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school as if it had been described and included in the list of works sot forth in the Order in Council dated the twenty-fourth day of September, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight. 2. This regulation shall come into force upon the date hereof.

ll.— Examination of Teachers in Music. Dated 23rd September, 1879. [Vide New Zealand Gazette No. 100, 25th September, 1879.] 1. At any examination held under the authority of the Order in Council of the twenty-fourth day of September, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight, further examination in vocal music shall not be required in, the case of any candidate who holds the "Intermediate Certificate" of the Tonic Sol-Fa College, provided that such "Intermediate Certificate" bear the letters "0.N." [Old Notation] duly attested. 2. This regulation shall come into force upon the date hereof.

lll.— Fees for Higher Education, Wanganui. Dated 9th March, 1880. [Vide New Zealand Gazette, No. 24, 11th March, 1880.] 1. In the district high school at Wanganui the fees for higher education within the meaning of section 56 of " The Education Act, 1877," shall be ten shillings a quarter for not more than two subjects, and five shillings a quarter for each subject in excess of two. 2. This regulation shall come into force upon the date hereof.

IV.— Examination of Teachers. Da.te.cl 7th July, 1880. [Vide New Zealand Gazette No. 70, 16th July, 1880.] 1. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in an Order in Council of the twenty-fourth day of September, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight, the annual examination of candidates for teachers' certificates shall be held in the last week in January of every year, and not in the month of March, and candidates for any class must give written notice, accompanied by all necessary testimonials and declarations, not later than the first day of November immediately before the examination. 2. Every candidate for examination, with the exception of candidates who apply to be examined in elementary science or domestic economy only, and of candidates who having been partially successful at a former examination present themselves for examination in those subjects only in which they were at that former examination unsuccessful, shall at the time of giving notice of intention to be present at the examination, pay to the credit of the Public Account at any branch of the Bank of New Zealand, the sum of one pound sterling as a contribution towards defraying the expenses of the examination, and shall forward the bank receipt to the Minister of Education, with the notice of intention to sit at the examination. 3. No application for examination will be received unless it be accompanied by a certificate, signed hy a public school inspector, and setting forth that the candidate has passed before such inspector a satisfactory examination in reading, spelling, dictation, and writing ; but this regulation shall not apply to candidates who already hold certificates granted to them by the Minister of Education, nor to candidates who present themselves in those subjects only in which at a former examination they were unsuccessful. 4. These regulations shall come into force upon the date hereof.

CIECULAES. (Cibculab No. 34.) Education Department Wellington, 20th August, 1879. The Secretary to the Education Board, — From a careful examination of the summaries which the secretaries of Education Boards compile from the quarterly returns of school attendance prepared by the teachers, it is evident that in many schools sufficient attention is not paid to the eighth question in the quarterly return, —"What is the average weekly number on the roll during the quarter ?" It is therefore very necessary that the attention of teachers should be expressly drawn to paragraph 11 of the "Instructions" printed on the back of the "Public School Register of Daily Attendance," and to the bottom of each page of the register, where a place is provided for the " Weekly Roll Number." The importance of the matter is, perhaps, not sufficiently understood, though it has been explained in former papers issued from this office. The Government ought to be able to ascertain, by a simple reference to the quarterly returns, how many children actually belong to the schools. If, as is usually the case, the number which is accepted as correctly representing the children so belonging is higher than the ascertainable facts would justify, the Government and the country are misled as to the number of children whose education is neglected; and, further, the average attendance being compared with a roll number in excess of the truth, the attendance of those who do belong to the schools is made to appear more irregular and fluctuating than it really is. That the return of the number on the books at the end of a quarter does not fairly represent the number actually belonging, seems to be proved by the fact that a very large proportion of the pupils included in that return do not attend at all during the following quarter. Thus, the number on the books at December 31, 1878, was 65,334 ; but 4,500 of these pupils had practically left the schools at that date, and the returns show that they did not attend during the March quarter. There is reason to believe that the returns are not accurate on this point, and that the number of scholars on the books in December, who did not attend during the following quarter, was nearly 5,500. It is not likely that all these pupils left exactly at the end of the quarter. Many of them probably had retired from the schools before that time, though they were still reckoned as belonging. The inaccuracies which arise from this source will be reduced to a minimum if teachers will always follow the instruction (11) above referred to, and make the proper entry every week in the appropriate place.