E.—2.

[Appendix A.

Pupil-teachers and Probationers. —There were at the close of the year twelve male and forty-seven female pupil-teachers and five male and nineteen female probationers. The term of service of twenty-seven expired, and thirteen of these entered the training college. Attention is again drawn to the meagre pay provided for those taking ujj appointments as pupil-teachers and probationers. There are anomalies in the scale of salaries and allowances which might well be removed. For instance, it is difficult to understand why the lodgingallowance should be less for second-, third-, and fourth-year pupil-teachers than that provided for pupil-teachers in their first year. A candidate who has passed the Proficiency Examination receives on appointment a salary of £35 plus £20 lodging-allowance, a total of £55 per annum. At the end of the first year the salary rises to £45 but the allowance falls to £15. The following year the salary rises to £55 and the allowance falls to £10. There is no alteration during the fourth year. A candidate who has passed the Matriculation Examination, probably after several years' attendance at a secondary school, ranks on appointment as a third-year pupil-teacher, and receives a salary of £55 plus £10 lodging-allowance. No increase is granted the following year. It costs a pupil-teacher in the fourth year as much, if not more, to live away from home as it costs a first-year pupil-teacher. Why, then, should the lodging-allowance in the case of the former be only half that of the latter? A more equitable arrangement would be to pay the same lodging-allowance to all and to grant fourth-year pupil-teachers an increment of £10 in salary. The conditions governing the appointment of probationers also require revision. It appears inequitable that a, probationer, who in order to receive an appointment must be older and more highly qualified than a candidate eligible for appointment as a first-year pupil-teacher, should receive iess salary than the latter. The reluctance of candidates, and particularly those who are highly qualified, to accept appointments as probationers is easily understood. Tf it is desired to induce the best class of student to enter the teaching profession radical alterations must be made in the scale of salaries and allowances for pupil-teachers and probationers. The Board wishes also to draw attention to the disability under which trainees from country districts suffer while attending a. training college. The lodging-allowance provided is only £25 per annum, and it must be apparent that this sum is altogether inadequate. These trainees should be paid an allowance sufficient to meet the cost of lodging. They would then be on the same footing as the trainees from the city. Seholarshi /is. —There were in force during the year twelve Board's Junior, twelve Board's Senior, seventeen Junior National, and eight Senior National Scholarships. The total annual value was £1,082 10s, On the result of the examinations held towards the close of the year, at which 128 candidates entered for the Junior and fifty-three for the Senior Examination, twentytwo candidates were awarded Junior Scholarships and six candidates Senior Scholarships. Lieutenant Gray Scholarship : A sum of money was subscribed, by friends of the late Lieutenant J. H. Gray, formerly-on the staff of the Campbell Street School, Palmerston North, with the object of establishing a scholarship to perpetuate his memory. The scholarship is open for competition among the boys attending the four public schools in Palmerston North and such other schools as the trustees may from time to time decide, and is of the annual value of £6 6s. Eighteen candidates competed for the scholarship last year, the winner being a pupil of the Campbell Street School. The trustees expect to Ire able to offer two scholarships at the end of the current year. Montessori System. —This system of infant-teaching is now established in quite a number of our schools, and it is pleasing to know that the Department is now prepared to do something by way of providing apparatus. The grant of £5 per school will not go far, and it is hoped that a sufficient sum will this year be placed on the estimates to enable the schools which are taking up this work, to be properly equipped. The Board is unable to do more than it is doing in this direction, and were it not for the whole-hearted manner in which the teachers of some schools have taken up the manufacture of apparatus the teaching of Montessori would not have made such rapid strides. So far as the usefulness of the system is concerned, and its adaptation to the requirements of that bugbear of schools, the syllabus, after several years' experience it has been clearly proved in our district that it is the best foundation for a good education iv its best sense yet introduced into the State schools. The Board looks forward to the time when the system will be in use in every school in the district. Conveyance and Hoarding Allowances. —The total amount paid under this head was £342 lis. The allowance for conveyance was paid on account of seventy children in attendance at eleven schools. Forty children in attendance at sixteen schools received boarding-allowance. The regulations governing the conveyance of pupils leave much to be desired. For example, no allowance is paid for a pupil under seven years of age, irrespective of the distance the child has to travel. Tho present capitation is ample in a case where several children are driven to school by a senior pupil in a conveyance provided by one of the parents, but for the conveyance of a, large number of children in a special vehicle it is altogether inadequate. An alteration is necessary in the regulations if the system is to be utilized to the extent which it might be. Subsidies on Voluntary Contributions. —The decision of Parliament to extend the system of payment of subsidies on voluntary contributions so as to include primary schools was a wise and proper one. School Committees in this district are availing themselves of the opportunity of securing funds for the extension and improvement of grounds, erection of shelter-sheds and fences, and the establishment of school libraries. In one case half the cost of an urgently needed addition to the school was raised, and in another a portion of the cost of constructing swimmingbaths. The total amount of contributions for primary schools received during the year was £820 9s. sd. The War. —[A list of officers who have joined the Forces will be found in Appendix B to E.-I.J

IV