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year of a senior course in which the standard of work is sufficiently advanced in character to meet the requirements of the examination for a teacher's certificate of Class D, or of the Matriculation Examination. Likewise the higher leavingcertificate may be granted to pupils having satisfactorily completed at least a fouryears course of secondary instruction and having satisfied the requirements of the lower leaving-certificate, and, in addition, having completed to good advantage and under certain conditions a further secondary course of not less than one year. The following are the numbers of certificates awarded in 1912 (the year of their institution), in 1919, and in 1920 :— 1912. 1919. L 1920. Higher leaving-certificates awarded .. .. 64 265 307 Lower leaving-certificates awarded .. .. ..32 263 270 Applications for certificates declined .. .. 20 49 93 Total number of applications . . .. 116 577 670 Staffs of Secondary Schools. (Table K8 in E 6.) The number of full-time teachers on the staffs of secondary schools for the last two years was: 1919 —males, 186; females, 195: total, 381. 1920 —males, 207; females, 193 : total, 400. There is an increase of nineteen in the full-time staff, the number of male teachers being twenty-one more and the number of female teachers two less than in the previous year ; the number of male teachers has increased by sixty-one in the last two years. Included in the total number are twenty male Principals and thirteen female Principals, leaving 187 male assistants and 180 female assistants. The average number of pupils per full-time assistant was twenty-six. In addition to the staff of full-time teachers a number of parttime teachers for special subjects are employed. Regulations made under the Education Amendment Act, 1920, prescribe the number and grade of full-time assistants to be employed in schools of various grades. The head teacher of a district high school generally takes some part in the secondary instruction, and now receives in addition to his ordinary salary the sum of £30 per annum if the average attendance of the secondary department does not exceed sixty, and £50 per annum if it does exceed that number. In 1920 there were in the secondary departments of district high schools 110 special secondary assistants —thirty-six men and seventy-four women —there being two more men and three more women than in the previous year. Salaries and Status of Secondary-school Teachers. ('table K3 in B-6.) Under the provisions of the Education Amendment Act of 1920 regulations have been made prescribing definitely the salaries of secondary-school teachers, which are now paid by the Government. The range of salaries payable is as follows : Principals —Men, £600 tO £900 ; women, £440 to £680. Assistants — Men, £200 to £540 ; women, £175 to £410. In addition, a married Principal receives house allowance of £60 if a residence is not provided, a head of a department may receive £30, and a married assistant receives £40 per annum. The salaries of Principals are graded according to the size of the school, and the salaries of assistants according to their classification. A,s a result of the introduction of the new scale, the total annual rate of salaries as payable in December, 1920, was £152,992, as compared with £126,694 in the previous year —an increase of 21 per cent. The cost of salaries per head of the average attendance at this rate is £17*8, as compared with £14-8 in 1919. The following figures indicate the average rates of salary prevailing in 1914, 1919, and 1920 :— Average Salaries or Full-time Teachers in Secondary Schools. , 1914. , , 1919, , , 1920. , M. F. All M. F. All. M. F. All. £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ Principals .. •• 524 397 482 647 509 596 711 548 647 Assistants .. ..248 163 211 332 252 290 389 289 340

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