55

B.—l

The increase in the number of candidates sitting for examination in 1919-20 is due partly to the fact that the influenza epidemic of 1918 prevented a, number of intending candieiates from then presenting themselves. Candidates for Senior National Scholarships again had the option of being examined under a programme (scheme A) corresponding to the usual secondaryschool course, or under an alternative one (scheme B) intended to suit candidates who have been taking courses with an agricultural or domestic bias. The number of candidates examined under the scheme A programme so far remains much the same from year to year. The standards of qualification for. the year, fixeel in accordance with the provisions of the Act, were 64 per cent, for juniors, and 02 per cent, for seniors. In the case of junior-scholarship candidates from one-teacher schools the standard of qualification was fixed at its lowest limit allowable by regulation —viz., 10 per cent, below the ordinary standard. The examination conducted by the Education Department for the Public Service Commissioner to test typists' claims to promotion has been discontinued. The emph)yment of Inspectors of Schools as examiners and as examination supervisors has been largely reduced, as the addition of this examination work to their ordinary duties was considered to impose too heavy a burden upon them. The cost of conducting the examinations was as follows : — Total expenses, including cost of additional clerical services temporarily £ employed, but omitting other salaries .. .. .. .. 7,020 Less amounts received or to be received — £ Pees paid by candidates for teachers' certificates and others .. 2,564 Contribution by Public Service Commissioner for expense of conducting Public Service Examinations, the fees for which, amounting to £1,326, were credited to him — Public Service Entrance, June 1919 .. .. 267 Public Service Entrance, November, 1919 .. 1,045 Public Service Senior, January, 1920 .. .. 69 — 3,945 Net expenditure .. .. .. .. £3,075 Subsidies to Publio Libraries. (See E.-10.) As in the previous year, £3,000 was voted by Parliament in 1919 for distribution as a subsidy to public libraries. Previous to the year 1915 £4,000 was the sum annually voted, all libraries making application and complying with certain conditions being eligible to participate in the grant. The distribution of the recent grant of £3,000, which was made in March, 1920, was confined to libraries in places having not more than fifteen hundred inhabitants, for the reason that small libraries in country districts have greater need of financial assistance than have libraries supported by a large number of subscribers, the benefit of so comparatively small a sum to libraries with a large income being almost negligible. The conditions under which the vote was distributed required that a library participating in the benefits must be public in the sense of not being under the control of an association or society the membership of which is composed of only part of the community, and if a borough library, a reading-room open to the public free of charge must be provided. In addition, the receipts from subscriptions and donations to the funds of the library during the year must not have been less than £2, this sum being regarded as a very low minimum to ensure that the library receives a certain amount of local support. An application to share in the grant must be accompanied by statements of the annual receipts and payments of the body controlling the library, the membership, and the general arrangements for the carrying-on of the library. The grant is distributee! as a subsiely, the sum paid to each library being based upon the amount received during the year by the library by way of subscriptions, donations, and special rates. To this amount is made a nominal addition of £25; but no library receives credit for a larger income than £25 that is, in no case does