E.—s

10

either at the commencement of morning session or at the morning break, and this practice lias much to recommend it. Cadet work is taken up with enthusiasm at certain of the technical high schools, and the Seddon Memorial Technical College Cadets were the runners-up for the Riddiford Cup. Special physical-culture mistresses have been appointed to take the work of the girls in the larger schools, and the results of such special teaching are in every way admirable. Football, basketball, hockey, cricket, and swimming are very strongly supported in almost every school. General Organization of Schools. —Technical schools are in all cases open to pupils of both sexes, in the technical high schools the number of boys being about one-third more than that of the girls. There is an increasing tendency for such schools, though nominally co-educational, to become separate schools for boys and girls under one roof and one principal —that is to say, for the boys and girls to be segregated in classes by themselves and taught, the boys by men and the girls by women exclusively. Such schools cannot properly be called co-educational schools at all; and, while the consensus of opinion amongst educationists is strongly in favour of co-education, it is also agreed that it is far more dangerous to segregate the sexes in the same school than to teach them in separate institutions. It is understood that in certain subjects the boys and girls must be separated, but when they should naturally be taught together, as they should in the greater part of their school-work, it is uneducational and wrong to separate them. The Inspectors have observed the best tone and school spirit in those schools which are conducted as nearly as possible on full co-educational lines. 1 have, &c, F. C. Renyard, Inspector of Manual and Technical Instruction. The Director of Education, Wellington.

3. DETAILED TABLES RELATING TO TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION. Table J1.—Some Particulars relating to Technical Education for the Years 1916-1923 inclusive.

1916. 1917. 1918. 1919, 1920. 1921. 1922. 1923. lumber of centres at which classes were held fumber of technical high schools lumber of students — (a.) Technical high schools (6.) Other classes fumber of free pupils at (a) and (b) above fumber of students attending under compulsory regulations 151 154 131 110 121 94 66 56 8 8 8 8 g 13 13 14 2,105 17,586 5,975 2,347 18,400 6,127 2,747 16,910 6,715 2,926 17,950 7,242 2,766 18,628 6,542 3,349 16,832 6,975 4,202 12,262 8,384 5,054 13,063 9,653 1,219 1,334 1,324 1,372 1,636 1,585 324 269 'otal expenditure by Government for financial year Including-— Capitation— (a.) Technical high schools.. (6.) Other classes.. (c.) Salaries and allowances, &c. Grants for buildings and equipment Subsidies on voluntary contributions Conveyance of (a) Instructors (6) Students .. £ 84,931 £ 100,199 £ 85,335 £ 132,245 £ 169,530 £ 244,627 £ 207,628 £ 177,501 25,934 38,922 35,795 44,021 33,150 33,119 47,343 47,858 29,818"! 31,918 v 20,589 J 119,289 119,464 126,795 6,614 6,898 5,773 13,319 67,217 101,198 66,308 34,970 4,206 2,154 1,673 6,934 5,466 3,991 4,207 2,561 790 2,596 j 464 3,312 615 3,852 635 3,767 261 2,982 679 4,386 808 4,742 527 5,621