1.—13 a.

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[A. i. C. HALL

2. Mr. McCallum.\ What towns'/ —I cannot say, but 1 will supply it if you wish. To make the service more attractive to men we recognize we cannot do much under the present Bill under Schedule VI, but under Schedule VII we can do a very greal deal. In dealing more particularly with the first-assistant masters I would say that the work and responsibilities of first assistants are greater than those of any other assistants. First assistants in man) schools are men of long experience, up to twenty years. I have twenty-five years myself. 'Iliey must be men of high efficiency and able to take the headmaster's place for an indefinite period. I am first assistant of the Auckland Normal School. I am in charge of that school for the whole of this year, and the two Inspectors who examined the school lust month gave a highly satisfactory account of the state of the school. Discipline is a very strong feature in connection with the male-teacher administration of schools, and that is essential if we are to keep free from industrial turmoil in the years to come. If boys are made amenable to discipline when they are at school the effect of that will not be lost in time to come. If discipline is strongly enforced in school we shall have fewer strikes and less want of control in the streets at night. To a large extent this increasing tendency on the part of young men to give way to excess in the night-time is due to the fact that there is too much woman-managing between the ages of ten and fourteen. There are not enough male teachers to keep an eye on the boys and keep them under control. The boys get a slackness under women-control that it takes years to eradicate. At the best there are only two years that they are not under women-control and in which to overcome the discipline that has been lost. If there were a third-assistant male in schools that tendency would be done away with, and it would be much to the benefit of the State if that could be achieved. Nearly all of the first assistants are married men. There are very few who are not. I could give a list of the first assistants in Auckland, with the numbers of their families. The president of the Assistant Masters' Association, Mr. Woller, has four children. He came into town some years ago, and last year it cost him £70 a year for house-rent. That may seem a large sum, but I have here, culled from the Auckland Herald of the Ist August, the lists of four or five of the principal land agents of Auckland giving the house-rents of five- and six-roomed houses. There are not nearly enough avenues of promotion for these assistants, although they have proved themselves absolutely fit and worthy to occupy the position of headmasters. I have proved it myself this year. Mr. Warren and Mr. T. R. Jones, of Bayfield, have done the same. In spite of the fact that we are capable of taking these positions, men who are, us a rule, very little older than we are,- and with very little longer experience, receive £180 a year more maximum salary, including house allowance, than we do, although we are to all intents and purposes their equals in most things. The first assistant must have organizing ability as well as teaching ability. We have had the control of schools. My record shows that—and I am taking myself as an illustration of many others —I am at least equal in teaching ability to 70 per cent, of the headmasters of Auckland, yet I have to stick to my maximum of £310, which I get, while the "headmasters go up to £490. I think it is not fair at all. Then, again, it is often said that we assistant masters have not the responsibility the headmaster has. ' Granted. 1 have more responsibility this year than I had last, but I can do my work in five days, whilst last year, when I was in charge of a standard only, I had to work to 11 o'clock and after at night owing to the teaching of seventy pupils. Everything that is put in writing by the pupils must be corrected at home. Assistant masters are connected with all sorts of athletic organizations in regard to the schools, and have to attend meetings respecting them in the evenings, and must attend to the school-work after they come home, and it is often 11 or 12 o'clock when the school-work is completed. As acting-headmaster I have conducted the examination of the Normal School, which has five branches, and corrected all the papers except those in the secondary subjects, and with all that work I have not worked half the long hours I have worked before as assistant master. Compare that with a teacher who goes to a Grade 111 school under the Bill. He may be straight from the training college, as lie sometimes is. He had an assistant, but his work is mere child's plaj' compared with the work of an assistant in Auckland City. The work of a Grade IV (under the Bill Grade III) teacher cannot be compared with the work of an assistant in town, and yet the Grade IV teacher gets within £.'SO, including house allowance, of the first assistant of the largest school. Most male assistants live in town, where living costs more than in the country, consequently they have often to take up coaching and night classes in order to make ends meet. I have had to do so. I am at present teaching in the Technical College at night, and most assistant teachers besiege Mr. George for that work. We do not expect to be able to get any alteration to Schedule VI of the Bill, but we would like to have a little consideration shown under Schedule VII in the matter of house allowance. The need for tliis is recognized even by the Institute. And you must rememlier that officers of the Institute are elected, and no man who is elected can afford to ignore the wishes of the majority of his constituents. The women teachers are largely in the majority in the Institute, and those who wish to retain their seats on the executive must support measures favoured by women. But the Institute conference, in spite of that, passed this resolution : " That the salaries provided for assistants are insufficient for married men." That was moved, I believe, by one of our one-time opponents favouring open competition, who has come to the conclusion that men are being eliminated so quickly that unless drastic action is taken there will be no men in the city schools. I have received the same information from Wellington teachers as I received from five of our own teachers in Auckland : " If you win our house-allowance scheme I will be married at Christmas." 3. 'Mr. Poland.] Have they consulted the girls?— Yes. The girls are getting £150 and £180, and they will not marry teachers unless larger salaries are given. We hear a lot about baby bonuses, but the best baby bonus the State could give would be to give house allowance to these town assistant teachers, who would marry right away. Men at present in the country districts are hesitating to go into schools in the towns because there is no house allowance. Twenty to