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beginning of February. Fortunately, most of the schools were permitted to reopen in March, and the use of the correspondence teaching-material prevented any serious consequences to the education of school children. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization New Zealand was represented at the second General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization at Mexico City in November-December, 1947, by Dr. C. E. Beeby; Mr. D. Forsyth, Headmaster of Dunedin North Intermediate School; Miss L. McPhee, Acting-Secretary of the UNESCO National Commission ; and Mr. J. A. D. Nash, Scientific Liaison Officer at the New Zealand Legation in Washington. Subsequently Dr. Beeby was offered the post of Assistant Director-General of UNESCO. Though the Government was very reluctant to lose his services as Director of Education at the present time, it believes that he can make a most useful contribution to UNESCO's important work for the future of peace and security in the world. He has therefore been granted leave of absence for eighteen months, and he left New Zealand for Paris in April, 1948. An Interim National Commission for UNESCO has been set up in New Zealand, and arrangements are in train for the establishment of a permanent Commission. Child Welfare It is very pleasing to be able to report that the decrease in the number of children appearing before the Children's Courts, which was shown in the last two reports of the Minister of Education, is continuing. The causes of the decline in juvenile delinquency are no doubt complex, but I have no doubt that a major factor is more effective preventive work by the Child Welfare Branch, resulting largely from better staffing and organization. Ardmore College An important recent innovation has been the establishment of a residential teachers' training college in premises taken over from the Air Force at Ardmore. While this is mainly a means for coping with the larger number of teacher trainees who will be required to staff the schools in the next few years, it is also an interesting experiment in the possibilities of residential training. Closer association of teachers with students, and the help of tutors with work after the normal teaching hours will, it is hoped, be very advantageous. Administration During the year the administration of the Department has been completely reorganized with gratifying results in general administrative efficiency. The new position of Assistant Director (Administrative) was created, and Mr. S. T. Barnett was appointed to it. As part of the reorganization scheme a branch office of the Department was established at Auckland, with sufficient staff and sufficient authority to be able to carry out the administrative part of the Department's work in the Auckland district. As the majority of the Maori schools are in the Auckland district, the whole of the administration of the Maori Schools Division has been transferred to this new branch. I feel sure that the removal of much detail work from the head office, and the closer association of departmental officers with local educational authorities in Auckland will make for more efficient administration.

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