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less than it is in Germany, Switzerland, and some other European countries. Economic reasons are, no doubt, to some extent at the root of the difference ; indeed, lor a young country, the average length of a pupil's course in our secondary schools may be considered fair. It is not, however, long enough to secure the greatest benefit to the community from the secondary-school system, and every effort should be made to extend it. Among other things, the raising of the standard of the University Matriculation Examination, and still more the acceptance of a certificate of four years' satisfactory work in a secondary school as a qualification for admission to the University, would tend to increase the duration of secondary-school life, and to raise the standard of work both in the secondary schools and in the University colleges. Allotment of Time to Subjects. —ln the thirty schools of which account is taken the allotment of time to the several main subjects on the average is as follows:— English .. .. 4-8 hours per week. French .. .. .. .. 3-4 Latin (generally non-compulsory) .. 4-4 Arithmetic .. .. .. ..2-6 Mathematics (exclusive of arithmetic) .. .. .. 4-7 ~ Science .. .. .. .. .. 3-0 ~ • These subjects are common to all. Other subjects treated more or less commonly are commercial work, history, geography, drawing in various forms, woodwork for boys, and cookery or dressmaking for girls. In seven of the schools German is taught to small classes of pupils, and in three Greek is reported as a subject of instruction. Advantage is taken in most cases to provide a commercial course, in which bookkeeping and commercial correspondence and geography, or book-keeping and shorthand, supply the alternative. In general all but a few pupils take French ; in Latin the proportion pursuing the study varies very greatly in different schools, but probably not less than 60 per cent, of the aggregate enrolment are Latin pupils. In science the branches commonly observed are, for boys, physics (elementary physical measurements, electricity and magnetism, heat) and chemistry, with physiology in some cases ; for girls, botany or physiology and elementary physics. In nearly all the schools adequate attention is bestowed on physical instruction, and the usual games are entered into with zest. Except in the substitution of needlework, cookery, or dressmaking for some other form of manual instruction (or, in some instances, in lieu of a second language), in the less frequent provision of an alternative course for commercial work, and the selection made of science subjects, the curriculum in girls' schools cannot be said to differ in a marked degree from that found in schools for boys only. In conformity, however, with the trend of public opinion, indications of a wider differentiation in the future are not wanting, and encouragement is given to the tendency by the inclusion of a course in domestic science, with its various practical applications, among the subjects serving to fulfil the conditions under which free places may be held. 'In mixed schools, where of necessity the staff is numerically small, the problem of the differentiation of courses must always retain a special difficulty ; where girls alone are to be considered the problem is simpler. Marked differences in vocational aims notwithstanding, for which provision must always be made, there should be no very serious obstacle in such circumstances to the adoption of full alternative courses of instruction, in which a training in the domestic arts should take the foremost place, in conjunction with a good scheme of general education. As regards the science of boys' schools, in one or two cases only does it appear that the science is chosen with a definite view to its bearing on agricultural or horticultural study. It would be well if there were more. In schools with suitable environment there seems to be no study that could be more profitably pursued or that could more worthily occupy the attention or enlist the enthusiasm of teachers with benefit to both boys and girls alike. District High Schools. —The course of instruction usually followed in the secondary departments of the district high schools of the Dominion is drawn up largely with a view to prepare pupils for the Civil Service Junior, Matriculation, and Education Board Scholarship Examinations, and in a few schools the curriculum reaches up to the Civil Service Senior and Junior University Scholarship standard. The course includes English, Latin or French (generally the former), mathematics, geography,