E.—l

34

cash was £1,851. In addition, free tuition was given by the schools to holders of foundation and private scholarships to the value of £473, the value of the Government fiee places already mentioned not being included in this amount. War Bursaries for Soldiers' Dependants. Regulations which came into force in January, 1918, provided for the award of bursaries to dependants of killed or disabled members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. To qualify for a war bursary a child must be eligible for* — (a.) Free education at technical classes ; or (b.) A free place at a secondary school, district high school, or technical high school ; or (c.) A University or educational bursary at a University college. A bursary entitles the holder to an allowance, in addition to free tuition, of £l 10s. or £3 per annum in the case of those qualified under (a), £5 for those under (b), or £10 for those under (c). Lodging-allowance is also payable to bursars who are obliged to live away from home to attend school, at the rate of £15 per annum under (a) and £30 under (b) and (c) ; travelling-allowances varying from £5 to £10 per annum are also made when travelling is necessary. During 1918 the number of bursaries held at secondary schools was twentyseven, the expenditure thereon being £327 10s. Secondary-school Certificates. Three classes of certificates may be issued to free-place holders taking a secondary course of instruction. The intermediate certificate may be granted to junior-free-place holders who have satisfactorily completed under certain conditions a two-years course at a secondary school, district high school, or technical high school, and who in general are qualified in attainment to receive a senior free place. The lower leaving-certificate may be issued to pupils who have satisfactorily completed a three-years course of secondary instruction, including not less than one year of a senior course in which the standard of work is sufficiently advanced in character* to meet the requirements of the examination for a teacher's certificate of Class D, or of the Matriculation Examination. Likewise the higher leavingcertificate may be granted to pupils having satisfactorily completed at least a fouryears course of secondary instruction and having satisfied the requirements of the lower leaving-certificate, and, in addition, having completed to good advantage and under certain conditions a further secondary course of not less than one year. Staffs of Secondary Schools. . (E.-6, Table K3.) The number of teachers on the staffs of secondary schools, excluding lower departments, during the last three years was as follows : — , 1916 , , 1917 , , 1918 , Males. Females. Total. Males. Female's. Total. Males. Females. Total. Regular staff .. ..175 148 323 174 175 349 175 195 370 Part time .. .. 41 45 86 37 43 80 42 43 85 Included in the regular staff of 370 teachers were 34 Principals and 336 assistants. The increase in the number of female assistants during the last few years is noticeable, the number of male assistants having remained stationary. This is largely due to the influence of the war, the places of teachers in boys' schools who went to the front being in many cases temporarily filled by women. The Education Act of 1914 provides that the number of assistants in a secondary school shall not be less than one for.every 25 pupils, and, taking all the schools together, the average number of pupils per assistant in 1918 was 24. War conditions have madeit impossible in some cases to comply with this provision of the Act, with the result that in individual schools the number ranged from 16 to 33. Including the Principals, the average number of pupils per teacher in all schools was 22, the number ranging in individual schools from 13 to 29,