E.—6

6

Number of scholarships,— Scholarships, Boys .. .. .. .. .. .. ..388 Girls .. .. .. .. .. -.. ..238 Total .. .. .. .. .. ..626 Total expenditure of Boards on scholarships,— £ In 1910 .. .. .. .. .. 9,232 In 1911 .. .. .. .. .. .. 9,244 In 1912 .. .. .. .. .. .. 9,976 In 1913 .. .. .. .. .. .. 9,924 In 1914 .. .. .. .. .. .. 10,466 As will be seen from the above summary, the value of the scholarships hitherto given by Boards varies considerably. In five out of the thirteen education districts scholarships of the value of £40 have been offered for competition, while in another the highest scholarship offered was of the value of £24. Further, four Boards did not give scholarships of a lower value than £10 per annum, whereas others offered scholarships of a value of £2 10s. In general, holders of Education Board scholarships are also, in virtue of their scholarship qualifications, holders of secondary free places. Future awards of junior and senior scholarships will entitle the holders to receive, in addition to free places, the sums of £5 and £10 a year respectively, in addition to a lodging-allowance of £35 a year if they are required to live away from home to prosecute their studies at the secondary school, or its equivalent, which is approved by the Minister for the purpose. The Board scholars-hips current will gradually disappear until they are entirely replaced by national scholarships. (iii.) Foundation (or Governors'') Scholarships. These are of two kinds, those offered by the Governors of secondary schools not granting free places under the Act, and those offered as additional scholarships by the Governors of schools providing free places. (iv.) Private Scholarships. These are derived from funds provided by private donors at certain schools, by bequest or otherwise. 'f. The number of foundation and private scholarships in the last term of 1914 was 198. Of the holders, forty-five were also Government free pupils under the regulations. The total annual value of the scholarships in cash was £826. In addition, free tuition was given by the schools to holders of foundation and private scholarships to the value of £1,858 19s. Bd., the value of the Government free places already mentioned not being included in this amount. Staff. The staffing of the secondary schools was as follows:— , 1912. . , 1913. , , 1914. , M. F. Total. M. F. Total. M. F. Total. Eegular staff ... 163 118 281 168 120 288 172 127 299 Part-time teachers ... 46 38 84 46 33 79 41 32 73 The average number of pupils per teacher (excluding part-time teachers), as estimated on the roll number at the end of the year, was 20-8 in 1912, 21-4 in 1913, and 21-5 in 1914. The head teacher of a district high, school generally takes some part in the secondary instruction, and receives from the Government the sum of £30 in addition to the salary he would receive as head teacher of a primary school of the same size. In 1913 there were 88 special secondary assistants —37 men and 51 women. In 1914 there were 39 men and 49 women. Leaving out of consideration the head teachers, the average number of pupils per teacher was, on the roll number at the end of the year, 21-5, on the average attendance for the year, 22-1.