THE TEACHER.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8489, 17 July 1907, Page 7

THE TEACHER.

(By a Teacher.) No. 3.—HOUSE ALLOWAN CE. House allowance is another griev■r small country school teachers. In the case of schools over 21 average attendance £2O per year is granted. For schools under- that attendance no " allowance is made. That moans the poorer tha teacher's income is, the more he is mulcted in it. In the case of the teacher last referred to, he had no possible chance of obtaining any habitation for six miles from his school in any direction, and was compelled to rent a farm or leave his employment. When, with a family of three, he was reduced for six months to a less wage than a road labourer, it is no wonder that he was brought to the verge of bankruptcy. What an anomaly in law - making it is to see teachers with decent incomes being well provided with nice residences, while ihe teacher of a poorly attended school has to hunt for a place to sleep in! And all this again through the vicious system of payment by average attendance. We may consider the lack <of teachers residences as one of the 'sundries' of which our suffering brethren complain. The insufficiency of their retiring allowance and superannuation is another, but does not lie within the scope of this paper. Can it be wondered at that our youths are reluctant to enter the teaching profession, that most of all young promising teachers consider it only as a stepping stone to better things? On an excursion lately. I travelled ■with several teachers. Not one of them intends to remain, and grow old in the teaching profession. Several promising lads of my acquaintance answered my question, if they would not like to be teachrs? with a decided negative. One of them said: ■"I would sooner be a cow puncher all my life. My father is a teacher, and he wishes he never had been. He is high up in his certificates, and once had .£225 a year. But lots of families left the district, and he has now only £144 a year, and there are eight of us. And he is getting old; so they •won't give him a better school. The young fellows all try to squeeze the old ones out, and when Dad retires ha'll get £52 a year and about £IOO for 25 years' service, and then, if we boys" can't help him, he may stave on that. Why a bobby is ever so mi Jb better off. A teacher! Not mei And ray eldest brother has left tha teaching—he is going to be a lawyer; teaching wasn't good enough for him « theiv' (To be Continued.)