E.—2,

A few of the centred work only one day weekly, many for half-time, while city centres generally have a very heavy load, taking about 250 pupils weekly per teacher _ for approximately two hours each pupil. About two-thirds of the centres work less than full-time. The school population per centre varies considerably from district to district, _ being lowest in Nelson and highest in Hawke's, Bay. There are several reasons for this variation. In the first place, a fully loaded centre will accommodate up to 500 pupils, corresponding to a school population of over 2,000. The numbers actually served are in all districts much less. In districts where there are large towns the number served per centre tends to be high, provided that the remaining population is not too scattered and too great in proportion. In districts where the conveyance of pupils to centres is easily arranged, the number served per centre is higher. Where there are no large centres, and a considerable scattered population, the numbers served per centre are necessarily low. The school population per centre may be large for two very different reasons, one that there are large towns, where centres can be worked to capacity, and the other that there are many small schools so isolated that it is not possible to serve them. The school population served per centre depends mainly on the number of full-time centres as compared with the number of part-time centres in the district. The percentage of schools served depends on the proportion of small country schools which cannot be or have not been brought into the system of manual training. In comparing one district with another, it must be remembered that the proportion of small schools not readily accessible varies considerably from district to district. Auckland, for example, has 36 per cent, of all the Grade 111 schools, but only 28 per cent, of the schools above that grade, and 30 per cent, of schools of Grades I and 11. Hence the school population per centre is high. On the other hand, the population served by each centre is also relatively high, due to the large easily served population in Auckland City, with its battery of twelve full-time centres. Nelson, with 5 per cent, of all the schools under Grade IV and above Grade O, and only 3 per cent, of all those above Grade 111 has no full-time centre, while at the same time communications are easy for travelling instructors to cover the district. Consequently a greater proportion of the schools is served than in the case of Auckland, but at the expense of very small numbers per centre. Southland is an excellent example of the possibilities in a district with convenient conveyance and good communications. It has nearly 8 per cent, of the schools under Grade IV, and rather less than 5 per cent, of the schools of Grade IV and upwards, but is able to concentrate classes from 46 per cent, of its schools into centres which serve on the average a considerably higher school population per centre than any other district. Hawke's Bay, on the other hand, with 9 per cent, of the schools above Grade 111 and 7 per cent, of those of Grades I, 11, and 111, has scattered knots of population which cannot easily be brought into centres, and the school population per centre is nearly double that actually served. Wanganui, with nearly 9 per cent, of the schools of Grades I, 11, and 111, and 7 per cent, of those above Grade 111, finds almost equal difficulty in providing for its scattered population. Table II shows the proportion of schools in each grade from which pupils come to attend manual-training classes.

Table II. -Percentage of Pupils in each Grade of Schools and Proportion attending Manual-training Classes.

14

Approximate A . , t, rr , c Approximate Percentage of p , f Percentage of Total Number of Vf ° en f ge f „ , rlZ gS Schools in each Children in all at Grade. Children m each Grade attendi Grades T _ vn Manual-training Grade - Manual Training, attending Manual- „ Centres ?°™ m $ ° , ■ ■ ° ri , from each Grade training Centres tax. t i, n j °f Schools, from each Grade. I ..... 6-2 6-5 0-4 0-6 II .. •• •• 7-8 15-3 1-2 1-7 IIIa .. .. •• 6-8 27-2 1-9 2-7 IIIb .. •• 8-8 36-9 3-2 4-5 IHo .. ■■ •• 7-2 61-2 4-4 6-2 IVa b o 13-0 81-0 10-5 14-9 Va'b'c .. .. ■■ 13-5 94-4 12-3 17-5 VIa'b'c .. ■• •• 14-9 98-3 14-7 20-9 VIIa' b, c, d, », v, o, h, i .. 21-8 100-0 21-8 31-0 100-0 .. 70-4 100-0