E.—l

Twenty-five per cent, of the total number of students in attendance at classes held free places under the Government regulations. The total number of junior free pupils shows an increase of 247, as compared, with the number for 1918, and the total number of senior free pupils shows an increase of thirty. 380 students held scholarships or free places provided locally. Included in the return of junior free pupils there is a number of young persons not otherwise qualified for a free place who have been recommended by an Inspector of Schools for free places in industrial classes. In certain districts the regulations for compulsory attendance at continuation classes were in operation during the year, the number of students in attendance being as follows : — Auckland Education District . . .. 501 students in 11 school districts. Taranaki Education District . . . . 183 „ 4 ~ Wanganui Education District . . .. 519 ~ 5 ~ Hawke's Bay Education District . . .. 121 ~ 1 ~ Canterbury Education District . . .. 48 ~ 1 ~ Totals .. .. ..1,372 „ 22 During the year 1,021 returned soldiers attended as free students at technical classes in thirty-one centres. Instruction was provided in the following subjects : Electrical, motor, and mechanical engineering ; carpentry and joinery ; and commercial subjects. The Repatriation Board, as in 19.18, provided the funds for additional instructors and equipment wherever necessary. The following technical schools had a roll of more than 500, exclusive of the technical high schools carried on in connection with some of them : — q l i Number on Roll. school. 191g md Dunedin Technical School. . .. .. .. .. 1,147 1,377 Christchurch Technical School .. .. 1,276 1,368 Auckland Technical School .. ..1,047 1,285 Wellington Technical School. .. .. .. ..1,139 1,202 Invercargill Technical School . . . . .. .. 550 630 Wanganui Technical School .. . . .. .. 578 619 Palmerston North Technical School .. . . . . 560 580 Capitation earnings for the year amounted to approximately £42,802, as against £34,917 earned in 1918. Technological examinations were conducted by the Department on behalf of the City and Guilds of London Institute at fifteen centres in the Dominion. The total number of entries was 168, a decrease on the number for the previous year, and the number of passes was seventy-seven. Technical High Schools. The number of technical high schools was increased by one during the year 1919. The statistics for this school are, however, included in. those for technical classes, as the establishment did not take place at the beginning of the year. The steady growth of these institutions and the constant demand for new schools of this type afford some evidence that they serve a useful purpose in the Dominion, and so long as their aims remain primarily educational, and the material content of their courses is used to train the intelligence and develop the aptitudes of the pupils, and to prepare them in every respect for their future duties as good and useful citizens, there is little doubt that their close connection with the occupations of the people possesses considerable advantages. Not the least of these advantages is that the technical-high-school pupil on leaving the day classes to take up employment usually continues his studies for some years in the evening classes of the same institution, and thus receives a continuous training closely correlated with his occupation, and often under the same instructors, extending over the whole period of adolescence.

0-17 1.

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