morning the Minister of Education made a further statement regarding teachers' salaries. He said it seemed to him that in some respects the newspapers and the department had been at cross purposes regarding the operation of the new scale of salaries. Mr Masscv's utterance upon the subject lie regarded as simply intended for political purposes. Dealing first with tlie subject of the small back-block schools with attendances ranging from nine to fifteen, the Minister pointed out that hitherto the tcachers in these schools had not been provided with a fixed salary from the beginning of the year. However, they would be graded. Formerly they were not graded, and the teacher was paid upon a capitation basis. At the beginning of the year these schools would be included in the first grade, and the teachers would start with the minimum salary of £90 provided for in the bill Similarly, schools with from 16 to 24 pupils, previously in grade 1, would be raised to grade 2, and the minimum salary for that position would be paid. That, the Minister declared, was his construction of the act. So also in the ease ; of, schools with 26 to 32 pupils there would be a rise in the grade, and the salaries would begin at £150. The difficulty that seemed to have arisen in the minds of teachers was the result of confusing these cases with cases where no alteration had taken place in the grade of the schools. Jn such cases the salaries would be increased by £5 per year where .they were below the amount fixed for the position ultimately. In reducing the number from 20 to 10 in order to secure regular and systematic promotion and increase in teachers' salaries it was, the Hon. Mr Fowlds pointed out, quite unavoidable that some apparent anomalies should be found in making the change. The least anomaly, however, was in v making sure that each tcacher would receive an increase of £s'per year until the maximum provided for the position was reached. "The legal interpretation of the act is not a matter for me to decide," continued the Minister. "That will be gone into by the Crown Law Officers, and whatever the law provides will be given effect to. The intention is that in every case, where no alteration is made in the grade of the school any salary which is less than either the minimum or the maximum shall be increased by £5 per year until the maximum is reached. That was made perfectly clear in the evidence given before the Education Committee, and also in the House of Representatives." (Pin United Pees 3 Association) WELLINGTON, October 28. The, Hon. Mr Fowlds, in answer to • inquiries- as to the position regarding teachers' salaries under the act, has made the following statement-: —" To pay a£s increase to all the present tcachers will cost £16,Q00 or £17,000 in'addition to 'the cost of an increased staff. The present tcachers will bo increasing continuously until they reach the maximum for their grades. It would have been more anomalous to give some, teachers £5, others £10, .and others £20 or £30 than to give £5 alt round. New appointments were "open for competition, and the improved value of the positions in certain cases of new appointments (as of firstassistants in large schools) would be a factor in determining candidates to apply and boards to appoint. The auciitional feje-cost and the otherwise unequal treatment pointed out above would seem to be sufficient reasons for the course adopted. The meaning of the act was duly explained in evidence given by the Inspec-tor-general of Schools before the Parliamentary Education Committee." Commenting on this, the secretary of the New Zealand Educational Institute says "I do not see where the anomaly comes in. If a teacher's present salary is £20 below the minimum for his position in the new scale, and that minimum represents the Minister's estimate, of the lowest figure of remuneration adequate for the position, then a salary of £20 less is inadequate, as the Minister will surely admit, and if it is inadequate, there can be no anomaly in raising it to the minimum. It is suggested that new appointments and transfers will get over much of tlio difficulty, but you cannot create vacancies." The opinion of local members of Parliament who have been is that the House was under the impression that salaries were to be raised to the minimum at once. Mr Aitken writes to the institute saying that if it had not been so the bill would not have met with so many expressions of approval. He is clearly ot opinion that the House expected the rise to the minimum to take place immediately the act came into force. Last night one of our reporters asked Mr T. K. Sidey, who was a member of the Education Committee of the House of Representatives, if it was thai, committee's intont-ion to liave ibe House ejjac.t a. provision such as that which tho Minister claims Parliament to liavo paseod. So far as"l can recollect," he replied, "the impression I got was that the teacher would staTt- at the minimum' cf tho grade in which ho was placcd, if it- was higher than the salary ho is at present- receiving; ami if tho minimum was lower than his present salary, special provision was macic that hi* salary should not lie reduced. Wo never meant that tho teacher with any length of service should be penalised in comparison with the new teacher who just joins when tho aet comes into force." Mr J. F. Arnold, who was also approached on tho subject., said that until tlio third - : reading debate was reached- he was of opinion that the proposal was that the tcachers should be pa,id tho, minimum provided by tho now act immediately the- act came into force. He thought, however, that tho Hon. Mr Fowlds made it quite clear in tlie third reading <iebate that th'-> newminimum was to be reached by annual increments.