The Daily Telegraph. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 1883.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3722, 20 June 1883, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 1883.

' <.»»iiin»<>'ir "irr —r~*' '■* '" *-■ " t ' The question of salarios of teachers in country schools forced itself on the notice of the Education Board at the meeting of that body yesterday. In some cases assistant teachers cannot be had, for the simple reason that tho salaries offered are not equal in numerous instances to the wages of laboring men. For some time past an advertisement has appeared inviting application for the appointment Of a mistress to tho Gisbonio district school. The qualifications demanded arc that the applicant must have been "Trained and Certificated." Further the armlicant "must have experience' in tho toaching of pupils in a mixed school," and still more she " must be a competent scams, stress." For the efficient fulfilment of the duties which are to bo incumbent on her to discharge, the successful candidate will receive a salary "at the'rate of £110 per annum, together with such further sum df ami) as may be granted bj the .Education Board as a bonus on the result of the annual examination." Commenting upon this advertisement the Poverty Bay Herald points out that to be a trained teacher, togethor with having experience in the teaching of pupils in a mixed school means a servitude as long, if indeed, not longer, as it takes a medical practitioner; as long as it takes an articled clerk to become a-solicitor; or an indentured apprentice to become ft civil engineer or a certificated surveyor, or any other profession calling for close study, a high degree of intelligence and long years of assiduous devotion andspecialacquisitions. The trained and certificated teacher must have passed four or five years of her youner and vigorous life in the drudgery required from a pupil teacher; she must have passed the many crucial tests of an advanced oducation before she has obtained her certificate, and then, before she can hope to be in receipt of a salary of jGHO a year, sho_ must prove her experience "in the teaching of pupils in a mixed school." A salary of i

£110 per annum is as near as may be £2 2s 3d a week, out of which this certificated and trained teacher has to house, feed, and clotho herself, and otherwise to maintain a position comformablewith her social status. It may be presumed that an accomplished woman holding such an appointment cannot hope to maintain herself in respectable lodging and comfortable board under at least thirtyshillings a week. This being so leaves her twelve shillings and threepence for clothing, washing, and to como and go upon in the way of smaller requirements. It is not out of place to compare the trained, cultivated, "and certificated school teacher with the untrained, uncultivated, average servant girl. Ignorant of the commonest household duties; profund in spoiling a joint of meat under the process of boiling or baking; an adept at discoloring linen in tho wash-tub; ready with a saucy answer to a deserved reproach; any incapable girl who is willing to enter a household as a domestic can demand, and will readily receive, £40 a year with free board and lodging, generally of the best, which must be considered as equivalent to £90 annual expenditure on the part of her employer. Our Gisborne contemporaiy then comparer the daily lot of the teacher and tho servant. The trained and certificated teacher has to be subservient to many. She has to be submissive to School Committees, to School Inspectors, to Educational Boards ; she ia subjected to insults from tho parents of children ; her labors are arduous and continuous ; fiho lives in an atmosphere of breaths many of which are fceted and unwholesome. She is chilled in the winter months, and in the season oppressed with summer heat; but she must remain, for th« chances will be against her obtaining anything better than that which she is at present submitting to, or even getting something as good. But the servant girl— ignorant and uninstructed, to the extent of being at once useless and untrustworfcy— receives her equivalent of £90 a year with the right at any time of demanding her -wages and lier privileg-c to leave upon brief notice ; and this with tho certainty of an offer for twenty places, where ono at a time is enough for her. And so it is in the ago we live, the "servant girl" is infinitely moro the mistress of her position than the highly-trained and certificated teacher. Whether this shall continue to be so, and for how long, may prove to be a matter for an interesting, although perhaps speculative enquiry. Such payment offered to cultivated intelligence and acquirements only attained by years of hard work and unremitting study ia an insult to those to whom it is offered.

They have not yet got out of the old grooves in England, as will be seen by the following story told in tho Tablet:—When the Great Northern Railway was projected many years ago, High Barnet refused to have anything to do with it. It stuck by the lines of the " good old days " of coaches and post-horses, when it took you twentyfour hours to roach York and heaven only knows how many to get to Glasgow or Edinburgh. When the railway company demonstrated that it was quite possible to go faster than ten miles an hour by their trains, High Barnet wanted a railway too, but alas, the main line was made, and the dull-headed but historically famous old town was for many years isolated from the convenience of modern travel. It has now got a railway all to itself, but we fear that even this stupendous step in advance has not altogether eliminated from some of its inhabitants that want of common-sense which did tho place so much harm thirty years ago. Attached to the Rev. G. Bampfield's Catholic schools in Barnet is a capital band, whoso head-quarters aro Brunswick House, and a few days ago they very considerately offered to play outside the parish union once a month during summer for tho delectation of the poor inmates. The kindly offer was made to the Guardians, who charitably came to the conclusion, by a majority of seven, that they were bound respectfully to decline it on , "religious grounds," Tho music-loving Protestant paupers will, therefore, run no danger of being converted by a "Pope's brass band," and, as far as Barnet workhouse is concerned, neither Beethoven nor "Nancy Lee" will servo the purposes of an unquestionable Jesuit conspiracy.

There was a blank charge-sheet presented in the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning , . An ordinary meeting of the Municipal (Jouncil will be held .this evening , at the usual hour. Letters of naturalisation have been issued in favor of Johannes Olsen and Christen Jensen, both of Makaretu, and to Baiy Rosenbach, of Blackburn. Mr F. Sutton, M.H.R., proceeded to Wellington this morning overland via Masterton. We can learn nothing of the movements of the member for Napier. Mr W. 0. Smith, M.H.R., addressed hie constituents at Woodville last night. There was a'large attendance, and a unanimoue vote of thanks and confidence was passed. We remind our readers of tho grand organ recital at St. Paul's Presbyterian Church this evening. Tho programme is a very excellent one, and should attract a large audience. Admission to tho entertainment is free, but a collection will be taken ■up at tho close in aid of the organ fund. Out of the twenty-fivo rural sections in the Ruataniwha survey district, thrown open for application yesterday on deferred payment with residenoe optional, twelve were taken up at the upset price. The remaining sections will bo offered for sale at public auction to-morrow by the Commissioner of Crown Lands. The residents of Taradalo and the surrounding districts will have the opportunity to-morrow evening of passing a very enjoyable evening, and contributing at the stime time to a worthy object, by attending tho concert and dramatic entertainment in the Church of England school-room in aid of Mr S. F. Howard. Particulars of the entertainment will be found in another column.

We havo received a letter from a country resident, who has adopted the norn de plwhe of "Station Hack," enclosing what he ie pleased to call a " poetical effusion" of hie own composition. Our correspondent is evidently unaware that for the insertion of original poetry our charge ranges from one guinea an inch to five guineas a line. Tho publication of Ins " poem "would be charged at our very highest sGalo. Tho benevolent and kindly feelings that invariably characterise the conduct of our editorial columns have prompted us to destroy his effusion j we had no wish to do him a permanent injury by its publication, nor cause unnecesaary alarm to his friends. Tho third of fche series of the Woodrille winter entertainment* took place on Mon« , day evening in tho schoolroom, which was ***■ well filled with an appreciative audience. Mr W. W. Carlilo presided. The ladies who sang wero greeted with loud applause, and in response to encores again favored the company. The want of a piano was much. felt, a harmonium, at which Mrs L. i Hambling presided in an able manner A* having to do duty instead. The readingsand recitations wore very creditable. At the conclusion of the programme a vote of thanjke was passed to the chairman and those who took part. Tho National Anthem brought to a close $. successful entertainment. -. '. ■

A committeo meeting of the Poultry and Canary Association was held last night at the Masonic Hotel, when it was decided to hold the noxt show on Friday and Saturday, the 3rd and 4th of August next, entries for which will ho received up to Wednesday, July 25. The catalogue was revised and enlarged, and it was decided to invite offers of special prizes, the disposal of which should bo left with the committee, It was found in practice that when special prizes were offered by donors for particular classes many were left out in the cold, jyhile others were over-rowardorl. The object of the committee is to equalise the distribution of the special awards as much as possible. The ballast-men on the Napier.-Tajjcapau section of the railway struck work yesterday morning, .and cahlo into town last night. From what \ye can gether it appears that most of the men have their homes iii Napier, and that under somo rulo they can claim either a free pass on the railway for themselves, or a privilege ticket for themselves and wives, a privilege ticket being , one-fourth of the ordinary fare. The men, it seems, applied to their inspector atTaka- \ pau for this privilege, by whom it was re- V" fused.. Yesterday morning, however, tho > manager went to Takapau, and tho men interviewed him upon the subject. Their application was again refused, but upon what grounds we have not heard. Any

way tho men struck, then and thore, but shortly afterwards four went back to work, the sixteen others coming into town. Without a knowledge) of both sides of tho dispute we can offer no comments upon the ense. We had shown us last evening a curiosity in tho shape of a lawyer's bill of costs. Tho defendant in a civil case laid in a court not a hundred miles from Masterton had costs amounting to £0 awarded him on the plaintiff to tho suit withdrawing it. Tho amount awarded did not anything like meet the expenses incurred in attending the court, but tho defendant, feeling the truth of the old proverb that " half a loaf is better than no bread," accepted it and returned to his home, leaving the legal gentleman who was acting for him to collect the money on his behalf. A day or two afterwards, to his surprise, he received a letter from tho solicitor enclosing him a P. 0.0. for lGs -Id, and a bill of costs which tottod up to £5 3s Sd, including 0d for the post office order and 6s Sd for the letter that accompanied it. Judging- from the bill one is led to the belief that a lawyer charges 6s 8d or 3s -id every time a client looks at him. Law may bo a luxury, but there is no gainsaying the fact that it is an expensive one. Old Sores ! —Many persons are greatly troubled with old sores that they cannot succeed in healing; they try all sorts of applications, lotions, plasters, poultices, liniments, Sec, &c., but nil in vain—the open wound remains sullen and obstinate. For tho only mode of healing all such sores consult Professor Moore, Medical Hall, Waipawa, and receive advice gratis.— [Advt.] As shines a good deed in a naughty world, stands out amidst the mass of trashy specifics and deleterious concoctions, the pure, unadulterated, palatable preparation known as Wolfe's Schnapps.-—[Advt.]