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Salient. The Newspaper of Victoria University College. Vol. 20, No. 5. June 14, 1956

Low State salaries

Low State salaries

It is, of course, arguable that the salaries paid in the State services are at the present time far too low; or perhaps rather that there is still a totally inadequate margin for skill, professional training and responsibility. Nevertheless, New Zealanders appear to approve, if they do not actively demand, a relatively egalitarian scale of wages and salaries.

Therefore, though university teachers believe quite firmly that it would be in the best interests of the university if it could compete on equal terms with overseas universities, even if it meant raising professorial salaries to the £3,250 now offered by (to take an extreme example) the University of Hong Kong, they realise that it is asking a lot of any Government that it should agree to pay [unclear: a] particular class of persons, out of the public funds, higher salaries than those which are paid to any but the top few permanent heads.

The remedy of course would be to pay all permanents heads from £3,500 upwards; and indeed a very strong case could be made for this. A really effective public demand for the best possible university in this country might well provide the starting point for a general spreading of margins throughout all State-paid services.

Indeed, the Government has committed itself to the view that a spreading of margins to a certain extent would be desirable; yet its current salary increases hardly seem to go far enough in this direction. One cannot help suggesting that a bolder policy would undoubtedly pay very substantial dividends in the long run in the efficiency of the State services and the well being of the country.