[f. m. kenneb.

80

I.—lBa.

In a fourth school, D, it is estimated that .£1,600 will have to be spent where under the new Act only £700 is provided. In the fifth school, F (girls'), which is practically unendowed, the capitation grant will be £13 10s. The number on the roll is 300, of which about 5 per cent, are paying pupils. If £12 10s. per bead is to be paid in salaries it will leave about £1 per bead for general expenses, including the interest on money raised some time back to put up new buildings. The margin, £1 per head, is clearly insufficient. Again, there are four mistresses who receive salaries below £150; by the time these are raised what chance have the senior teachers of having their salaries improved? It seems to us that special grants must be made directly to such schools, or .the capitation grant must be raised to an amount greater than it is at present. If the latter course is adopted— and we earnestly hope it will—let the capitation be raised not merely to cover the extra sums needed by separati schools such as A. B. C, AVc, but raised sufficiently to provide at least the additional amount, £4,100. This sum would be adequately provided by (he following alterations m Schedule X: Subsection (6), change "one-fourth" to "one-half"; subsection (c), change "£6" to "£8"; subsection (d), change "£9 " to "£ll.' And again—Subsection (ill), change "£250" to " £300"; subsection (iv), change " £175" to " £200"; subsection (vi), change " £12 10s." to " £14 10s." We now append by way of illustration and comparison a total which gives clearly the conditions that will obtain when the proposed Bill is in force, and the conditions that would obtain were our proposals adopted: —

The executive regrets that the question of superannuation is not dealt with in the proposed Bill. Teachers in both'primary and secondary schools are in a position which compares most unfavourably with men and women in the Government service. Teachers count their retiringallowance on the last three years of service; Civil servants count theirs on the best three consecutive years. It is surely unfair that such a distinction should be made. The secondary teacher, be it noted, is even worse off than the primary teacher; the latter counts his service from the time he commences as a pupil-teacher; the former, after spending some years in university or some equivalent training, and thus, as he fondly believes, better fitting himself to take a higher position in the educational world, finds himself penalized in that he cannot count his years of service until he actually commences teaching in a secondary school. Again, the primary teacher has a much better security of tenure under the proposed Bill. The secondary teacher'has none. He has the Appeal Board, certainly, but even if he is not dismissed he may be starved into dismissal by having bis salary reduced. This, in the absence of a Dominion scale, is quite possible in the'case of secondary-school teachers, but it is not possible in the case of primary-school teachers who do have a Dominion scale. Obviously the last three years of a secondary-school teacher's service are frequently not his best years. It is the invidious definition between teachers and Civil servants that we wish to have removed. The executive wishes to draw the attention of the Education Committee and members of Parliament to that portion of Schedule X which states that the amount expended in salaries in secondary schools shall be £12 10s. per head of all pupils attending the school (exclusive of pupils in the lower department). This places male and female assistants exactly on the same footing as regards remuneration, which, for reasons given later, seems undesirable.

Accordini to Bill. Our Proposal. Net Annual Income from Endowments. Total Funds available per Pupil. Total Funds available per Pupil. Gr.mt. Grant. £ 17 16 15 II 13 12 II 10 E s. 4 0 4 5 4 10 4 15 5 0 5 5 5 10 B 15 C, tt 6 15 7 10 8 5 9 0 9 18 10 16 11 14 12 12 13 10 t s. 21 0 20 5 19 10 18 5 18 0 17 5 16 10 15 15 15 0 14 15 14 10 It 5 14 0 13 IS 13 16 13 14 13 12 13 10 i B. 4 0 4 10 5 0 5 10 6 0 6 10 7 0 7 10 8 0 8 15 9 10 10 5 11 0 11 18 12 16 13 14 14 12 15 10 E s. 21 0 20 10 20 0 19 10 19 0 18 10 18 0 17 10 17 0 16 15 16 10 16 5 16 0 15 18 15 16 15 14 15 12 15 10 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0