The Daily News WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10. SCHOOLTEACHERS' FLUCTUATING SALARIES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 10 April 1907, Page 2

The Daily News WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10. SCHOOLTEACHERS' FLUCTUATING SALARIES.

Reverting to the subject of school-teach-ing, on which we have found it very necessary to touch from time to time, we have mentioned before Jiat teachers of equal qualifications, whether living in a city or in ilie back-blocks; whether teaching a class of sixty or half that number, should be pa'd an even salary. The subject has lately been discussed by ' Education Boards and a movement is being made to even up the service. A teacher with, say, a "D" certificate is capable of teaching in a (big city school. If he has the luck to get a city schoo 1 ; he will get a decent salary. Tf he has the ill-luck to get a sparsely-attended country school lie will get nothing of 'the sort. There is 100 much of the. element of chance about (he appointment of teachers, and, although it may be taken that the Education Department desire to be fair, they cannot be fair while the sy.-fem obtains 0 f giving equally qualified men —or women—widely separated, a different, wage. It has been pointed out that this' element of chance in 'l.ho ma iter of appointments of teachers, prevents qualified persons from accepting positions of teachers, ami as we are rightly laying much stress on the necessity and value of education as a national asset, we should eliminate any appearance of favoritism, for it is favoritism whatever the intentions of the authorities may be. The discussion of the matter, of course, brings tip the perennial cause of complaint—paying salary on the average attendance of the schools. By mere luck tinder this system a teacher may get an adequate salary, or, failing a good attendance, he may get a very attenuated one. The general prosperity of business makes all sorts of Government servants .withdraw from the employ of the colony, and in no branch of the Government service are withdrawals so frequent as in the Education Department. It is a degrading fact that, many men who have never "passed an examination of any kind in their lives at this moment occupy lucrative public service positions for doing very little work, while teachers who have a trying lime and hard work are driven out of the service by inadequate salaries and bad conditions that have been so often written of in these co» lumns, '