33

G. HOGBEN.j

E.—l2.

secondary education, we are higher than Britain or America. I think the general question of educational efficiency is a question that covers a very wide ground, and if I began on that I should frave to make a discursion over the whole realm of education. I would rather answer questions in regard to that. I come now to the administration of the Central Department: I shall take this to apply to the internal administration of the Central Department. The Central Department has several officers under the statute. It has an Inspector-General of Schools, and a Secretary of Education specially named under the statute. It also has Inspectors of Manual and Technical Education, and Inspectors of Industrial Schools, which do not come within the order of reference. It has also Inspectors of Native Schools and two Inspectors of secondary schools, to carry out the provisions of section 97 of the Act. One of these Inspectors of Secondary Schools is called the Assistant Inspector-General of Schools, because he controls the administration of the Inspection Branch of the Department. I think these are all the statutory officers, except one who is also Secretary of the Superannuation Board. Then the Department is divided for administrative purposes into several branches. There is the General Branch, to call it by a convenient name, which deals chiefly with accounts and with general matters, especially those concerning Education Boards. The accounts form a very large proportion of this work, and correspondence from Boards of Education and other bodies, unless it specifically relates to a subject that a special branch deals with, goes to and is dealt with by this General Branch. Claims for grants for buildings would go to that branch, because there is no special branch for buildings. All claims for teachers' salaries go to the same branch. The Inspection and Examination Branch is necessarily a large branch. The total number of candidates last year for the special examinations held by the Department for public purposes or on behalf of Boards was over eight thousand. It is not necessary for me to name the examinations : they will be found in the special paper on examinations. It is a supplement to E.-l, and is known as E.-8. The inspection section of the branch, of course, deals with the inspection of secondary schools and district high schools, the classification of teachers and the classification of junior free pupils and senior free pupils in secondary schools. A card is kept for every teacher; it gives the examination results and other facts about him. Then there is a card for each free pupil; there are so many transfers that unless we followed that plan we should get into confusion with the capitation" payments altogether. When a pupil is transferred we transfer his card. Then there is the issue of certificates. Under the new system there are intermediate certificates, lower leaving certificates, and higher leaving certificates; and the branch deals with many other matters incidental to inspection and examination. University bursaries, national scholarships, and research scholarships are also dealt with by the Inspection Branch; it also has to do with training colleges and the training of teachers. Then there is the Manual and Technical Branch, which deals with all the grants and capitation, with inspection, with free places and scholarships, in connection with manual and technical instruction. The Native Schools Branch deals with the Native primary and secondary schools, with the education of the Chatham Islands, and apprentice and nursing scholarships given to Maori boys and girls respectively. There are two Inspectors in that branch, besides other officers. Next, there is the School Journal and Library Branch, dealing with the School Journal, with all questions relating to free books, authorized school-books, and having charge of the reference library, which is available for the use of teachers throughout the Dominion. The same branch deals with all correspondence from publishers, a very large number of whom send samples of books to the Dominion. Then there is the Special Schools Branch, dealing with special schools of various kinds — namely, reformatories for boys and girls, industrial schools proper—both reformatories and industrial schools being included in the Industrial Schools Act —with receiving homes, boarded-out children under the Industrial Schools Act, inmates licensed to service on probation under the Industrial Schools Act, and infant-life protection. There are about 1,500 children under the Infant Life Protection Act. It also deals with the School for the Deaf and, as far as we have relations with it, with the School for the Blind. In the case of the latter school we pay capitation on Government pupils, and inspect and examine the school. There is also the Home for the Feeble-minded at Otekaike, and it will probably be necessary soon to have another. It deals with the feeble-minded, including epileptics. Then we have the Superannuation Branch, dealing with teachers' superannuation. The amount of work is fairly large. There are only three officers concerned in it —Mr. de Castro, who is also Chief Clerk, having two under him. -When the quarterly meeting is about to be held'they have to use other clerks as well. Lastly, there is the Statistics Branch, which deals also with public reports on education in New Zealand and elsewhere. There is one branch of the public service that was formerly under the Education Department, but is not now a part of the Department—the expenditure is under the Education class, but the head of it is responsible to the Minister directly that is the Public Schools Cadets Branch. The difference is that I am not responsible to the Minister for the expenditure or for any part of its work. Formerly it was part of the Education Department, and I had to take the responsibility. I have now included all the branches, but I have not included all their work. I have named specimens of their work. 3. Mr. Pirani.] I think it would be advisable if you gave us a return of this, showing the expenditure on each branch of the Department, and the special duties of each officer? I think we could do that quite well. There is one thing I should like to say : One officer is head of the School Journal and he is also an Inspector, and in times of great pressure he is called upon to act as an Inspector, because it would be uneconomical to appoint an extra officer when we have an officer qualified for the work. Then there is another thing. If I show the office as it is at this time of the year when the pressure is not so great i. I was going to suggest that the return might cover ;i series of years. You can choose the time when the pressure is greatest if you like? —I will explain, and then draw up a return as you desire. At the present moment we have no temporary clerks. The policy of our Department is