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of secondary education. It can be of no public advantage to set up schools professing to supply secondary education, but not provided with a staff sufficient to render suitable classification possible. In the English subjects the training given would not be equal to that given in the primary schools, while in the branches of secondary education the work done would be very unsatisfactory. The classification necessary in a high school is hardly possible unless at least five classes can be maintained, with as many teachers. At the same time, where the population is small the salaries of the headmaster and the assistants need not be so high as in large towns. ' If the Government provide in each case a site of from two to ten acres, and an endowment in land of the annual value of £600 or £800, to pay the salaries of a headmaster and a lady assistant, the fees ought to be sufficient to enable the governing body to obtain the services of the requisite number of assistant teachers. The increasing value of land, and the increasing revenue from fees, may be depended upon to provide for the better payment of the teachers, for additions to the staff, and ultimately for the separation of the boys' and girls' schools. It would not be unreasonable to expect that a part at least of the original expense of the buildings should be defrayed by public subscription or private donation; and preference might well be given by the Government to districts where the desire of the people for the education of their children was expressed in such a form. We are of opinion that the headmaster should always be a graduate of some University. We also think that, where it is practicable, it would be advantageous to make provision for allowing, or for compelling, the headmaster to retire on half-pay after fifteen years' service, or on two-thirds of his salary after twenty years' service. A similar provision might well be introduced into agreements made with professors of the University colleges. The governing bodies of the schools should be so constituted as to represent various interests. They should include in each case members appointed by the Governor, by the Senate of the New Zealand University, or by the Council of a neighbouring University college, and by the Board of Education of the district. The municipal Council, and the Council or Councils of the adjacent county or counties, ought also to elect one or more members. We think that representation of these bodies is preferable to any ex-ojjlcio membership. While recommending a general form of constitution for new high schools we do not think it advisable to redu.ee the constitution of the governing bodies of existing schools to one model. Regard ought to be paid to the circumstances of the origin and history of these institutions; and substantial advantages may arise from differences produced by such circumstances. As an illustration we may refer to the case of the Boys' High School at Christchurch, which is to be under the control of the Canterbury College. We are far from thinking that such a connection between a University college and a grammar school is generally desirable, but we believe that in this instance one important result will be gained. The governors will be compelled, for the sake of the reputation of the school, to encourage the boys to long enough to enable the sixth form to sustain comparison with the sixth forms of the best grammar schools in the country ; and they will also be obliged to show that in the College there is work in advance of all that a grammar school can be expected to do, and fit to engage the time and the energies of young men for three or four years after leaving school. In this way a useful illustration will be afforded of the difference between grammar-school and University work. It is difficult to arrive at an accurate judgment with regard to the efficiency of the secondary schools. The only means that have hitherto existed of arriving at any conclusion on this point have been furnished by the periodical school examinations, the Civil Service examinations, and the examinations for junior scholarships in the University. The great difficulty of obtaining competent independent examiners has greatly diminished the value of the ordinary school examinations as a test of school work. The headmaster of Christ's College Grammar School pointedly alludes to this difficulty; and in the case of Nelson College the evidence shows that one gentleman lias been the examiner in all the branches of study for a number of years. While, therefore, we cannot regard these examinations as satisfactory, we are of opinion that a general system of

Uniformity of constitution not necessary.

Tests of efficiency of secondary

Examinations conducted by authorities. int. Rep., Evid.,