THE GENERAL POSITION AND THE NEW BILL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2689, 27 September 1905, Page 18

THE GENERAL POSITION AND THE NEW BILL.

A meotino; of teachers connected v,-'dh tl'D Otaso branch of the New Zealand Educational liistitvite wa,s liglcl at live JS r<?r-

mal School on Monday. 18th, with the object ot discussing matters arising ouf of the new Teachers' Superannuation JBilL Mr C. 11. Smeaton vras in the chair, about a dozan touchers wo.ro present, and Mr G. C. Israel, and Mr Mark Cohen. The Chairman said he vras in possession of no direct information from the secretary of the New Zealand Institute; all the information he had had been furnished by the press. TV mail point of the Education Oovnmil tea's recommendation in the House was that 12Oths of the original ealary should be paid lo teachers for back salary, and 60i,hs for years of contribution. But in connection with the allowance of LP.Olhs the proviso had been made that the maximum superannuation should be £52. While the recommendations were now much more favourable than what was provided in the last bill, thsy had to reinembor that the new bill was not yet carried, anil it would bo the duty of ihe meeting to urge on ceaohors ihroughoufc the colony not to offtr opposition to this bill, by reason of the substantial amendments it embodied. They had to remember, in connection with "the railways and police schemes. that, although those schemes were much more favourable than this, in a very short time those other schemes would have t-o undergo the usual five-yearly actuarial investigation. There w«5 no doubt rhat on investigation tbeso schemes would be amended-— iJie allowances considerably curtailed, or th-e premiums considerably increased If the bill w-enfc through the- teachers certainly would be far from getting all they had expected, but the improvements offered were a reasonable compromise. He wasHmly voicing his own opinions. He had spoken to no member r>f the institute on the matter. Mr W. Davidson moved— "That this meeting, while regretting that the Parliamentary Education Committee could not see its way to make better provision for male teachers now at or about the retiring ' age, congratulates the Premier on the improvements made in the Teachers' Superannuation Bill, particularly as reg-ards the lowering of the optioual age of retirement for women and the recognition of back services; and, further, thai this meeting urges tiie Otago members of Parliament to support the Premier in his efforts to pass a satisfactory Supei-annuation Bill during the present session." He was sorry not to see more tea oh era present, but perhaps the idea was that nothing' better could be got. He and Mr Jeffery had done their best in Wellington to get proper recognition of past service. It seemed impossible to get 60th«, and they had suggested 80ths; and in the end they had now got 120ths for past service and 60ths for years of contribution. That amendment on the old bill was considerable, and the bill was now very much more acceptable to the middleaged teacher. Another point was that th-e women were desperately anxious to lower i the optional age of retirement from 55 to 50. and that had now been done. The j women were fairly treated in the bill, j Unforlunaitely the annuity for past services j was limited to £52. The institute's recommendation of £120 could not be agreed to. The amendments gained increased the cost , of superannuation by £17.000 a year for i at least five years. The police were paid 60ths during years of service and years of . contribution. The widows of teachers were worse treated than the widows of the ' police. But the bill was vastly improved • none the less, and the time for conciliation i had plainly arrived. They must get the improved bill on the Statute Book as ' speedily -as possible. It might be that in ' Ihe future th 3 benefits might be increased ' or the contributions reduced. Otago had t led in this matter, and many districts, ■especially the small districts, were now looking to Otago for a lead. Mr Jeffery supported the motion. The bill should be got through this year. At , Hie 'ximo time he was not satisfied with \ the bill. The railways, scheme would hava j to be amended, and members of Parlia- , ment should have the manliness to face the position before the colony was more | deeply involved, instead of using the rail- \ ways scheme against the teachers, as was , being done. If this motion passed, lie j should h<* willing to support another motion — "That Parliament bo asked, if possible, to make the minimum retiring allowance for past services £52, and the maximum £78."'' One of the objects of the hill was to dive those who had done good service in the p-i*t and vero now getting beyond the yeats of best work opportunity of 'honourable retirement. The £52 would be sufficient inducement to many such men and women 10 retire. In one respect the new bill was worse than the old. Previ- ' ou=V iho"3 retiring got £52. but now they would rot <>et £52 unless it wa-s earned , by 120 th* for past service. Prp-\ iously, a woman of 55 could retire on £52. In the bill, as it now stood, a woman of 55 who had been 35 years in the service, on an average salary of £120, would letiro not on £5?. but- on £35. I Mr David«on: Is it not no les.s than £52? Is not that the minimum? Mr Jeffrey said that on examining the Bill he found that that was so. and he was i very glad of it. At the present moment the j teaching profession was an unsatisfactory ' one. Of 95 person* in the training college only nine were males. The college cost £12,000 a roar. Jf £6000 of that wont m actual training, then £6000 a voar was being -spent in training 100 teaenrr 1 : ■ an Sjiiormouj* aniouat spent on the tuuniug of

teachers who went off into other walks of life. The majority of tho^c trained were not remaining- in the teaching profession. Unless something better were don.->. tho hill would, in thai direction, defeat; us own. ends. It might Oo found irascible to increase the amount of beneiit ghen. It had been proved at Home tha.t the amount of duty was not 50 per cent, what had been anticipated; and tho teachers had now drawn up an amended scale that would double the benefits and still bo within the estimate provided five years ago. Mr Soddon {.aid the. teachers ho re ought to Le grateful for the amount added on to (salaries. Why? How much had been added? The increase only amounted 10 3 or 4 per cent., and the salaries in other professions had increased in a much greater degree Then the teachers had boon reduced "several t.'mes. The office staff was reduced, - bus it was put back. Civil £prvairts were reduced, but 'hey were also put back. Teachers were reduced, and had not been put back. Teachers had been working under reduction practically pince 1877. So that this increase of salary was not to be regarded as a favour. It was what they should have had -years ago, and what any business man T-;ouId have given years ago when he saw that ho could nor g-et the class of men and women he wanted. In Germany a large percentage of the sons and daughters o£ teachers entered the profession, and Germany stood at the educational forefront of the world. Germany vras ousting British, manufactures from the markets in many lines. In Germany teachers retired at 60, and poid nothing- against their retiring allowances. They" retired on of their current salary, plus subsistence allowance — whatever that might he. Widows received one-third of their husband's pensions, and each child up to tho age of 15 received _ii # third of the ' mother's pension if she diccl. In Belgium also the conditions were very liberal. The Postmastergeneral now promised to introduce a post and telegraph superannuation scheme, which, ho said would be more liberal than t'nei teachers', vet the post and telegraph could; get any quantity of youths, and the teaching profession could not. He hoped the central ?ecreiary wordd communicate with all the institutes, so that something might be_ done .sppedily. The bill was far from. beJnor eatisfartory, but it was the- best that could bo got. The Chairman went into figures to prove that a retiring allowance of £78 all round would be better for back service than, allowances made on the basis proposed in the bill. He should not, however, like to see any flaw made to act as a menace to the passage of the bill this year. The proposal, though illiberal, made provision for more than the money-earning power of teachers' contribution?. Nothing could be gained by making comparisons with other schemes. In the end. all -schemes would be governed by the actuaries, and he believed' that ultimately all civil service schemes would be brought under one code. Mr James Rennie regretted the small attendance. The teachers seemed to be fairly satisfied. There was unquestionably a substantial improvement in the bill; but they must remember that it was not lawt yet. He came prepared to try for 80ths for back service, but after hearing what had! been said, he thought the time for fighting was past. Recognition of past service was certainly a big improvement in the bill. They should now strive to get the bill through as it stood. It was illiberal, but it was the best they could get. They were stdl not certain that it would go through. Mr G. C. Israel offered congratulations— ■with a good deal of discount. They must recognise that in this matter Mr Seddon had been whole-hearted. He had been influenced by his actuarial advisers, and they could not get over that. They must get the bill on the Statute Book and be content to wait five years for the actuarial investigation. He had no doubt they would then "be able to get into a better position. The motion was agreed to without dissent, and it was agreed that copies of the resolution should be sent to Otago members of Parliament ot both Houses. Mr R. G. Whetter expressed approval of the increase m salaries, and moved—" That this meeting thanks the Premier for carrying out has promise 1o endeavour to abolish tho present inequitable method of calculating teachers' salaries, by the introduction of "The Education Act Amendment Bill. 1905' " : and that a cony of thi* resolution be sent to the Premier and to Otago members of Parliament, and that they be xirgod to support the bill Mr Rennie supported the motion. A riss of £26,000 a year wa* worth having. The motion wa=; agreed to There was some loo^p general dispu^ion of the position, but this concluded the formal business.

"What turned the niicvo'be out oF home And drove hun far o'or earth to roam, Of all hi? race the last ! What harri?-. him from day to day. And dmes +ho=o colds aiKt coughs away. He manufactures fast? Av»oe»tvaL spirits cry "on masso." OODS' UIiEAT PrPI'EBMIST CpES, ala 3»