E.—2.

It will be observed that some of the difficulties referred to still vex the principals of technical schools. However, the objects secured by establishing the clay technical school were —(1) Settled finances under existing regulations ; (2) a considerable full-time staff to develop the several courses and provide the skeleton of the school organization ; (3) training for the pupils by specialist teachers in close touch with industry and with experts from industry engaged for part-time evening instructions ; (4) the use for the day pupils of the equipment of all kinds available for trade classes, and their constant association with the work of advanced evening students. The day technical school was started in 1905 with a specific purpose —that of providing pupils leaving the primary school and wishing to prepare for a definite trade or occupation two or more years of pre-vocational training in general and special subjects connected with their chosen occupation. From their inception these schools have been almost entirely free from conditions as to curricula and from the paralysing influence of external examinations. Their sole object has been to study local conditions and to prepare their pupils for their future occupations and for further technical training as part-time pupils after they have become apprentices, or in special cases, which were provided for in the original scheme, for going on to higher professional training. On the whole, they have served their purpose very successfully of providing a nursery for evening classes. The organization of the technical high school is radically different from that of a secondary school. Its several courses are separate entities, the scope and treatment of each subject depending on the course to which it belongs, and this applies even to general subjects such as English, which is taken in all courses. The technical high school is a necessary and organic part of the technical school, which exists for a definite purpose in the community, and neither the technical high school nor the evening classes can function properly the one without the other. No other school can fill the place of the technical high school unless it actually forms an organic part of the technical school, bearing in all its courses the same relationship to the evening school. Nor is it possible for any school which is not an organic part of a technical school to perform the functions of the technical high school. It has neither the means nor the opportunity. By its nature the technical high school is subject only to such educational changes as affect the technical schools, and these during the past thirty years have been confined to minor details so far as training for industry and commerce are concerned. In comparing the statistical position in regard to technical education in, say, 1912 with that in 1937, it is necessary to take account of changes in the scope of work done in technical schools, as well as alterations in the mode of presentation of statistical data in available parliamentary papers and returns. Table I, which gives comparative figures for the numbers of evening students following certain occupations, probably affords a fairly true picture so far as these occupations are concerned. The fall in the numbers of students following agricultural pursuits is probably due in the main to the increase in attendance at district high schools and other post-primary schools, and the consequent discontinuance of country classes in elementary agricultural subjects which were formerly popular in some districts. It will be observed that the increases are mainly in those pursuits which are characteristic of the commercial and industrial activities of the larger towns, in which the increase of population during the same period has been in approximately the same ratio.

Table I.—Certain Occupations: Part-time Students in Technical Schools.

Table II gives figures for the numbers of classes, other than classes in technical high schools, held in certain schools in the years 1912 and 1937 respectively. The schools listed are the only ones in which a reasonably accurate comparison can be made. In all other cases radical changes in the constitution of the schools and therefore in the mode of presentation of data prevent comparison by numerical records.

15

Number of Students. Occupation. 1912. 1937. Agricultural pursuits . . . . . . . . . . . I 902 226 Engineers and mechanics . . . . . , ; . . . 1 594 1 ; 461 Electricians . . . . . . . . 221 531 Plumbers and metal-workers . . . . . . . 642 541 Woodworkers .. . . . . , . . 515 560 Painters, plasterers, &c. , . .. .. HO 83 Printers .. .. . . 89 187 Employed in shops and offices . . . , . . ]. 055 1,449 Clerical pursuits . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 ; 396 4 ) 007 Dressmakers, milliners, kc. .. .. .. . . 206 219 Engaged in various other trades and industries .. .. .. 543 1,183 Totals .. .. .. .. .. .. [ 6,303 10,447 ' I