One more improvement--and a very important one--was made before Mrs. Sidgwick's retirement: the determination of a fixed age for retirement for the Staff and of a pension to follow. The salaries of all the lecturers were raised and standardized. In the early days the pay had been low, even according to the standard of that time, simply because Newnham had not the funds at its disposal that better endowed Colleges possessed. Still, as we have seen, a great deal had been done for the promotion of learning and research, and some of the lecturers had from time to time benefited by the endowments for this purpose. But by the arrangements which came into force in 1910 the whole status and earnings of the Staff were revised, and a contributory pension scheme initiated, with a liberal provision for making the advantages of the scheme retrospective in the case of lecturers of some years' standing. Shortly after these reforms, others on a larger scale were projected, and in a few years successfully accomplished. It was considered by some past students that the Constitution of the College, though it had worked well, was more fitted for the infancy of such an institution than for its adult life. The subject was naturally one taken up and discussed by the Associates at their annual meeting. Some Associates who were connected with one or other of the provincial Universities were anxious to introduce changes which would more or less assimilate Newnham to such Universities. Others held that whatever changes were made ought to be rather on a College than a University plan, and that the wisest course would be to make Newnham, in general government and arrangements, sufficiently like the Cambridge Colleges for it to be able, if ever the happy day arose of its full recognition by the University, to fall into line and take its place with the other Colleges. The Associates chose a committee from among themselves to draft a scheme, and to them were joined representatives of the Council, including experienced members of the University, who gave invaluable help, and the results they came to were successful in meeting with a unanimous acceptance. The models chosen were chiefly the smaller Colleges, but none were followed slavishly, and the scheme when it emerged was found acceptable to the whole body of Associates. The Council on this, as on similar occasions, was not above taking suggestions from the past students and working on the lines thrown out. The result was a petition for a Charter which, with the Statutes of the College, became operative in the year 1917.