E.—la.

1898. NEW ZEALAND.

EDUCATION: TEACHERS' AND CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINATIONS. [In continuation of E.-1A, 1897.]

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

The Inspectoe-Geneeal of Schools to the Hon. the Ministee of Education. Sic, — Education Department, Wellington, 30th March, 1898. I have the honour to report upon the annual examinations of candidates for teachers' certificates, and for admission to, or promotion in, the Civil Service. The examinations were held in January, between the 6th and 15th days of the month, at the thirteen towns which are the seats of Education Boards, and also at Whangarei, Thames, Tauranga, Masterton, Gisborne, Westport, Oamaru, Palmerston South, and Lawrence. The number of candidates was 1,309, made up as follows : For the Junior Civil Service examination, 451; for the Senior Civil Service examination, 95; for certificate examinations, 745 ; for drawing (pupil-teachers only), 18. The expenses of the examinations amounted to £857 13s. 3d., and the fees paid by candidates to £1,017 12s. 6d. Printing and clerical work are not included in the account of expenses. The results of the Senior Civil Service examination were made known on the 16th February, the results of the Junior Civil Service examination on the 21st, and those of the teachers' examination on the 24th of the same month. Of the 95 Senior Civil Service candidates, 2 applied to be examined in shorthand only, but 1 of them did not present himself, and the other retired from the examination-room; 3 had already passed the examination, but wished to pass in one or two extra subjects for the purposes of the Barristers' General Knowledge examination, and 1 of them was successful in doing so; while 25 came up to complete examinations in which they had already been partially successful. Out of the 90 ordinary candidates, 32 passed the examination, 4of them with distinction. (See Gazette of 24th February, 1898.) The names of 328 of the Junior Civil Service candidates were published, in the order of marks, in the Gazette of the 24th February ; the remaining 123 failed to reach the minimum required, which is one-third of the possible total. Of the 18 pupil-teachers who availed themselves of the regulation which allows them to come up for one branch of drawing at a time, 12 satisfied the examiner. At the teachers' examination, 3 were candidates for Class C (university status being taken into account), 194 were candidates for the whole examination for Class D, and 145, having been credited with "partial success" for Class D, came up to complete their examination; 252 were candidates for the whole examination for Class E, and 151 came up to complete the examination for that class. Among these 745 candidates were 157 candidates who had already passed for Class E, and were seeking promotion to Class D ; and of the remainder —588 in number—l3o were teachers in the service of the Boards, 295 were pupil-teachers, and 67 were normal-school students in training ; while 34 were persons who had ceased to be teachers, pupil-teachers, or normalstudents, and 62 had never sustained any such relation to the public schools. Of the whole number of 745 candidates 380 have passed (158 for D, and 222 for E), and 156 have achieved " partial success " (76 for D—including 13 who have also passed for E—and 93 for E), while 209 have failed to improve their status. Of these last, 46 have been added to the list of candidates that have made absolute failures, the rest of the 209 being either absent candidates or candidates who were unsuccessful in attempting to complete "partial success." The names removed from the failure list in consequence of success achieved in this examination number 35. That list now contains 751 names, the accumulations of twenty years. As a result of the examination 318 new certificates will be issued (3 for Class C, 93 for D, and 222 for E), and 62 certificates of Class E will be raised to Class D.

I—E. la.