5

E.—l2

EBPOET.

To His Excellency the Right Honourable John Poynder Dickson-Poynder, Baron Islington, Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over His Majesty's Dominion of New Zealand and its Dependencies. May it please Your Excellency,— We, the Commissioners appointed by Your Excellency's Letters Patent of the 24th May, 1912, which Letters Patent were extended on the 11th June, 1912, and still further extended on the 24th June, 1912, and on the 22nd July, 1912, by which we were directed to inquire into the following matters and things, that is to say,— (1.) The cost of State education in respect to primary, manual, technical, and secondary, and its relation to efficiency ; (2.) The administration of the central Department; (3.) The powers and rights possessed respectively by Education Boards and other local educational authorities, and whether they should be 'extended; (4.) The expenditure on manual and technical instruction, and the question of local responsibility in regard to providing portion of funds therefor ; (5.) The amalgamation of local governing or controlling bodies ; (6.) Overlapping and duplication ; (7.) The finance of Education Boards, high school and manual and technical governing bodies ; (8.) Agricultural instruction and rural courses ; (9.) In what respects school instruction can be improved and made of more practical value in equipping pupils for their future careers; (10.) Scholarships and free places—what changes, if any, should be made in this direction; (11.) And generally in what respects improvements can be made to secure higher efficiency, better administration, and co-ordination and the securing of greater value for the annual expenditure on the branches of education above referred to ; have to report as follows : — For the purpose of obtaining evidence on the matters committed to us we communicated direct with the various educational bodies and associations, and also caused advertisements to be inserted in the newspapers circulating in the localities we proposed to visit, inviting those desirous of giving evidence to appear before us. Sittings were held at Wellington, Auckland, Dunedin, Invercargill, Christchurch, and Wanganui, and every publicity was given, the meetings being held with open doors. During our inquiries thirty-seven open sittings of the Commission were held, in addition to numerous sittings of Committees. We examined (on oath or by affirmation) 206 witnesses, including the Inspector-General of Schools, representatives of Education Boards and School Committees, Education District Institutes, technical schools and colleges, secondary schools and colleges and training colleges, as well as other persons interested in the different phases of education. Written statements were also received from a number of witnesses who could not attend the sittings of the Commission. The evidence, oral and otherwise, elicited during the inquiry is attached hereto.