1.—13 a.

2

[c. k. mulgan.

uniform and fair system of grading which satisfies practically all the teachers in the district. If we had a smaller grading Board we would not have the confidence of teachers which obtains to-day. If we are to get a satisfactory Dominion scheme of grading and promotion it will be through having large districts and large bodies of Inspectors who know the teachers as well as it is possible for them to do. There is another point I desire to bring forward, and that is that our Inspectors constitute in a small way an Education Council among themselves. We meet and discuss matters, but if the district were cut in two it would not be so easy to meet and exchange ideas. If a centre is established, say at Hamilton, the Inspectors will lx> withdrawn from contact with leading educational thought. They will be withdrawn from what they could learn from observing, inspecting, and examining such schools as technical schools, training colleges, and the like. They will be withdrawn from the influences of those institutions, and I cannot help feeling that their efficiency may be to some extent impaired. Another point is that the Auckland Board some years ago passed a resolution to the effect that no teacher was to be eligible for promotion until he had gone into the country and served for a certain length of time in a country school. Many of our teachers have therefore been induced to leave Auckland and go into the Waikato in the hope of qualifying themselves for town appointments. If the district is cut in two. and the teachers are prevented from going back to the area with the larger schools, I feel that we would not be treating them as fairly as they deserve. These are some of the reasons why we think it would be an unwise course to divide the Auckland Education District. We do not presume to criticize or make any remarks so far as other districts are concerned. The next matter I wish to draw attention to is on page 14 of the Bill. We think that provision should be made for the appointment of at least one Inspector of Schools by each Education Board. We are somewhat in the dark as to what the intentions of the Department are so far as the proposed duties of its Inspectors are concerned. We think there should be some one under the control of the Board who would act as intermediary between the Department and the Board. If the Senior Inspector is to be the officer we arc not quite satisfied that the plan will work out at all well seeing that the Chief Inspector would not be an officer of the Board but an officer of the Department. Clause 67 provides that when any school rises a grade the Board shall review the staffing conditions obtaining therein, and may, if necessary, transfer the teacher or teachers thereof. This refers generally to the appointment of teachers. A teacher is appointed to a school, say, in Grade 111, and then perhaps that school rises to Grade Vor VI. He may be able to do really good work in a third- or possibly a fourth-grade school, but be may not be able to do the work we expect of him in a fifth- or sixth-grade school. He is not absolutely inefficient, but relatively so, and the Act gives us no power at all to remove that teacher. It is quite true that if he is inefficient we can remove him, but he may be relatively inefficient. We feel that if such a man were out of the school concerned we could get a very much better man for the position. We would like the regulation to be mollified in such a way that each time a school rises in grade the whole staffing of that school may be reviewed by the Education Board and transfers made accordingly. We consider that a very important matter. We have a grading-list, and there arc several ( ases of schools of Grades VI and VII where the head teachers at work are eligible only for schools of Grade IV; indeed, if they bad to compete now for schools of Grade IV I do not think they would get them. I cannot say they are doing absolutely inefficient work, but I can say they are doing relatively inefficient work, and if those teachers were removed from those schools we would get others to take their places who would do very much better work. As to subclause (1) of clause 67, we do not consider, in view of our experience, that the proposal to advertise all vacancies in schools is practicable. We have been obliged to give up advertising in some cases. For instance, we have coming out of the training college each year something like fifty or sixty students. The students who came out two years ago we hoped to place in the usual way by advertising vacancies. The effect of this was that numbers of the students applied for the desirable positions and left out the undesirable, the result being that quite a number of students were unemployed and the vacancies were rapidly filling up. When they come out of the training college we reserve certain positions for them and place them in those positions. Ido not think the proposal Bill should be given effect to. In regard to the question of manual instruction in public schools and technical instruction in continuation classes, in a small country district the school in which manual instruction is carried on may be used as a place for continuation classes and possibly technical classes. The instructor who takes the manual work may be an instructor, say. in woodwork and under the control of the Education Board; he may also give instruction at the continuation (lasses and be under the control of the School Committee; and we think there may be some difficulty owing to this divided authority. 3. Hon. Mr. Allen.] I do not see the difficulty, because th<' school is under the one authority! —Yes, but the instructor is under two authorities. 4. But if the school is lent to the instructor for certain purposes I do not see the difficulty?— It lies in the dual control over the building, the apparatus, and the work that the instructor does. From whom is he to take his instructions? There has been, I believe, some difficulty so far as the Hamilton School is concerned. We intended to suggest to the Committee that the capitation provided for was not sufficiently liberal, but I have just had a conversation with the Department's officer and understand the position better, and I am satisfied that more is being done to provide a more libera] capitation. Another matter I feel strongly on is that provision should be made for compulsory attendance at daylight continuation classes. Some years ago the Board of Governors of the Christchurcb Technical College bad a meeting with employers in order to interest them in the matter. The result was that some employers allowed their employees to get away in the daytime to attend the classes. I feel strongly that the time will come-—and the sooner the better—when employers will recognize the very great advantages to be derived from technical training, and may be induced to send the apprentices in the daytime. If it could be done voluntarily so much the better. Another important matter is that which deals with compulsory attendance at primary schools. We feel that provision should be made for the compulsory