H.—l

4

library is of great value, much care having evidently been exercised in the selection of books. It is open to the public free of charge. The remaining portion forms a circulating library, to which there are 750 subscribers. There is also a free public reading room. The building with the fittings cost £5,000. The Museum contains a scientific library of about 800 volumes, and there is also a small library of classical works in the College for the use of the students. The Girls' High School, now in full operation, the Boys' High School, which will shortly be opened, and the Agricultural School, which is just about to commence operations, are all of them under the control of the Governors of Canterbury College. Information as to the endowments of all these institutions will be given under the head of " Endowments,"

II.—SECONDARY SCHOOLS. Probably no part of our report will be looked for with greater interest than that which relates to secondary schools. We propose to review with some care the present condition of these institutions; but before doing so it will be convenient to consider secondary-school work in its relation on the one hand to primary and on the other to University education. It is a common opinion that the primary and secondary courses of instruction form parts of a continuous whole, the primary education being adapted to the requirements of children below a certain age, and the secondary siiitable for young persons who have passed through the primary course. That this view is erroneous is obvious from the consideration that the course which a boy's education ought to follow must depend greatly on the length of time which can be devoted to it. It is necessary that those who cannot be expected to remain at school much beyond the age of thirteen years should be taught English, writing, arithmetic, and the elements of geography and history, as thoroughly as the duration of their school coarse will allow, and any attempt to teach them Latin and mathematics under such conditions would not only result in failure, but would also seriously interfere with their chance of proficiency in the essential subjects. On the other hand, boys and girls who are likely to stay at school until they are sixteen or seventeen years old have time to acquire a sound knowledge of higher subjects, and their whole course ought to be planned with reference to this circumstance. Classics, for instance, ought to be began long before the proper time for completing a primary-school course; and some even of those which are essentially primary-school subjects can be more fully and methodically treated from the beginning in a secondary school. We do not, however, think it at all desirable that secondary schools should undertake the work of elementary instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic. This preparatory work ought to be done before the pupil is admitted to the secondary school. An entrance examination about equal in difficulty to Standard 111. of the primary school, but omitting the geography and history, would be a suitable test to be applied to candidates for admission to the lowest form of a secondary school; and the certificate of Standard 111. from a primary school might be accepted as entitling to exemption from the entrance examination. We recommend a low standard for entrance, because, as we have already said, the proper subjects of the secondaryschool course should be begun early, and children who arc intended to receive the full benefit of such a course should enter upon it as soon as they can profitably do so. A serious difficulty, arising out of the essential difference between the primary and the secondary schools, presents itself in the case of pupils who are transferred at various stages from the lower to the higher institutions. This case is, according to the evidence before us, of frequent occurrence; and the headmasters of secondary schools testify to the difficulty of making suitable arrangements for boys who join late in the course, and who, though admirably trained in the primary are not at all prepared in the secondary subjects. The best way of meeting this difficulty appears to us to be to make better provision for instruction in

Relation of the secondary to the primary school.

The case of

advanced pupils from primary schools entering secondary schools,