NEW SOUTH WALES POLITICS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1177, 12 July 1911, Page 7

NEW SOUTH WALES POLITICS.

$ EDUCATION AND MINING. By TeleeraDh-Press Association-CosyrlubJ Sydney, July n. Mr. Beeby, Minister for Education, is placing a quarter of a million on the Estimates for the purpose of modernising the school system, and making it moro attractive to teachers. He will endeavour to increase the staff. The Minister for Mines (Mr. Edden) met in conference the mine-owners and employees, and discussed the Mines Act Amendment Bill recently introduced into the State Assembly. None of the principal parts of tho Bill were eliminated. THE SHORTAGE OF TEACHERS. Writing of the shortage of teachers in New South Wales, the Sydney "Telegraph" says:—"Ever since the abolition of tho pupil teacher there has been a steady decline in the number of male candidates offering for the teaching service. It is generally admitted that many of tho teachers now in tho service came from the ranks of the working classes. In© boy of Newcastle, with a prospective future as a coalininer, and the lad from Illawarra, with no outlook other than the cow-yard, saw an opening in the teaching service that meant at least a cessation from manual labour. He was ablo under tho pupil teacher system to become a teacher, since at 14 years of age he earned more than he could cam elsewhere, and rose by annual increments to what was a fair wage for a boy. He was little, if any, charge upon the family purse, and in. many cases his quarterly cheque camo as a tairy gift to the impoverished exchequer. "With tlie advent of the probationary student the whole scheme was altered, and it was realised by thoughtful teachers that the teaching service was practically "{"fed to the son of the working man, while the man of means saw no incentive to start his son in a profession that offered so few prizes. ... It is clear that the alternative to the proposal to import teachers is the employment of a greater proportion cf women teachers, unless: (1) The Department offers tho son of poor parents tho means to live during the whole of his probation, and (2) renders the service moro attractive bv increating tho salaries right through to the top.