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their views on the best means of providing satisfactory lighting, ventilation, seating-accommodation, sanitation, and other important features. So far only one Board has responded. The matter of school buildings was, however, discussed at the conference of Senior Inspectors of Schools in February last, and as these officers are now required to approve of all plans submitted to the Department good results should follow. Open-air Schools. The erection of " open-air " or, more correctly, " fresh-air " schools has been prominently before the Department, and a circular was forwarded to the Education Boards drawing their attention to the importance attached to the movement elsewhere, and indicating what had already been done in New Zealand. The advisory officers of Boards also have given much consideration to the same matter, and have prepared plans embodying important innovations in the construction of class-rooms with a view to providing for a more liberal supply of fresh air for the pupils. Such class-rooms form part of the ordinary school accommodation, and are intended for normal children pursuing the usual course of instruction. They are not, therefore, open-air schools in the strict sense of the term, which is commonly applied to " recovery schools " or " sanatoria " for selected children suffering from constitutional defects and undergoing special treatment, educational progress being in a great measure subordinated to improvement in physical condition. The advances that have been recently made are, therefore in the main in the direction of adapting structural features of open-air schools to ordinary school buildings, thus combining the advantages of the usual modern class-room and the open-air school. Class-rooms on the open-air principle have been approved or already form part of the accommodation at Wellington, Lansdowne (Masterton), Upper Tutaenui (Wanganui), Tauranga, and Stanley Road (Taranaki). Verandas also have been erected in connection with a number of Native schools to provide opportunities for out-of-door instruction under suitable weather conditions. In addition to the above-mentioned cases, tentative plans for fresh-air rooms have been submitted by Education Boards in connection with proposed additions at several schools. There is, indeed, ample evidence to show that Education Boards and their officers are taking a very keen interest in this important matter. Roll Number. (8.-2 Tables Bl and 82.) The mean of the average weekly roll for the four quarters of 1916 and the roll number at the end of the year show an increase over the figures for the preceding year, although the increase is smaller than in previous years. The figures for the Dominion are : —

The percentage increase in the average roll during the last five years has been as follows : 1912, 33 per cent.; 1913, 31 per cent.; 1914, 36 per cent.; 1915, 3-2 per cent.; 1916, 1-6 per cent. A considerable decrease is observable in the figures for 1916, the percentage increase being only half that of the previous

Mean of Averag [6 Weekly Roll. Roll Number .t ond of Year. Including Secondary Departments of Distriot High Schools. Excluding Secondary Departments of Distriot High Schools. Including Secondary Departments of Distriot High Schools. Exoluding Secondary Departments of Distriot High Schools. fear 191.6 .. fear 1915 184,056 181,229 181,670 178,827 185,884 183,214 183,769 181,112 Increase in 1916 2,827 2,843 2,670 2,657 Increase per cent, in 1916.. 1-6 1-6 1-5 1-5