31

E.—ls.

administration for nearly all parts of the system, except university education, is the city or county ; and by this local authority most of the cost of education is met. Although an urban area, New York may be taken as a fairly typical example to illustrate the administrative system. The most prominent figure in the New York Board of Education (or in any other city or county) is the Superintendent of Schools. Either by himself, or in conjunction with the Board of Superintendents (which consists of himself and his associate City Superintendents), he possesses most of the powers and duties which in New Zealand are distributed among the Chairman and the Secretary of the Education Board, the Inspectors, and the Inspector-General of Schools ; in fact, he exercises some of the powers here belonging to the Minister, or even the Governor in Council. He is appointed for six years, and for that time exercises almost autocratic rule ; he assigns the duties of the associate City Superintendents ; he allots the District Superintendents to separate districts or to special duties ; he is a member of the several Boards and Committees, and chairman of all except the Board of Education and the Board of Retirement; he enforces the compulsory-attendance law ; he appoints and dismisses the school-attendance officers and the clerical staff of his office. The Board of Superintendents, of which the Superintendent of Schools is chairman, practically establishes schools, kindergartens, and special departments, increases or decreases the number of classes in schools, determines the licenses and appointments of teachers ; it ascertains the fitness of teachers for promotion or increase of salary, and grants leave of absence to teachers ; it determines courses of study, issues syllabuses, and prescribes text-books. Many of these acts it performs nominally in the form of recommendations to the Board of Education, and others are subject to the confirmation of the Board, but the practical power rests with the Board of Superintendents, especially with the Chief Superintendent. The District Superintendents, twenty-six in number, are appointed by the Board of Education, on the nomination of the Board of Superintendents, for a term of six years ; they perform, under the direction of the Chief Superintendent, duties very similar to those of Inspectors of Schools, except that they enforce the compulsory-attendance laws, and attend the meetings of the Local School Boards, which resemble School Committees. The Board of Examiners consists of the Superintendent and four other persons appointed on his nomination by the Board of Education, for six years ; it holds such examinations as the Superintendent may prescribe, and grants licenses to teachers. The salaries of these thirty-nine executive officers, together with those of two medical officers, amount to £44,782 per annum— an average of nearly £1,100 a year. The population of New York in 1906 was 4,152,860 ; the net enrolment in all the public schools (kindergartens, elementary schools, high schools, training-schools, truant schools, and nautical school) was 680,322, or 16-4 per cent, of the population. (The corresponding figures for New Zealand are 149,610 or 15.6 per cent. ; Switzerland, 614,582 or 17-7 per cent.) The average attendance is 89 per cent, of the roll-number. There are 510 public schools in the city —namely, 3 training-schools for teachers, 19 high schools and high-school departments, 485 elementary schools (including kindergarten schools and departments), 2 truant schools, and 1 nautical school. The three training-schools have a staff of 71, and 1,217 students. The elementary schools and kindergartens have an enrolment of 545,420 (kindergartens, 15,609) ; they are staffed by 13,091 teachers, of whom 12,005 are women. The ratio of women employed as teachers in these schools to the number of men is as 1,105 to 100 (in New Zealand, in all schools, except those of Grade 0, there are 124 women for every 100 men) ; out of 416 principals of elementary schools, 211 are women. The average number of pupils to a class in the elementary schools is 43, in the kindergartens 28. In the public high schools there is an average register of 21,493 pupils or 51-8 per 10,000 of the population (New Zealand 72-7, and Switzerland 203-1 per 10,000) ; the staffs consist of 990 teachers —472 men and 518 women ; the number of pupils on the register to each teacher is on the average 22 (New Zealand, 21). In addition to the staffs of public schools named above, there are 17 directors and assistant directors, and 344 teachers of special branches, 255 of the latter and 8 of the former being women. The three training-schools have a total of 1,217 student-teachers (14 men and 1,203 women), with a staff of 68 instructors. The cost of the education system of New York, including the elementary and high schools, and the training colleges for teachers, but exclusive of special schools such as the parental schools, is £7,149,600, which shows an expenditure for salaries of teachers of 16s. 9d. per head of the population ; for other expenses of maintenance of 4s, lOd. : that is, the total cost for the