A TEACHER'S CRUSADE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 203, 7 May 1912, Page 5

A TEACHER'S CRUSADE

MORE PAY AND BETTER CONDITIONS. By Telegraph— Frees Association. Timaru, May 4. The meeting of the Teachere' Institute to-day was attended by most of the principal head-teachers, who dealt vigorously with certain matters which were characterised as gross injustices to the profession. Some of these were due to the multiplication of small schools, which increased the total cost <of education while ensuring only small salaries, inefficient teaching, and unattractive conditions for both teachers and pupils. The remedy for this evil was centralisation by the conveyance of the children to larger schools. This was stated to have proved a success in Canada and Victoria. Three hundred small schools were stated to have been closed in the latter State. The result should be a reduction in the annual cost, with better salaries, a more attractive profession, and a better return for the money expended. It was said to be a disgrace to the country that educated teachers should be asked to go into the backblocks for £9O a year. A motion was passed that the minimum for a sole teacher should be £l5O. It was decided to start an active, crusade for betterment by direct appeals to the Ministers and members of Parliament. The executive was requested to arrange to meet the Prime Minister in Timara next Saturday, and to ask the local members of both Houses to meet them. The institute will also ask the Minister for Education, when he comes south, to break his journey at Timaru to hear them, and to ask delegates to the Wellington conference on the Lwal Government Bill, when selected, to meet them.