4

E.--6

" Under the Regulations for Free Places in secondary schools and district high schools boys and girls who qualify for Junior Scholarships, whether they obtain scholarships or not, or pass a special examination for free places, or who obtain certificates or proficiency at the completion of their primary course, become eligible generally for a Junior Free Place, which gives the privilege of two years' free tuition, with a possible extension to a third year without further examination. " At the end of the period a Senior Free Place is obtainable to the age of nineteen by all who succeed in passing the Civil Service Junior Examination, eithei in its competitive form or, as slightly modified for the purpose in question, in the form of a qualifying examination only. The Matriculation Examination of the University may also be used for this purpose, and those qualifying for Senior Board Scholarships, whether by means of the Department's examination or not, are also eligible. As, however, various reasons exist in the interests both of the pupil and of the school for dispensing with an external examination whenever this can be done with convenience and safety, the new regulations, gazetted 2nd April, 1908, encourage the use, as a qualification for Senior Free Places, of a slightly modified form of the ' accrediting ' system, which has for some time been growing in favour with educational authorities elsewhere, and which forms commonly a characteristic feature of Continental and American schools. Hereafter, on the joint recommendation of the principal of the school attended (or, in the case of district high schools, of an Inspector of the district) and of the Inspector-General of Schools, it will be possible for a free pupil who has gone through a satisfactory course of work of sufficient scope to secure, without the restrictions of an intermediate public examination, free secondary education throughout the whole course of his attendance at a secondary school up to the age of nineteen years." Scholarships held at Secondary Schools and District High Schools. The scholarships at secondary schools and district high schools are of four kinds, — (i.) Junior National Scholarships ; (ii.) Education Board Scholarships ; (iii.) Foundation or Governor's Scholarships, given by the governing bodies of secondary schools ; (iv.) Private scholarships, endowed by private donors. (i.) Junior National Scholarships. —These scholarships, which were established by " The National Scholarships Act, 1903," the provisions of which, with its amendments, are incorporated in " The Education Act, 1908," are allotted to the several education districts practically on the basis of population, as in each district there is offered annually one scholarship for each 4,000 or part of 4,000 children in average yearly attendance. The scholarships are open, with certain limitations, to children under, fourteen years of age who have been attending a public school or schools in New Zealand for the three preceding years, and are awarded on an examination in the subjects prescribed for the Sixth Standard of the Public School Syllabus ; they are tenable for three years at a secondary school or its equivalent, but the tenure may on evidence of merit be extended for a fourth, or even for a fifth year, provided the holder is not over eighteen. The value of each scholarship, in addition to free tuition, is £10 a year, to which £30 a year is added if the scholar has to live away from home, or actual travellingexpenses up to £10 a year if he has to travel more than four miles each way daily. The scholarships are awarded by the Education Boards on the results of an examination conducted by the Education Department, and the Boards exercise a certain control over the holders, and pay over to them from time to time the amounts falling due. With the Junior National Scholarships are now incorporated the Junior Queen's Scholarships, which were established by " The Victoria College Act, 1897," to enable pupils of public schools in the Victoria College University District to attend a secondary school as a stepping-stone to a course at Victoria College. Twenty-one Junior Queen's Scholarships, of a total annual value of £463 10s., were held during 1908, but the last of them will come to an end in 1910. The number and value of the Junior National Scholarships current in December, 1908, in the several education