COLONIAL SCALE OF SALARIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2413, 7 June 1900, Page 8

COLONIAL SCALE OF SALARIES.

THE DANGERS OF CENTRALISATION. (Feok Otjb Own Ooeeespondext.) WELLINGTON, May 30. At the meeting of tliß Education Board j'esterday a circular was read from the Education department asking if the members had any remarks to make in regard to its present salary scale. Mr Robertson remarked that as the teachers had gone to the Government and had practically asked and had received the promise that they would be delivered from the control in one important regard of the Education Boards, he did not regard it as incumbent on the latter bodies to move in the matter. The only thing they could do was to sit atill and see how it would work out. Personally he had come to the conclusion that it would operate in favour of the city teachers as against thoss in the country. But the teachers themselves had asked for the change, and if it came about they would have nobody but themselves to blame if on the whole it operated against instead of in their interests^ Mr A. W. Hogg, M.H.R., said the payment of salaries to teachers under a fixed scale was the first step towards centralising the control and removing it from the hands ol the local boards, who had administered the act so successfully in the past. Whatever advantages there were appeared to be on the opposite pide of any such arrangement. In fact, there were no advantages which would compensate for the loss of such an efficient system as ours had, over a long series of years, proved itself to have been. It had been the desire of the bo&Etis to. so arrange salaries as to maintain

an efficient system, to adapt salaries to local conditions, and to distribute teachers through; various communities in such a. way as to do' justice to the children and give satisfaction to parents and committees. A central authority, like the Education department was, would' distribute salaries by scale, and without regard to any of these things. Once they parted with this important administrative function, the good system ■which the boards had laboriously built up would be destroyed, because it would mean that other powers would be taken also, and the administration; would pass over to the control of the centralf department, with all the opportunities for, 1 favouritism and abuses which centralism commonly entailed. ! Mr W. C. Buchanan said a man in the Highlands once let a contract for building a castle. The contractor stipulated that he should be allowed to catch salmon until the work was , finished. It was never finished. So with the . Ministers' scheme. No doubt it would answer certain purposes to keep it dangling about, but did anyone seriously suppose that; they would be furnished for discussion before ■ the expiry of next Parliament? He agreed ! with the previous speakers that once the Goi vernment took over the control of the finances, and thereby of the staff, the board would bo nowhere. Centralisation would be very bad' for the Wellington Education Board, but it ' would be worse for the more distant provinj cial districts. They had underpaid teachers t. under their control, but not so Jjadly paid as in some other parts of the colony. But if the Government submitted a cast iron rule of payment, the teachers would" be worse off, I because no allowance would be made for the • changing conditions which Mr Hogg- had re- : ferred io. Besides, under hard-and-fast rules | that very uniformity which was being aimed I at would be defeated. I The Chairman (Mr J. R. Blair) said the ' difficulties in the way were so great that there w?s no chance of anything happening for some considerable time. When the Minister came to face the matter in all its bearings he would find he had attacked a difficult problem. The late Mr J-labens's scheme had pioved unworkable, and the conditions hact not altered. If the teachers got what they, were asking for they would practically con- , trol Hie position. They had very recentlytried to take the control of the children out lof the hands of the inspector?. Now ths next i stop was a colonial scale, paid by the depart- • ment. If that were seceded to the schools i would practically pass out of the hands of i Education Boards, and the parents whom those boards repiesented, into those of the teachers. This was a danger which was apparently not realised by the Minister, or by a j number of Education Boards. j The discussion then dropped.