E.—2

8

Private Schools. Under section 170 of the Education Act, 1908, the teachers or managers of any private school may apply to have the school inspected, and the school becomes thereupon " subject, to inspection." In general, if the school gives secondary instruction, H is. in accordance with the Act, inspected by an Inspector of the Education Department : in all other cases—that is. generally, in the case of primary schools— inspection i.s made by an Inspector of the Education Board. In 1911. the number of private primary schools so inspected was 131 ; the total number of pupils present on the day of inspection was 11,398. TABLE Cc. -Inspbotioh of Private Schools during 1910. N'uralxT Number of Education District. uf Schools Children present inspected. at bispeotion. Auckland .. .. .. .. .. ..33 3.207 Taranaki .. .. .. .. .. .. I 389 W.inganui .. .. .. . . .. .. 1 J 863 Wellington .. .. .. .. .. ..II 1,384 Bawke\Bay .. .. .. .. .. ..9 78* Marlborough .. .. .. .. .. .. 1 189 Nelson . . . . . . . . .. . . 8 552 Grey 3 W3 Westland .. .. .. .. .. . '. 5 293 North Canterbury .. .. .. .. ..20 1,570 South Canterbury .. .. .. .. ..5 162 Otago .. ..... .. .. .. ..10 S3o* Southland . . . . . . . . . . .. 8 t6B Totals .. .. .. .. ..131 11,398 • For 1909; figures for 1910 nol available. From the Ist January, 1911, the fact of a school being subject to inspection has nn important significance which it did not have before, inasmuch as by section 150, subsection (5), of the Education Act, no instruction given to a child between seven and fourteen is considered to be efficient, so as to be legal ground of exemption from attendance at a public school, unless it is " given to children in their own homes or in a school subject to inspection." Classification and Examination. Table T) is a summary for the whole Dominion of Table 1)1, which shows the numbers in the several classes for the various districts. The proportion of pupils in the preparatory classes has still further increased—37'ls per cent, as against 36-66 per cent, for the year 1909.

TABLE D.— Classification of Pupils at Public Schools, December, 1910.

The following is a summary of the examination statistics for 1910 : — Total roll at time of annual examination ... ... ... 1.57,838 Present at examination ... ... ... ... ... 150,552 Present in preparatory classes ... ... ... ... 55,506 I 'resent in classes S6 ... ... ... ... ... i>,454 Present in classes S7 ... .. ... ... .. 1.901 Standard VI certificates gained, viz.,— Certificates of proficiency ... ... ... <>,499 i competency ... ... ... J. 9411 ' Details of these figures for each district are given in Table D 2.

ClasBes. Boye. Girls. Total. Percentages for l-'ivc Years. c Jlaee P .. .. SI .. .. S2.. . 88 .. .. 84 .. .. So.. S6 . . sv.. linn , .. 1907. 190M. 1909. 1910. 30,826 37,286 58,081 2986 311] 34-27 36-66 37-15 .. 9,830 J 9,208 19,083 120H L2-05 Ll-96 12-25 12-17 9,722 8,941! 18,664 12-18 1210 11-61 11-82 11-94 9,834 s,r,r,-± 17,886 12-17 1204 11-98 11-34 11-44 8,401 7,836 1C, '237 tl-79 11-46 11-20 l()-7s 10-89 7,438 e.787 11,220 lOoi) 10-24 9-65 9-08 9-10 5,082 9,6-27 8-24 7-79 r,-,S7 0-56 6-16 L.243 1,831 2,576 < 3-21 2-46 t-51 1-65 TocalH.. 74,.502 156,324 10000 : 10000 10000 100-00 10000