SOUTHLAND TEACHERS

Southland Times, Issue 21662, 26 March 1932, Page 2

SOUTHLAND TEACHERS

ANNUAL CONFERENCE YEAR’S WORK REVIEWED. School teachers from all parts of the district assembled in Invercargill on Thursday on the occasion of the annual meeting of the Southland branch of the New Zealand Educational Institute. In the absence of the president (Mr J. McK. Miner) who had been transferred to Otago, the acting-president (Mr Hugh L. Brown) pressed over the meeting which 1, was held in Smith’s Hall. Proceedings opened with the singing of the. National Anthem after which the chairman entered a cordial ' welcome to members and visitors. He expressed the hoj-e that the deliberations that day would prove most fruitful. Annual Report. The annual report presented to the meeting stated (inter aha) :—The membership roll for 1931 consisted of 294 members, 140 men and 154 women; seven honorary members and 25 junior members. It is an axiom that in times of depression, th? membership of an institute such as ours should be at its maximum strength so that the combined efforts of all may be used to combat attacks prejudical to. the service. In particular, members arc urged to make every eliort to recruit non-meinbers so that whatever help we can atiord may be at the dis|x>sal of our fellow-teachers in need. At the Wellington conference we were worthily represented by Miss Baird, Messrs Cushen, Griffiths, and McDonald. The chief subject discussed was unemployment. The scheme adopted by the committee has helped those in need in our own district and was used as a basis for relief in other branches. Mr Griffiths was again elected to the New Zealand Executive. The Committee of Management consisted of Miss Baird, Miss H. Mackay, Messrs McDonald, Cushen, Nelson, Lawless, Ro mans, Kinross, Leckie, Lewis, and Hargest together with the president, Mr Miller, vicepresident, Mr 11. Brown, arid the secretary and treasurer, Mr Griffiths. Altogether six meetings have been held at which the members were regular in attendance. The matter of the appointment of associate members having been referred to the committee by the annual meeting, it was agreed to appoint Messrs Leith, Gazzard and Cook and to report on the working to the annual meeting. As things turned out, it was a wise move, for all three were required to fill the vacancies which occurred during the year. The branch has been particularly unfortunate this year in that it lost its president and two valuable members of the committee. Mr Miller and Mr McDonald translerred to Otago and Mr Blick to Canterbury. All three have given good service to this branch and we parted from them with a feeling of loss. We wish them well in their new quarters. As the result of a policy of strict economy, the treasurer reports a credit balance of £9B 13/9 less a contingent liability (overpaid subscrip tions 1931) of £3B 2/6. It is worth nofing that not a single member transferring from Southland sought a refund of the halfcrown surcharge. A circular letter was sent out to all unemployed members and teachers and after due inquiry by the advisory' committee, help was given to those most in need and these gratefully acknowledge the timely help given. Again we had to draw oh the Provident Fund for teachers in distress and we desire to record our appreciation of the sympathetic attention given to our appeals by the executive. Grants this year totalled £75. The scheme for making an exhibit of school work at the next Winter Show has been adopted and all schools were advised by letter. It now remains for teachers to rise to the occasion and show what education in its modern sense means. While our members are equally willing with others, to assist the Government during the depression, we must protest that the children’s op.xjrtunities for a sound education should not suffer. The restrictions placed on the staffing of our schools must prove detrimental to the welfare of the pupils and it should not be necessary for teachers to lead the protest against such a result. Once more we have to thank the inspectors and the board’s officials for the assistance given at all times and the spirit of goodfellowship that exists between us. The sub-branch at Gore continues to do good work. We wish it a profitable New Year and feel certain that other -members will carry on the good work of Messrs Miller, McDonald and Blick. We desire shortly to place on record -the splendid work done by both Dr R. Collier, now retired, and Miss Taylor, transferred to Auckland.

The adoption of the report was moved by the chairman and carried without discussion. The treasurer’s report was similarly adopted. The following office-bearers were elected for the ensuing year: President, Mr Maitland Leith; vice-presidents, Messrs D. F. Leckie and H. C. Romans; secretary and treasurer, Mr G. F. Griffiths; auditor, C. N. Lawless; registrar, Miss M. Baird: committee of management, Miss Baird, Miss McKay. Messrs M. Lawless, J. A. Cushen, J. S. Nelson, A. - Kinross, A. Milne, L. R. Lewis, D. J. Hepburn, H. D. Gazzard and A. A. Cook; delegates to annual conference, Misses M. Baird and H. McKay and Messrs J. A. Cushen and D. F. Leckie. Problems Confronting Institute. In reviewing the year’s activities Mr Griffiths said that three main problems had occupied the attention of the institute — unemployment amongst teachers, women teachers and the Economy Commission s report. On the subject of unemployment the question was often raised: “What was the institute doing?” Mr Griffiths said that the matter had been discussed at the annual conference of the New' Zealand Executive where it had immediately become a main topic. Discussions arose at all sessions in an endeavour to help practically the teachers suffering most through unemployment. The upshot was that, the branches’ had been left to formulate plan.-, and forward them on to Wellington to be finalized. All the conference could offer was that the branches should take into consideration their own distressed teachers and as very few of these had anything in the nature of a reserve fund, the work of the conference was practically nullified. The branches were asking the executives to do for the distressed teachers what the branches themselves were not prepared to do at the executive’s request. It would therefore be left to each individual branch to do what it could for its own unemployed. The solution was greater than a body of teachers could solve, declared Mr Griffiths. It was a matter for Parliament. It was not fair to condemn injustly the New Zealand Executive which was doing everything possible to bring about a better state of affairs. On the subject of women teachers, Mr Griffiths said that legislation had been amended by the Finance Act (No 4) 1931 so that boards might dismiss married women teachers unless there was undue hardship. Some in Auckland had already appealed with success. Mr Griffiths stressed the necessity for immediate notification to him of any such dismissal locally as time was an important factor in the matter of appealing. “The civil servants are being used as a particular means of filling up the Government’s egg basket,” said Mr Griffiths, referring to the Economy Commission’s report. The first move had been the' withdrawal of remote allowances which had been put on one side by the institute to get better teachers in the country. This amount, granted by Act of Parliament, was a round, sum of money which the teachers would have been entitled to had not the institute put it aside to assist the department in the direction he had mentioned. The department had overruled the vote of Parliament for the proper amount and the taking of £20,000 was nothing short of a misappropriation. If the commission’s report ■were adopted the salaries of women teachers would be reduced to four-fifths that of the male teachers, but this proposal the institute was hotly contesting. The present classification of teachers would have to go by the board, he thought, and it was suggested that groups be formed with proviskmal grading for transfers. Assistant

teachers thus would stand on an equal footing at the beginning of their career. Mr Griffiths said this was similar to the practice of most business firms with apprentices who for a time were placed on trial. A big attack was being made on the primary school system, he concluded. It seemed that the greatest argument against this was that in a democratic country every child had to go through the primary school even if he did not later enter a secondary school. The necessity for a good system of primary education was therefore apparent. Mr Griffiths appealed for closer support between primary and secondary teachers so that they could fight a combined battle. Otherwise they would get nowhere. General Business. A motion by Mr J. A. Pushen that there be two vice-presidents, a senior and a junior, the retiring president to be ex-officio the senior vice-president was carried after a short discussion. It was decided to approve of the constitution of the branch being altered to permit three associate members being added to the committee of management, such members to have no vote or grant for travelling allowance. Some time was taken up with consideration of the annual subscription and before this was fixed at 30/- per annum on the motion of Mr C. A. Caigou, various speakers had advocated both a reduction and an increase in the rate. Seeking to curtail the discussion at one stage, the treasurer (Mr Griffiths) declared that the teachers at last year’s conference had allowed ridicule to be brought upon them by the report in the Press of their lengthy discussion over a paltry half-crown. It was decided to support the New Zealand summer school in the event of it being held at Stewart Island. A motion of protest against the action of the Education Department in withholding salary increments was carried.