E.—l

Other Regulations. Other regulations of minor importance were made during the year concerning the following matters : — (a) To allow teachers to advance to their correct relative positions on the grading-list, provision was made to grade a teacher in the grading group next higher to the one in which he would have been placed according to the grade of his salary even though he had not received the maximum marks for teaching, personality, and powers of organization as required by regulation. (b) The abolition of the fee of 10s. 6d. that had to be paid by a teacher before he could appeal against his grading. (c) Amendments designed to improve the application of the Teachers' Salaries Regulations 1938. (d) The grading groups in the regulations for the grading of public-school teachers were not applicable to the new scale of salaries, and as it was not' possible to devise a new grading scheme in the time available a regulation was made authorizing the classification of teachers in groups for the 1939 grading according to the grades of salaries that would have been payable to them under the old regulations for teachers' salaries. (e) The removal of the salary bar in the case of certain qualified teachers in technical schools and combined schools. (/) The granting of special leave of absence to teachers with salary in cases approved by the Minister. (g) The payment of an allowance equal to the amount of the adult basic weekly wage to male training - college students, probationary assistants, and relieving teachers who are married. (h) The increase of the payments by approximately 100 per cent, to secondary schools for the supply of material for practical and science subjects. (i) The rearrangement of the groups of compulsory and optional subjects for the Class C Examination because of the abolition of the Training College Entrance Examination. (j) The payment of the general grant to Education Boards for general purposes on the roll number on the 16th September, 1938 (on which the schools were staffed for the year 1939), which provided a very favoxirable basis for the computation of the grant. RURAL EDUCATION. Consolidation of Schools. Although I am well aware of the very fine work being done in some sole-charge and two-teacher schools, I am yet of the opinion that, other things being equal, better results can be achieved in the larger schools than in the smaller rural schools because of the greater possibilities for social contacts, special equipment, and specialized teaching. So the consolidation of small schools is being pressed forward wherever it appears to be justified, provided that the majority of the parents concerned favour the change. Approval was given during the year for the consolidation of 113 small schools on 73 centres. The difficulty of providing extra accommodation quickly enough may slow down the programme of consolidation somewhat during the next year or so. Conveyance. A natural consequence of consolidation is the provision of adequate conveyance facilities to bring the children into the centres. This is an aspect of rural education that is demanding ever-increasing attention and the expenditure of considerable sums. It is, however, giving.to the country child ever-increasing freedom of access to the rich and varied education, post-primary as.well as primary, enjoyed by the city child. Where conveyance systems have grown up around post-primary

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