E—l

material for pupils in schools in the Islands. The Samoan School Journal, printed in the vernacular, was improved and the number of issues increased. Preparations were also made for the production of similar Journals in the vernacular for Gook Islands and Niue. . The appointment of a teacher to conduct radio lessons for classes m charge ot Native untrained teachers is an interesting development which has already shown remarkable results in village schools scattered throughout Samoa. This may prove to be one of the most important experiments in the education of Natives. Ninety-three New Zealand teachers were seconded for service in the Islands. Of these, 48 were in Fiji, 20 in Samoa, 17 in Cook Islands, 5 in Tonga, 2 in Niue, and 1 in Pitcairn Island. Many of these were responsible for the training and supervision of large native staffs, and five were in charge of the local administration of education in their island group. Although small in numbers, this nucleus of New Zealand teachers has a tremendous influence on almost half a million people scattered throughout the Pacific. Buildings Major building works completed during the year include Primary Schools .. Oranga Avenue (Auckland), Stratford, Taita CentralIntermediate Schools .. Hutt. Post-primary Schools .. Southland Girls' High School. Domestic-science block at Dunedin Technical College. University .. .. Pathology block at Otago. Expenditure for the year from the Public Works Account for the erection and improvement of educational buildings totalled £1,650,396, as compared with £1,065,870 for the previous year. This represents a considerable speeding up in building activity, but it is intended to increase the rate of construction still further to assure that we shall be able adequately to house all the children who will be coming forward to the schools in the next few years. Acknowledgments I should like to express my thanks to all those people who have given so freely of their time and thoughts to education. Those who have served on home and school associations, on School Committees, on other local controlling authorities, and in other ways, teachers and those engaged in the administration of education, have all contributed in their respective spheres much towards the common goal of providing the best possible education for the children in our schools.

TABLES Table C1—PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS by Grade, December, 1948

10

Grade. j Number of Schools. Grade. Number of Schools. I (1-8) II (9-24) IIIA (25-30) IIIB (31-70) IVA (71-110) IVB (111-150) IVc (151-190) 79 515 122 516 191 95 60 VA (191-230) VB (231-270) Vc (271-310) YD (311-350) VI (351-510) VII (511-1,030) Total 39 26 38 27 109 86 1,903