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disturb as little as possible any existing conditions that should be preserved. It cannot be too strongly urged, however, that, in view of the indisputable advantages of the new system—advantages so great and so numerous as to outweigh by far any small difficulties that may occur during the state of transition—it would be foolish, for anybody to focus his attention, on the minor difficulties that are incidental to every period of adjustment. Such an attitude would be of the " pennywise and pound-foolish " order, and if it were effective could have no other result than that of robbing the children of New Zealand of the advantages of one of the greatest reforms in education, a reform which is positively essential to the proper application of the system of free secondary education which is so deservedly popular in New Zealand. RELATION OF SECONDARY AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION. The general pursuit of advanced education beyond the primary-school stage referred to in the preceding section presents probably the most pressing problems in education. One of these is the relation and the proper function of technical high schools and secondary schools. In this connection the evening vocational or trade classes attended by part-time pupils in technical centres is not being considered, since to a large extent the function of the school either is or may be made quite definite and clear. Since the introduction of the free-place system the technical schools or colleges have by degrees developed large technical high schools attended by full-time free-place pupils for the full school day throughout the week. This was not contemplated when technical schools were established. The practice grew up under the old capitation system, which has now happily been abolished, under which it was difficult to secure a sufficient number of qualified instructors in really technical subjects. It is unfortunate, however, that the development of the practice is to grow away more and more from the technical subjects to courses of instruction which are very little different from the ordinary high-school course. Returns show that about 50 per cent, of the technical-day-school pupils are taking either a commercial course or a general course leading up to matriculation. The former course is also taken in almost every secondary school in New Zealand ; and, since its distinctive subjects are shorthand, typewriting, commercial correspondence, and book-keeping, there seems to be no reason why these should be regarded as technical-school subjects while the pupils have at the same time to follow their general course of study. In the four large centres special and expensively equipped technical colleges have been erected, with, the object of fostering technical or vocational education in the schools as ordinarily understood, yet about half the accommodation of these colleges is occupied by pupils taking general or commercial courses, and at the same time the Department is being urged to extend the buildings to provide for technical education proper. In smaller centres the same problem presents itself in a different aspect. In some of the smaller towns there is a boys' high school, a girls' high school, and a technical high school, none of which is large enough to provide the fullest facilities by way of staff and equipment for a course of instruction equal to that given in larger centres. In some of these centres the Department has promoted joint discussions with the high-school and the technical-school authorities with a view to finding a basis of amalgamation so as to prevent the existing overlapping and to provide for larger and better-equipped schools. In several cases the Department's action has been appreciated and endorsed by both the local bodies, and in two cases it is expected that amalgamation will eventuate. In other cases difficulties have been met which at present have not been overcome. These difficulties, arising from the establishment of two forms of post-primary education in small towns, at least make it clear that in the future no such duplication should be permitted. No sound reason can now be advanced why all forms of post-primary education cannot be fully and equitably developed on a democratic basis with all the pupils attending the same school. A third phase of this problem appears in some of the still smaller towns where the only post-primary school is a technical high school. In quite a number of these recently established technical high schools one finds very little to indicate