E.—l3

2

0. —The Establishment of an Advisory National Council op Education, whose Functions would be to report to the minister— (a.) Upon methods or developments in national education which in its opinion it is desirable to introduce into New Zealand : (6.) Upon any matters concerning the provision of facilities for education in the Dominion or in any district thereof, and upon the co-ordination of the work carried on by the various bodies controlling education: (c.) Upon any other matters in connexion with education referred to it by the Minister. The Council would meet annually in June, and at such other times as the Minister may direct. To obviate the necessity for frequent meetings of the General Council the Minister is given power to constitute from time to time District Councils for assistance and advice with regard to matters concerning one district only. These District Councils would, consist chiefly of the members of the General Council belonging to the district concerned. D.—Election of Boards. The Education Commission recommended the election of Boards for three years from four wards of each, district on adult suffrage. The present Act divides each education district into three wards, and the members for each ward are elected by the members of the School Committees in that ward. The Act proposes to adopt another method. Members of Education Boards are to hold office for four years, half of them being elected every two years. Every education district is divided into urban areas and a rural area. An urban area- consists of a borough or a group of boroughs having more than 8,000 inhabitants. (According to the last Census the following would be the urban areas at present existing in New Zealand : Auckland, Wanganui, Palmerston North, Napier, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Timaru, Dunedin, and Invercargill.) Where a majority of the School Committees in an urban area make application to the Board to be constituted an urban school district the members of the Board for that urban area are to be elected on the municipal franchise on the same day as the ebction of Borough Councillors— that is, the last Wednesday in April in every other year. The rural area is divided into three wards. The members for each ward of the rural area and all urban areas other than urban-school districts are, as now, to be elected by the members of the School Committees. The number of members for the rural area is six—two for each ward. The number of members for each urban area is two for each sixty thousand or part of sixty thousand inhabitants. E. —Election of School Committees. Members of School Committees now hold office for one.year; they are elected at the meetings of householders held in April. It is proposed in the Bill that the members of the Committee for each urban-school district shall also be elected on the municipal franchise on the day for the election of Borough Councillors, and shall hold office for two years. (Note. —Municipal elections are held every two years.) In all other cases the School Committees are to be elected, as now, by the meeting of householders, and are to hold office for one year. One change is introduced in regard to nominations. All nominations must be made previous to the date of election. No nominations are to be received at the publicmeeting of householders. F. —Inspectors of Schools : Inspection and Registration. As already indicated under the heading " A," it is proposed to transfer Inspectors of the Education Boards to the Education Department, and, as the finances of the Boards will be relieved by about £20,000 (the amount of the salaries and allowances of the Inspectors), to modify to some extent the general grants to the Boards out of which the salaries and allowances of Inspectors, inter alia, are paid. The present Act gives each Board, as a general grant, £250, together with a capitation of 12s. The Bill proposes to give lis. per head without any lump sum of £250 that is, the total of the general grants for all Boards is about £10,400 less under the Bill than under the present Act. Also, the Bill directs the Boards to'give the School Committees an average capitation of 6s. instead of ss. 6d. as at present; this would amount to an increase of the Board's expenditure of about £3,600 in the total. The Boards would thus have nearly £6,000 more for their office and incidental expenses than they have now. Against this it is proposed to put upon the Boards the following liabilities:— (I.) That they should subsidize voluntary contributions for school libraries up to 3d. per head. They may do this now, but the Bill makes it compulsory. (2.) That the Board should meet all costs of the changes in the sanitary systems of schools rendered necessary by the introduction of municipal sewage and drainage—making the best arrangements they can with the local authorities. (There is no express provision for this last item in the Bill. It would become a matter of departmental practice.) These two items would probably absorb €4,000 or £5,000 out of the surplus of £6,000. It is proposed that there shall be one Senior Inspector in each education district. It will be his duty, as now, in conjunction with other Inspectors, to inspect the public schools and registered private primary schools in the district, to give assistance and guidance to the teachers, and to advise the Board in regard to schools and teachers, and in regard to other matters that may arise. The reports will go to the Board and to the Minister. The Bill provides a scale of salaries for Inspectors in four grades, somewhat higher than they are getting now. Provision is made for the appointment of women as Inspectors. Some Inspectors should deal specially with agricultural education. Inspection of schools is made more systematic. All schools will be subject to inspection if attended by more than eight children (public and private schools- primary, secondary, technical,