The Timaru Herald MONDAY, JULY 20, 1908. THE CHILD FAMINE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13651, 20 July 1908, Page 4

The Timaru Herald MONDAY, JULY 20, 1908. THE CHILD FAMINE.

In Die interesting and p-eadable address which we reprint/ this morning to a Dunedin. contemporary, the president of the- Otago Educational Institute exposed the principal reason which gives rise to the complaint of -teachem that after years of conscientious devotion, to -their profession, they may, and in many cases do, find themselves in Receipt, of smaller salaries than they enjoyed at- an earlier period of their career. .-The principal reason is what Mr Tvnddl variously described as the child famine, and the decrease in the amount of the-teacher's raw 'material. The trouble in the oldereettled'districts like Otago is t.ho dwindling attendance. The children are not there a !o be taught, and so long as the system of payment .by attendance is continued' in its tyre-sent form, the evil of

diminishing 'salaries must increase lnlmrulenco and in - individual iujnstioe.- ; "SVc. are glad to notice, by tho way, <lha\. Mr Tymlall gave -llw \reigl*b of his coudjmnation to Iho practice against which wo have, frequently animadverted—the • \ui(.ue multiplication of schools. It is isit-ob-vion* as hardly to i-quire mention IhaU jf |he 'total number <it' pupils 1,1 ''' 1""' vinco is gradually growing less, as it is in (Jingo, any injustice falling upoi Hut innocent shoulders of the teachers mu.t bo accentuated when Uio " raw mate'ial which is the basis of the pedagoiue'n salary, is split up 'amongst an inciting numln-r of schools. The effect imifi' be wholly prejudicial to (ho efficiency of tho educational -system!, an.l if parents emld only be induced to look at tlio mailer in the" light, of their children's own interests, we (Vel confident (hat they would Jesi-tal-e before urging tli« of new schools which, white move accessible., cannot possibly give the training fliat. is available in schools whew the attendance ensures thr» appointment of a w;i)-traineil staff. Mr 'i'yndall emphasised .his point, "when he showed that ■ the difteulty of obtaining qualified teachers is ,„,|y in hhe six lowest grades o schools where the miserable, series fori" Hoards and Committees and parents iri content, themselves with instructors in mist eases destitute of eertificaU'S. Hut lite multiplication of schools only accentmtes the> evil of a. "child famine." Evendf theve were no mull iplicat ion, the teacher would still suffer "> poeket their salaries remained dependent. upon a dimnishing quantity. We have no intent ioi now of preaching' a homily upon the d'clining birlhrate. It is sufficient for 0/r purposes to take, ihe position as MrTvndall has-started if —a position cnnfirm.il in all respects by Ihe Minister for I<ab.ur, who considered" it from an entirely different) standpoint. In reply to afi put .it ion from the conference of -waterside workers which recently met in Wellingon, the Hon. Mr Millar saicl that he Ltd be-m staggered' when he had examiled the figures relative to the juvenile peculation which will in a few years have tie task ot /manning the industries of the polony. He had corn's to the conclusion th.t New Zealand is not producing enough iSiildren to carry on its industries; in the I'uture, so that, from an industrial as well .a from an educational point of view, Ihe f-chdit famine" is assuming alarming dimensions. It is, however, the educational stancpoint. that- we are now dealing wilh, especially in relation to. (lie salaries of the in.frw:tors. We do not see liow it is possible, to throw overboard the system of payment hy attendance, because it that the colony's expenditure'on education must be determined by tie number of children it hats to educate. When the teacher is comparing his poilion -with (hat of railway servants or of policemen, he must not forget that the, stitionmaster or the police oflieer whose emolument vises, is required at live same lime to advance to more dilies. If the business at a railway ntatioy were t» decline like ihe attendance at tie school, the Stale could no more continue to pay a salary out of proportion to the. Business at the .station than one put of proportion to the. attendance at the sclioo.. The remedy seems onvions— to cont-ol tha appointments of teachers upon fie samei lines as those of etritionmasters 11' other civil - servants. that is what tl<j dago Educational Institute is asking V>r, and it is what we have on more tlian ona occasion beep more than half inclned' to support. But at the' same - tine we> should regret to fitness the destruction of a system which liar, brought int> the service of education the entliusiasn ami ihe genius for administration of man? men like the Rev. George Barclay, whoso decease We lament to-day. Nor are we left without the experience of capable <diu-a-tionists who know the weaknesses not. only of the New Zealand system, but. .ot' the centralised system/ with which it is proposed to .supersede it. 11l tin interview with the secretary of the Roulh Cant terbury Education Hoard which wi published some weeks ago on his retun fre nil Australia, wo recorded tlie advice of a high.authority in Victoria who prnmnnced strongly against centralisation, and counselled this colony to maintain ils; principle of local administration and cmtrol.