E.—X,

REPORT.

i. INTRODUCTORY AND GENERAL. Since this report covers the third year of the Government's administration of education it is fitting that I should not only list the achievements of the past year, but also try to indicate in a general way the extent to which I have been able, during my first term of office, to carry out the policy laid down three years ago. EDUCATIONAL POLICY. The educational policy put forward by the Government at the end of 1935 could be summed up as : — The readmission of the five-year-olds to public schools and the extension of kindergarten training. The extension of teacher-training facilities to provide the necessary staff for smaller classes. The rebuilding and reconditioning of old and unhygienic buildings. More liberal supplies of equipment, including adequate library facilities. The extension of dental treatment to all school-children. Standard rates of pay to all teachers now serving under the rationing scheme. Eight of appeal against non-appointment. Improvement of the standard of teachers' residences. IMPLEMENTING OF POLICY. While this policy is so comprehensive and continuous that it can never be completed in an absolute sense in any given time, it may be claimed that during the past three years great advances have been made under all these headings. One of the first acts of the Government was to readmit the five-year-olds to the public schools in 1936. At the same time the Wellington and Dunedin Training Colleges were reopened, and all the Training Colleges are now working to capacity to provide sufficient teachers to enable classes to be reduced to a reasonable size. In no field has there been more activity than in that of school buildings and sites. Up to the end of 1938 the Government had given approval for capital works in connection with school buildings amounting to £2,511,428, of which £1,441,411 had been expended and fine new schools and teachers' residences are springing up throughout the country. It is recognized that there is still a heavy leeway to be made up, but the work of bringing buildings and grounds up to date is being pressed on as rapidly as the facilities of the building industry permit. Liberal allowances for equipment and libraries have been made to all types of State schools. The number of trainees in the Dental Clinic rose from 53 in 1935 to 138 in 1938, and new clinics have been established in the schools as quickly as staff could be trained. The rationing scheme for unemployed teachers was abolished, and primary-school teachers not able to secure permanent positions are now employed at a living wage as probationary assistants or relieving teachers. Provisions for right of appeal against non-appointment were incorporated in the Education Amendment Bill that was brought down and fully discussed during the past year. OBJECTIVE. These, then, are some of the efforts the Government has made to carry out its specific promises, but much more than this has been done. The Government's objective, broadly expressed, is that every person, whatever his level of academic ability, whether he be rich or poor, whether he live in town or country, has a

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