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E.—6

Expenditure. Salaries of staff ... ... ... ... 69,806 74,523 78,086 Working-expenses (lower departments excluded) 4,336* 11,701 11,802 Buildings, &c. ... ... ... ... 37,982 44,982 50,849 * Expenses of management only. Thirteen of the secondary-schools Boards in operation show a credit balance at the end of the year and eleven a debit balance. The net credit balance of all schools taken together is £11,875, as compared with £17,008 in 1913. The decrease is mainly owing to building operations carried on during the year. For the whole Dominion, if there are taken into account only the secondary schools that admit free pupils under the Act, we find from Table X 6 in E.-6 the following position as at the Ist March, 1914: — 1912. 1913. 1914. Total number of pupils, excluding lower departments (roll number beginning of first term, 1914) ... ... ... ... ... 5,515 5,693 6,009 Total net income from endowments (average of three years ended 31st December, 1914) ... £12,373 ' £11,533 £9,781 Net income from endowments per head ... £224 £2-02 £1-63 Approximate annual rate of capitation ... £10-77 £10-79 £10-60 Total available net income per free pupil for salaries and management ... ... £1301 £12-82 £12-23 Total expenditure on salaries of staff ... ... £56,682 £60,297 £62,805 working-expenses... ... £3,152* £9,909 £9,804 „ staff salaries, and workingexpenses ... ... £59,834 £70,206 £72,609 Expenditure per head on staff salaries ... ... £1028 £10-59 £10-45 „ per head on working-expenses ... £0-57* £1-74 £1-63 Total expenditure per head on staff salaries, and working-expenses ... ... ... £10-84 £12-33 £12-08 * Maiiagomont expenses only. The last figure given shows as nearly as may be the actual cost per annum for each pupil, exclusive of those in the lower departments. Further details of the income and expenditure of the secondary schools will be found in Tables X 7 and KB. Lower Departments. —The Education Act provides that pupils who have not obtained a certificate of competency in the subjects of Standard V or a higher standard of the public-school syllabus may be admitted to a lower department of a * secondary school if they are taught in a separate building or class-room, and if no part of the actual cost of their instruction is met out of the endowments of the secondary school. There were lower departments in thirteen secondary schools during 1914 ; the total number of pupils in those departments was 362 ; the total expenditure on salaries of teachers was £2,400; the total amount of fees received on their account was £3,152. (See Table X 10.)

2. REPORT OF THE INSPECTOR OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS. Sir, — I have the honour to furnish you with a report on secondary education in the Dominion for year, 1914. Secondary education is carried on in three different classes of schools—endowed secondary schools, private secondary schools, and district high schools. The course of instruction in these three classes of schools is, in general, similar, but the work of schools of the first class is usually carried further, and readies in its highest form the standard of attainments of the University Junior Scholarship. In a few of the largest district high schools the highest form reaches a somewhat similar standard of work. In some cf the secondary schools three definite courses of instruction are provided for hoys and girls respectively. The courses are usually denned in boys' schools as— (a) Classical or general; (6) commercial ; (c) agricultural. In girls' schools course (c) is named home science. This differentiation

2—E. 6.