Educational.

Observer, Volume X, Issue 621, 22 November 1890, Page 12

Educational.

PRINCIPLE llr PAYMENT OF TEACHER.V SALARIES.

I gave an instance of a huge difference in the salaries received by two .teachers of equal merit, one of whom was a ' friend ' of certain members of the Board, of Education, and treated a3 a ' friend ' should be treated, but not at any cost to the members — which would be foolish, the public taxpayers having supplied them with ample funds! for the purpose ; and the other — the poorly paid wight, a 'no friend.' ,• Both were in the lowest class/which is E ; the ' friend ' received .£s2o. of a salary— the highest figure received by atiy such teacher in all New Zealand; while the other grew very, rich upon leas than half of .£350, namely, .£l5O. .Hence it would appear that our Board of Education has a happy way of administering the public fnnds— Very happy indeed for the ' friends ' — and that ignorance in a teacher, if he be a ' Mend,' is no bar to his receiving a very fine salary — at least not an ' insuperable bar.' This is precisely as it should be, when the members are keenly sore at heart from anxiety for the promotion of secular education ; and indeed, were I not convinced that those true gentlemen are much oppressed by their heavy duties, I should sometimes feel disposed to suspect that they had some slight motives of a rather shady character ; or ..that they felt a desire to do, out of the public funds, little odd favours for a ' friend ' here, or another there ; for a sister beyond ; or a cousin under the bill— to induce them to attend Friday after Friday, week after week, at the meetings they weekly hold at the ' ordinary place ' — meetings in the interests ot public education, of course. They have not, however, any despicable motives, nor have they or any one of them, the least interest in looking after their 'friends.' Oh, not a jot. They act always, and have acted always, upon a principle or scheme, and they have a principle or scheme— of their own, but not like Mr Udy's. They'll tell you so ; and you may believe them, if you can. You must not think that any jobs are, or have been ever, perpetrated without a principle ; that the^e were two residences for one teacher at Otahuhu, Mr Luke's habitat, without a principle ; that an E genius was appointed over the heads of superior teachers to an important position, without 'a principle,' ay, and without jusiiee, although there was no other way by which he could bo put into it, nor must you believe that his fixed salary was very soon after raised without ' a principle ' by .£25, although his present salary, .£2OO, is equal to .£175 (the fixed advertised salary) plus £,25. You must not believe that teachers are surreptitiously and illegally graded by our Beard, without a principle and without any sense of justice, when a lucrative appointment is vacant, that the name of any candidate cenaifiered dangerous to the ' friend ' is suppressed from the eyes of the local committee upon some made-up pretext, and yet sent on immediately afterwards, when a much less lucrative appointment is vacant, to another school committee. You must not believe any of those things, nor many more to be revealed in due time, for they were all done upon ' a principle ' ? Yes, indeed they were — Unblushing favouritism. That ' principle,' so-called, is so far a hidden secret, or like a carefully shrouded beauty, the beautiful features of which have not yet been revealed to the vulgar eye. But that it has many untold beauties will yet be made even more evident, repugnant and repulsive though be suoh beauties to what the law dearly lays down. Turning away from the twin of E teachers I take another twin in hand, this time of C teachers, and examine the salaries received by this pair. One of these is a ' friend ' and the other a' no friend.' The ' friend ' does little or no work of teaching ; he writes letters very often to the newspapers, abusing anybody or everybody that says a word about salaries, or about fixing salaries upon merit, or about retrenchment, unless the retrenchment be that of cutting down by ,£lO the ,£3O yearly salary of the poor pupil teachers, the ' very right thing,' he thought. He, a ' Mend,' has long ago forgotten the praefcioe of teaching; his pupils were so many ignominious failures. Of course his salary, .£SOO, flows on to him unfailingly, just the same as if they were all successful. His protectors and benefactors on the Board considered that the failure of his candidates was owing to his excellent system of teaching, as no doubt it was. Again, his pupils failed very recently in passing the simpler examination for pupil-teachership ; but this failure was not owing to the excellence of his system of teaching, no ; but, so he wrote, to his school committee ! No matter what turns up or down, an excuse or explanation ia at hand by them, or him. From that C teacher, a ' friend ' who does not teach, and who receives ,£SOO a year, I turn to the other C teacher, who does teach, and teach successfully, as resnlts and records prove, but a * no friend,' and now I ask, what salary does he receive ? Guess, if you please, my very fair reader. ■£500 a year ; no*; quite so much. ,£4OO, then ; not altogether. That figure is not too much, nor enough, for a ' friend,' but it is out of all reason for a ' no friend.' Well, then, .£350 is surely low enough ; not quite, for a' no friend ' ; please recollect. ,£3OO, then ; not that either. A ' friend,' even if in the very lowest class, would be starved upon that ; but then at present I am dealing, not with an E 'friend,' but with aC'no friend,' which makes a slight difference, you know. ,£250, that is one half of the .£500 ; not even so much for a ' no friend.' ,£200; sorely for shame it cannot be less than that. It is less than that. Just <£175 ! ! ! Against .£SOO !! ! This anomaly — no, not anomaly, but beauty rather — gives another glimpse of the fine so-called ' principle ' that regulates the money, or salaries, aa apportioned by that upright body of men, known as the Board of Education. But my patience, and that of my readers, need not be any further tortured by dwelling upon such a shameless and sickening style of dealing with public funds, under the name, if you please, of administering public secular education. To summarise :— One E teacher (& ' friend ') is receiving a year, while his equal, but a 'no friend ' is receiving ,£l5O a year. One C teacher, w a friend,' is receiving <£500 a year, while his equal, but a ' no friend,' ia receiving =6175 a year. This, here in Auckland — take notice, in this year of grace, 1890.