The Star. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1904. AN INJUSTICE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8163, 10 November 1904, Page 2

The Star. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1904. AN INJUSTICE.

Although the Public School Teachers' Salaries Act Amendment Bill did not appear in the published list of the measures passed last session, it should have found a place I/here. It .has become law, and in due course it will be put into operation. Unfortunately, the Bill contained no provision for increasing the salaries paid to women teachers. At the time it came before Parliament we commented on the unfairness of excluding women teachers from the benefits which it conferred, and we still think that a serious mistake was made. But it is hopeless, we fear, to look for justice while the views of Parliament remain unchanged; Mr C. A. C. Hardy, M.H.K, disclosed something further regarding the nature of these views at the meeting of the North Canterbury Education Board yesterday, when he declared that the feeling on the Parliamentary Education Committee seemed to be against encouraging women teachers, the objections being based on the ground that women only entered the profession until marriage,' or something better turned up. If this is the reason which is responsible for the attitude of Parliament, it is a very poor and a very unworthy one. Parliament is guilty of nothing short of monstrous ingratitude to a class which, collectively, has toiled long and earnestly in the service of the colony. There has been no suspicion of self-seeking in the conduct of the majority of the women who have worked as mistresses in the colony's primary schools. On the contrary, with a few exceptions, they have been noted for their devoted loyalty to their profession and to the Department. But if it be admitted, for the sake of arcrument, that „ women teachers remain in the service of the State only " until something better * turns up," is this a reason why they should be debarred from holding positions of equality with men? What, we should like to know, is the aim of the average male teacher? Is he so self-sacrificing that he will reject all chances of improving his position in life? Will he not take " something better" if it " turns up " ? The fact is, of course, that, if women teachers do abandon the profession, it is because of the hardships which it entails and the injustice which they are compelled to suffer. They are conscious that their ■ teaching abilitiesi are ©very bit as great as tine male teacher's, and they are naturally discontented with conditions which rob tihem .of the fujj fc^ of their work. In demanding equal pay for equal work, fliey are asking bto. jnstice. If Parliament persists in witkHolding it

from them, we hope they will turn for Assistance to their sex. A solid intimation ' from the women of New Zealand that justice must be granted would quickly coravince Parliament of the necessity of granting it.