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Bursaries.—Towards the end of 1942 the Health Department established a system of medical and dental bursaries. With these awards the only University course of a scientific nature for which a special bursary is not now provided is that in pure science. It is impossible for a student to attack this course satisfactorily except as a full-time student, and it is already obvious that, with the attractions offered by the other special bursaries, fewer students are now attempting a pure science course. In a short time this will undoubtedly have a veiy detrimental effect upon the supply of science-teachers in boys' secondary schools and upon the teaching of this subject. I do feel, therefore, that the time has now arrived when we should award special bursaries in pure science, as is already being done in other courses of a similar nature. University Entrance Examination and Accrediting.—The arrangements in connection with the new University Entrance Examination and accrediting are now well advanced. The prescriptions for the new examination in the fourteen subjects approved by the Senate have now been passed by the Entrance Board and, with in most cases only minor amendments, by the Academic Board and by the Senate. The Senate has also decided that the new scheme will come into operation in 1944. Candidates for University Entrance who are not accredited but who have qualified for the School Certificate will he required to present themselves in three subjects only and to pass therein. One of these subjects must be English, unless the candidate has already passed in English at the School Certificate stage. A candidate who has not qualified for the School Certificate will be required to pass also in two subjects of the School Certificate Examination other than the three which he is presenting for the University Entrance Examination. The Senate has also approved of the various amendments to the existing statutes necessary to give effect to its decisions. The main point still requiring clarification is the question of prerequisites for the different University Courses. The War.—As indicated in the previous report, the war year 1942 caused greater disruption in the secondary-school system than any year which preceded it. The outbreak of hostilities with Japan meant immediately that many secondary-school teachers other than those already serving overseas were called up for service in this country, while many of the schools were taken over either for military or hospital purposes. The schools chiefly concerned were Whangarei High School, Palmerston' North Boys' High School, Palmerston North Girls' High School, Wellington College, and Marlborough High School. Palmerston North Boys' High School, Palmerston North Girls' High School, and Wellington College were handed back during or at the end of the first term. The occupation of Marlborough High School, by the hospital authorities lasted throughout the year, and it was only at the beginning of this year that the school again entered into possession. (At one stage school classes were distributed over some thirteen different points.) At Whangarei the large block usually occupied by the boys and the; intermediate department are still in use as emergency hospitals. In addition to these losses of buildings, a further loss was sustained at Wairarapa College, which suffered considerable damage from the earthquake in the middle of the year, with the result that the front brick block was partially out of commission for the remainder of the year. The calling-up of teachers naturally resulted in an increase in the staffing difficulties outlined in last year's report, all boys' and mixed secondary schools being affected to a greater or lesser degree. An increasing number of women teachers was employed in boys' schools (at the end of the year, twenty-seven). Teachers of mathematics and science were still in short supply, but the position grew somewhat less difficult towards the end of the year, when teaching was declared an essential industry. The easing of the military situation in the Pacific also helped the staffing problem, in that Appeal Boards more readily gave exemption to teachers for whom Boards appealed. The calling-up of secondary-school teachers for service in the Army was not wholly a loss as far as the educational system was concerned, for with the establishment towards the end of the year of the Army Education and Welfare Service many of these teachers became available, for work with that service. Already, of course, many of them had been utilized in the Royal New Zealand Air Force educational scheme. In December of last year 61 secondary teachers were on service overseas and 104 on service in New Zealand in one or other of the Armed Forces, a total of over 39 per cent, of male secondary teachers. The other forms of assistance being rendered by schools (both staffs and pupils) to the war effort continued as in 1941. Boys attaining the age of eighteen years were affected to still greater degree than previously. Until the entry of Japan into the war any boy turning eighteen, and thus becoming liable for Territorial service, was granted a postponement of training until the end of the year on the grounds of hardship if he were sitting an outside examination or endeavouring to qualify for a Higher Leaving Certificate. With the entry of Japan, such postponements were granted only in the case of pupils sitting the University Scholarships or Bursary Examinations, and boys intending to sit the University Entrance Examination or candidates for Higher Leaving Certificates obtained no such exemption. In the case of Higher Leaving Certificate candidates, the

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