The Daily News FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11. TEACHERS' SALARIES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 11 October 1907, Page 2

The Daily News FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11. TEACHERS' SALARIES.

The proposed system for payment of teachers' salaries by means of money orders issued by Education Boards should mean a considerable increase of revenue to the Postal Department at the expense of the Education Boards. The proposal is evidently the outcome of the agitation of the teachers themselves, who have objected to the present method of payment by cheque. Teachers of hackbloelcs schools have long felt the inconvenience of the cheque system. Very often the nearest bank is thiity or fifty miles away, and the cheijue must of necessity be cashed by the local storekeeper. Another grievance,'so far as the iaranaki Education District ts concerned, is that teachers who do not obtain personal payment at the Education Boards olbce, have to pay exchange on iheir cheques. Evidently the paying-oflice ol the Education Board is at the .-errciarv's ollice. Is this fair? An eniplovee in, say, the | painting trade has to take his men's jj wages to the workmen wherever they may be engaged or else allow half an hour of!' for the men to come fo the linn's office for wages. In that case there would be no exchange, of course, for payment of wages must be in cash. 'Hi:' teacher is not so fortunate. Not only has he to accept payment hy an order upon the bank, hut lie must be S penalised by the system of exchange. The new system will cost the Education Boards far more than the exchange would have done. For instance, the commission payable on an order for C-t 10s 8d will be sixpence, on £0 10s 8d | a shilling, on I'ly eigliteenpence, and | on .£2O 15s the amount will lie lialf-a----1 crown. An alternative scheme that suggests itself is for the E Juration Board ito open accounts at, say, Opunake, Inglewood, and Stratford, and to pay out to teachers in those districts by means of cheques drawn on the local banks to save exchange. T3ie money order system is going to be an expensive one to the Boards; the Postal Department's monev order business will benefit moSt by its institution.