STAFFING SCHOOLS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXIII, Issue 25, 30 January 1901, Page 2

STAFFING SCHOOLS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sra,—l« an article in yonr papar sirne days ago inferring to the special grant from the Department towards increasing teacberfe' salaries, tha writer quoteis as follows from the New Zealand !Times: —"It is not known upon what basis the increase l ! hwe been mal", j but it is euppoatd that a colonial scale has been fixed and the increase is made in conformity therewith." Afwr quoting this extract from the Times t,h* article in the News go s on to say: " This is all very well, but the nu'nbe-' of childreu the teachers have to ti a' h should also be considered. A graat deal is often made of the low siltiies paid in Taranaki when c.mpiroJ with Wanganui, OtagJ, &i., but it should also be known that the Taranaki Board is not so exacting in the matter of the number each teacher is required to teach, and looked at from this standpoint, the salaries are not so low as they otherwise appear." In brief, tbe public are led to believe that the work of the teacher in Taranaki is less arduous and requires less effort than in other d;stricta. Not only is this rot so, but it will bo seen from the following table that tbe difficulties here are even greater tjian those, of the mnjori'y of our brptfcreu iri simijar positions in other parts of th§ colqny,and when tha time cqmos for a uniform system of staffing, we in Taranaki nead no 1 ; feir tbe result. the majority of the schools in this district are «m»ll, only five having an average of over 100, I have compared the s'-affing of thefe schools with those of a s : mil»r size in the larger di-trio's where the remuneration is much higher. The following arc the iesults :

The above figures, taken from cfficul records, show that Tai'Uiiiii is not favoured in thfl stalling of its school*. Had I cninjared it wif.h the smiller districts, the diff'nmca wuuld prohnbly bave bean evon gro.it"r,—l am, &c, Heotoe Dempsey.

60 to 91 60 to 81 51 to 75 51 tolOl 71 to 101 Head Teacher and Assistant. At 91 At 81 At 73 At 75 At 101 At 101 Head Teacher Assistant and iPupil Teacher » ' J? &f P g 0 s s £ y ft £<>1 JBW * m : : H ; : i f Up to 35 j Up to 41 Up to 41 Up to 31 Up to 51 Up to 41 So'e Teacher 35 to 60 41 to 60 41 to 76 31 to 51 41 to 71 d 'f? % sL a Hd H O Q,itl , p *"p t o a-