E.—l

44

The subjects most generally taken up and the number of classes were as follows :— Subjects. Number of Classes. 1915. 1916. Free and instrumental drawing ... ... ... ... 40 39 Domestic subjects ... ... ... ... ... 70 75 Woodwork ... ... ... ... ... ... 29 31 Experimental and natural science ... ... ... ... 237 274 Elementary agriculture ... ... ... ... ... 23 21 Swimming and life-saving ... ... ... ... 24 28 423 468 Capitation earnings for the year amounted to £2,164, as compared with £1,974 for the previous year. The expenditure on maintenance of classes was £1,272. Special grants totalling £1,600 in aid of buildings and equipment for manual instruction were made during the year, the expenditure during the same period being £1,829. Additional accommodation for classes for manual instruction has been recently provided as follows : Whangarei High School (agriculture), Wanganui Girls' College (science), Palmerston North High School (agriculture), Otago Boys' High School (science); while equipment for practical work in science has been provided at New Plymouth High School, Wanganui Girls' College, Wellington Boys' College, Timaru Girls' High School, and Otago Boys' High School. The provision in the way of laboratory accommodation is very satisfactory, all of the boys' and most of the girls' schools being now adequately equipped for practical work in science. Increasing attention is being given to instruction in subjects relating to the home, and the staffs of the girls' schools now include teachers specially qualified to give instruction in this important branch of a girl's education. Of these teachers, seven received their training at holders of home-science bursaries at the Otago University. Approved classes for subjects bearing on rural life and pursuits were carried on at twelve schools. At many of the rural secondary schools more or less complete courses of agricultural instruction are now included in the school curriculum, and should as they develop form an important feature thereof, especially if, as appears to be the case, they continue to receive adequate support at the hands of the communities concerned. Staffs of Secondary Schools. (E.-6, Table K4.) The number of teachers on the staffs of secondary schools, excluding lower departments, in the years 1915 and 1916 was as follows : — , 1915. , , , —,1916. , Males. Femaies. Total. Males, females. Total. Regular staff ... ... ... 174 126 300 175 148 323 Part time ... ... ...44 42 86 41 45 86 Included in the regular staff of 323 teachers were 33 principals and 290 assistants. According to the provisions of the Education Act, 1914, the number of assistants in any secondary school must be not less than one for every 25 pupils, and it appears that for all schools taken together the average number was 24. War conditions have made it difficult, and in same cases impossible, to carry out the provisions of the Act, with the result that in individual schools the number of pupils per assistant teacher ranged from 15 to 33. Including the principals, the average number of pupils per teacher was 22, the number ranging in the individual schools from 14 to 28. The corresponding figures for secondary schools on the grant list in England and Wales is 17-3, and for schools in Ontario 24. The head teacher of a district high school generally takes some part in the secondary instruction, and receives from the Government the sum of £30 in addition to the salary he would receive as head teacher of a primary school of the same size. In 1916 there were in the secondary departments of district high schools 96 special secondary assistants—2B men and 68 women. Leaving