Considerable pressure is likely to be put on Government to ensure that the new university staff salary scales are at least equal with those of Australia and the United Kingdom.

At Present New Zealand salaries are 15 to 25 per cent below the Australian scale and there is a strong likelihood that Australian salaries will be raised in the near future, following the United Kingdom's 5 per cent raise last April.

The present staff shortages throughout New Zealand are attributed by the Association of University Teachers (AUT) to this lack of equality between local staff salaries and those of overseas institutions —and shortages are increasing. In the 1965 VUW calendar 36 appointments are recorded as unfilled but by 1966 the number had risen to 60 (including nine chairs) or about 20 per cent of the total staff.

Many vacancies are unfilled for periods well over a year. Professor Holmes records that of 152 positions recently advertised 44 per cent had not been filled and the staff-student ratio at VUW had deteriorated from 1 to 13.4 in 1964 to 1 to 13.9 in 1965. Compared to some of the new English universities, which attracted 16 applications per advertised vacancy, New Zealand seems to attract only three, and these are not necessarily of satisfactory standard.

It would seem that at least half the academics who leave New Zealand universities to take up overseas appointments do so without promotion, which suggests that salaries and working conditions may be the main reason for leaving.

Factors

It is factors such as these that will have considerable bearing upon the salary level decision which will shortly be made by the University Salaries Committee. A number of university bodies (including AUT and the vice-chancellors committee but not NZUSA) are stressing the implications if salaries are not raised to at least parity with Australia.

Last increases were in mid-1964 when salaries were raised to a level similar to the Australian scale before its increases in late 1963. It is alleged that, during negotiations, the Prime Minister ad-j mitted the principle of parity with Australia although New Zealand fell short of such parity by about 20 per cent. University reaction was bitter and included "New Zealand universities are in a worse position for bargaining for staff than ever before" (Dr. Pownall, vice-chancellor of Canterbury) and "New Zealand has taken another bold leap into the past" (Dr. A. Beachem, vice-chancellor of Otago).

Foreboding

Such comments, echoed in the foreboding of Professor Hughes of Victoria, that "however hard it is for New Zealand universities to obtain staff from overseas at present, it will become much harder in the immediate future" seem to have come true over the last two years.