SALARIES OF TEACHERS

Taranaki Daily News, 17 June 1932, Page 7

SALARIES OF TEACHERS

OTAGO BOARD’S COMPLAINT.

DEPARTMENT BEYOND REASON.

By Telegraph.—Press Association.

Dunedin, June 16.

The attitude of the Education Department in relation to teachers’ salaries and'' house allowances was caustically commented on at a meeting of the Otago Education Board, a strong resolution being passed condemning the ‘‘callous nature of the department’s reply to the representations, and urging the Minister to take action.”

It was explained that the cuts in salary applied to house allowances, with the result that married head teachers of orade 3 and married sole teachers of grades 1 and 2 received smaller salaries than they would if they were single. When a single teacher in such a school with a residence married it was possible for him to receive £l5 less than when single. Moreover, when the residence was not provided, by the assessment of the house allowance at £5O instead of £3Q the married teacher’s salary was sometimes made high enough to come within the second 10 per cent, cut, while the single man escaped with a lower percentage. Mr, Wallace, the chairman, said the great defect in the department wae that there was nobody with practical experience of board administration. If the board’s representations had been made to the Minister there would have been a different answer, but the department was beyond reason.