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and the provisional salaries allotted to them as from Ist April, 1946, also confirmed or, if necessary, adjusted. Once in every three years, as previously, formal inspection reports will be written on secondary departments, but in every future year one visit at least will be paid to every district high school. A few of the district high schools are on the list of schools approved for accrediting purposes, and to these more frequent visits will be paid as the opportunity arises. These more frequent visits should go a long way towards ensuring that the programmes of work and the standard reached in the secondary departments of the district high schools will be comparable to those in the post-primary schools proper. (10) Grants for School Activities During 1946 greater assistance has been given by the Department to post-primary schools, inclusive of the secondary departments of district high schools, for purposes of libraries, and for equipment for music, social studies, and general science, than ever before. The following amounts were paid during 1946 in addition to those normally payable by way of incidentals : Libraries : £lO per school, together with a capitation at the rate of 2s. per head. Music : £5O per school in the case of schools with a roll of 150 or over, and £25 per school in other cases. Social Studies : £l5 per school in the case of schools with a roll of 150 or over, and £lO in other cases. Science (district high schools only) : £lO per school, together with a capitation at the rate of ss. per head of roll number. These grants individually are perhaps not large, but in the aggregate amount to a very considerable sum, and will undoubtedly enable schools to make further additions to existing equipment. It is hoped that similar grants of at least an equal amount can be continued in future years. In addition to these grants, a considerable amount of equipment was supplied to schools through the War Assets Realization Board without cost to the Boards themselves. Further assistance to schools to enable them to cope with their responsibilities under the new programme was provided by the regular issue to post-grimary schools of bulletins. These bulletins aim to supply background reading in connection with subjects of the revised curriculum, in particular with social studies, general science, literature, and music. It is planned to issue twenty bulletins per year. The preparation of a series of booklets on geology designed to cover regionally the whole Dominion is well advanced and it is hoped to publish several booklets in the coming year. (11) Equipment ex War Assets Realization Board Mr. L. le F. Ensor, Senior Inspector of Secondary Schools, and Mr. R. Hynes, Senior Inspector of Technical Schools, were seconded from their normal duties as Inspectors on Bth March last for the purchase from the Armed Services of surplus stocks useful to the Department. All the Services—Navy, Air, and Army—rendered generous assistance, and with a dual benefit —schools are being provided with equipment that has been extremely difficult to purchase, and sterling funds are being conserved by the use of material in New Zealand. The total amount in the estimates —£20,000 —has practically all been spent. The equipment purchased included biological, chemical, electrical, and engineering equipment. (12) The First Year op the New School Certificate Examination In this, the first, year of the new examination some difficulties were anticipated. Notifications in the Education Gazette throughout the early part of the year, however, removed many of these, while at the same time the setting-up of a Board of Moderators

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