61

K-l

National Endowments By the provisions of the Land Act, 1908, areas of land, not to exceed in the total nine million acres, are set apart as national endowments, and, after administration and other expenses allowed by law have been deducted, 70 per cent, of the balance is applied for the purposes of education. The sum thus applied am< ur.ted last year to £41,590, and was allocated as follows : Primary education, £20,795 ; secondary education, £6,238 ; manual and technical instruction, £6,238 ; higher education, £4,159 ; Native schools, £2,080 ; school for the deaf, £225 ; education of the blind, £50; Otekaike Home for Backward Children, £225; industrial schools, £1,580. Annual Examinations. [See also E.-B.] The annual examinations were conducted by the Department as usual for the various purposes of Junior National Scholarships, Junior Free Places in secondary schools, district high schools, and technical schools, Senior Free Places in secondary schools and district high schools, for admission to or promotion in the Civil Service, and for teachers' certificates. The examinations were held from the 19th to 27th November, and on the|2Bth and 29th November, 1912, and from the 6th to 21st January, 1913, at sixty centres. The number of candidates examined in these two sets of examinations shows a considerable increase over the numbers of previous years. It will be noticed from the table given below that the increase has been general in all of the examinations. 1909-10. 1910-11. 1911-12. 1912-13. Junior National and Education Board Scholarships and Junior Free Places .. .. .. .. 2.214 2,383 2,564 2,934 Civil Service Junior, Senior Free Places, Education Board Senior Scholarships, First Pupil-teachers .. .. 2,369 2,375 2,563 2,770 Teachers D and C .. .. .. .. .. 1,482 1,534 1,626 1,753* Civil Service Senior .. .. .. .. 443 390 518 574 Totals .. .. .. .. 6,508 6,682 7,271 8,031 The following table shows collectively, in comparison with the preceding year, the number who entered for the various examinations enumerated, the number present, and the number of absentees. In explanation of the number set down under the last of these heads it is to be noted that the relatively large proportion is to be accounted for partly on the usual grounds, but chiefly in the case of Senior Free Place candidates through the application of a principle by which awards of Senior Free Places are made with the concurrence of the Inspector-General on the recommendation of the principal of the secondary school attended, or, for district high schools, of an Inspector of Schools. Number who entered, 1912-13 .. .. .. .. .. 9,006 Number who entered, 1911-12 .. .. .. .. 8,230 Number actually present at examination, 1912-13 .. .. .. 8,031 Number actually present at examination, 1911-12 .. .. 7,271 Number who did not present themselves, 1912-13 .. .. .. 975 Number who did not present themselves, 1911-12 .. .. .. 959 The Department's examination for Junior National Scholarships is now used by all the Education Boards of the Dominion for the award of their Junior Scholarships, superseding thus without exception any examination locally conducted in earlier years for this purpose. For the award of their Senior Scholarships the Education Boards use the Civil Service Junior Examination, but not necessarily on the precise conditions attaching *o this examination, the terms in each case being determined by the regulations of the several Boards who offer Senior Scholarships for competition. Apart from this extension of its functions, the examination hitherto more generally known by this name is employed for a variety of purposes. Either in its proper competitive form or as the Intermediate Examination, with certain modifications in selected subjects to meet the needs of a non-competitive qualification, it thus serves not only as an entrance examination for the Civil Service of the Dominion, but as a scholarship examination, an examination for the Senior Free Place qualification in secondary schools and district high schools, an examination

* Of these candidates, 1,506 presented themselves under the regulations of 1906, and 247 under those for 1912.