E.—l

fying in view of the charge so often made that schools of this type are creating a bias from farming pursuits. Examination of the returns from individual schools shows that some secondary schools are making very appreciable efforts towards counteracting the townward drift of young people. Last year 53 per cent, of the boys who left Rangiora High School took up farming-work. From Waitaki Boys' High School the percentage was 48, Dannevirke High, 40 ; and Gore High School, 37. In the case of technical high schools 53 per cent, of boys who left Ashburton Technical School last year proceeded to farming occupations, while in the cases of Pukekohe Technical High School and Feilding Technical High School the percentages were 52 and 45 respectively. This large percentage of ex-pupils proceeding to farming occupations is, of course, not maintained by all schools. The percentages in the case of large secondary schools in the cities are, as might be expected, much lower than those quoted above. As a result the percentage number of boys leaving all secondary schools in 1929 and proceeding to farm-work was 19 only. Nevertheless, the fact that this percentage has increased from 17 in 1927 shows that the trend is in the right direction so far as the future prosperity of the country is concerned. Post-primary schools, and particularly secondary schools, should continue to avoid any tendency that will encourage an urban drift or the neglect of the farming industry. Length of Post-primary Course. The returns compiled by teachers show also the duration of the post-primary course taken by pupils who have now left school. Summarized, the position is as follows : —

From the above figures the average length of school life in the three classes of post-primary schools can be obtained approximately by dividing the total school life of all pupils leaving during the year by the total number of such pupils. For the purposes of this computation the school life of children leaving in the fourth and later years has been taken as four years, since the separate figures for each year after the third are not obtained by the Department. For this reason the average lengths of school life shown below will probably be one to two months lower than is actually the case. Average Length of School Life. Years. Months. Secondary schools .. .. .. .. .. 2 8 District high schools .. .. .. .. .. 2 2 Technical high and technical day schools .. .. .. 2 0 All schools .. .. .. . . . . 2 4 In the case of pupils who commence on post-primary courses and leave during the same year, the Department has been furnished with information showing in months the duration of the period of attendance of such pupils, and this information is tabulated below. The totals shown in the table are slightly below those shown as leaving in the first year in the table immediately preceding. This difference is due to the fact that the table below concerns only pupils who commenced and terminated their post-primary courses in the same year, while the table above includes under " first year " pupils who, though in the first year of a post-primary course when they left, actually commenced that course in a previous calendar year or at a private secondary school.

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o j t\* 4. • x tt" i. Technical High Secondary District High , T h • A11 School „ nil nil aiiu XCOiilHOcH r\H ijtuuuis. Schools. Schools. Day Sohools _ Number. | | Number. | **£ Number. | Number. | Leaving in first year .. .. 989 17 703 36 1,412 38 3,104 j 27 Leaving in second year .. .. 1,734 31 592 31 1,328 35 3,654- 32 Leaving in third year .. .. 1,227 22 327 17 679 18 2,233 20 Leaving in fourth, and later years .. 1,672 30 315 16 338 9 2,325 21 Totals .. .. 5,622 100 1,937 100 3,757 100 11,316 I 100