8.—12

12

Administration op Central Department

The Commission recognizes the efficient manner in which the detail work of the Education Department has been carried out, and that some of the salaries are .certainly not commensurate with the ability and zeal of the officers employed. At the same time, it is believed that a very considerable saving will be effected and local control and responsibility be increased by placing upon the new Education Boards many of the duties now carried out by the Department. Amongst these may be enumerated the inspection of secondary schools, of free kindergartens, of manual, technical, and agricultural instruction ; provision for the issue of railway passes for pupils and teachers ; keeping of maintenance and rebuilding accounts on the basis agreed upon ; accounts in reference to and the control of Native schools. The simplification and (in certain cases) the abolition of returns will reduce enormously the clerical and printing work. For example, instead of the annual returns required to be furnished to the Department by Education Boards and now known as Nos. 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7, all relating to primary and district high schools and salaries, three returns only should be required to be furnished, and these in simplified form, as follows : —

No. 1. (To replace the present Nos. 1 and 2.) Return of Schools, Salaries and Allowances of Teachers, as at the beginning of the Year 1912.

No. 2. (To replace No. 3 at present furnished quarterly.) Adjustment in Salaries and Allowances during the Year ending 1912.

No. 3. Names, Status, and Emoluments of Teachers on the Staff of Public Schools. (To include all the columns in the present Return No. 7 and column 2 in Return No. 6 : the other columns in the last-named return to be done away with.) Thus in the return published in the annual report and known as Appendix E, containing twelve pages of printed matter, with fifteen columns of information, columns 3 to 10 inclusive would be dispensed with, so reducing the return by more than one-half. It is estimated that if the reforms here outlined are adopted a saving of approximately £10,000 a year in the administration of the Department could be effected, while the total extra cost to the Boards would probably not exceed one-fifth of that sum. As the present method of administering the manual and technical instruction in the Dominion lacks uniformity and co-ordination, and is anything but economical, it is recommended that the services of a Supervisor be obtained in order to place this important branch of national education on a satisfactory basis. The Education Department, as at present constituted, consists of six branches, as follows: — (1.) The Official Branch; (2.) The Examination Branch ; (3.) Manual and Technical Instruction Branch;

Aggregate. Grade. Number of Schools open. Salaries of Teachers, including District High Schools, Pupil-teachers' House Allowances, and Probationers' Allowances.

Grade. Number of Schools open. Amount provided by Department. Amount paid by Adjustment with DepartBoard. ment. Dr. Cr.