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1946 NEW ZEALAND

REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st DECEMBER, 1945 (In continuation of E.-1, 1945)

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency

Office of the Department of Education, Wellington, 21st June, 1946. Your Excellency,— I have the honour, in accordance with the provisions of the Education Act, 1914, to submit to Your Excellency the following report upon the progress "and condition of public education in New Zealand during the year ended the 31st December, 1945. I have, &c, H. G. E. Mason.* His Excellency the Governor- General of the Dominion of New Zealand.

REPORT This report covers the tenth year of the Government's administration of education. It would be fitting, therefore, that I try to sketch briefly what has happened in education not only in the past year, but also in the past decade. My predecessor, the Right Hon. P. Fraser, stated in his annual report for 1939, " The Government's objective, broadly expressed, is that every person, whatever his level of academic ability, whether he live in town or country, has a right, as a citizen, to a free education of the kind for which he is best fitted, and to the fullest extent of his powers." I gladly accept this statement of policy as the criterion by which all the changes introduced into the education system over the last ten years should be judged.