quotation from this section of the report, which indicates the admirable spirit in which the commissioners approach the most delicate part of their task.

The following recommendations are based upon the several assumptions hereunder mentioned, viz:

(a) That the educational system of New South Wales should aim at becoming at least the equal of the best systems in other parts of the world.

(b) That to attain to equality with either European or American education the whole spirit and method of the existing system of primary education must be transformed in respect of (1) the professional education and training of teachers, and (2) the development of the curriculum.

(c) That merely mechanical changes in the machinery of the department or mere changes in the curricula, or additions of new features thereto, in themselves will not suffice.

(d) That the chief activity of the inspectors and other officers of the department, especially in the immediate future, will have to be mainly educative, with a view to bringing the existing teaching staff into touch with the spirit of modern education.

(e) That in departing from the present régime the change should operate steadily and continuously until a new system is fully developed.

It may be added that change in the teaching method and in the whole scheme of inspectorial activity, while important, is but mechanism, and the supreme need is a deeper understanding, not so much of educational mechanism, as of the spirit and the philosophy of the European and American systems.

The attempt to provide a higher education and sounder professional training for future teachers will have to be supplemented by an attempt also to give a new direction to the activity of those at present on the teaching staff of the department. These things, together with better curricula. and equipment, are necessary to real reform.

QUEENSLAND.

Work of the itinerant teacher.-The services of the itinerant teacher were continued during the year. Visits were paid to 95 families with 291 children over 5 years of age and 98 under 5 years, and in 67 of these families 210 children over 5 years of age are receiving instruction from relatives or tutors. In 45 of the homes the children were found to have reached or exceeded a fair standard of proficiency in the very elementary instruction that had been imparted to them, in 13 of the homes the proficiency was only moderate, and in 9 of them did not reach even a moderate standard.

The State also maintained 1,825 children in orphanages at an expense of $119,235.

Secondary education.--In addition to the public elementary schools— there are 10 grammar schools in Queensland-6 for boys and 4 for girls. Each grammar school is governed by a board of seven trustees appointed by the government, and of these four are nominated by the governor in council and the others by a majority of the subscribers to the funds. The trustees hold office for three years and are eligible for reelection. They are empowered to make regulations for the filling of all vacancies that may occur in their number for the unexpired portion of the term of office, for the determination of fees to be paid by the scholars, for the salaries to be paid the teachers, and generally for the management, good government, and discipline of the school. All such regulations are subject to the approval of the governor in council.

Endowment at the rate of £1,000 per annum is paid by the State to each grammar school, making a total endowment of £10,000 annually to the grammar schools. On December 31, 1902, the aid granted by the State from the first institution of grammar schools reached a total of £281,937 1s. 3d. Of that amount £18,901 11s. 4d. represents special loans and is being repaid by quarterly installments of principal with interest.

Technical education.-Technical instruction is given in institutions mostly connected with schools of art, where special training can be obtained at small cost and generally outside the usual working hours. There were 22 institutions of this kind maintained in 1902, with 5,084 students. For this work Parliament

ED 1904 M

voted the sum of £10,650 ($53,250) for the year 1902-3, subject to the condition that the aid extended in any case should not exceed 15s. for every £1 raised locally.

Expenditures.-As shown by tabulated statistics the public expenditure for primary education for the year 1901-2 was £282,612 ($1,413,061). The total expenditure for all educational purposes was £316,334 ($1,581,670).

SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

In addition to the expenditure for primary education, the government grants funds for scholarships, which enable the holders to carry on their studies in higher schools and universities. The amount thus appropriated in 1902 was $7,362. For the advanced school for girls under the charge of the minister of education the government appropriated $6,432. The total enrollment in the schools was 115, of which number 45 students held scholarships entitling them to free tuition.

In addition to the school of agriculture, which has been recently consolidated with the school of mines, classes in agriculture have been opened in several centers.

VICTORIA.

During the past year great progress has been made both in the preparation of teachers to give instruction in one form or another of manual training and in introducing the subject into the schools.

The paper-work training classes for teachers carried on throughout the State are well attended both by men and women students, who freely give up their Saturdays to the work, and not infrequently travel from 5 to 20 miles at their own expense to do so. These classes are conducted by ex-students of the training college, who obtained the necessary qualification during 1901, and they are visited periodically by the organizing inspector, Mr. Byatt. Although a considerable number of teachers are qualified to teach cardboard work, the lack of the necessary material has, up to the present, prevented its introduction to the classes for which it is intended. The teachers who in 1901 were selected to undergo a course of training in woodwork (Sloyd), attained the necessary standard of proficiency and were appointed to centers which are at present in active operation throughout the State.

The expenditure for this work for the year ending June 30, 1902, amounted to $27,870.

Domestic economy.—Eleven centers have been equipped for teaching domestic economy to girls and were maintained for the year 1901-2 at a total expense of $14,022.

Technical education.-The number of technical schools (including those termed "schools of mines") receiving aid from the State on June 30, 1902, was the same as in previous years, viz, 18. Five of these afford instruction in science, art, and trade subjects; 5 in art and science; 2 in art and trade; while 5 schools confine their teaching to art and 1 to science subjects only. Five schools, viz, the Working Men's College, Melbourne, and the schools of mines at Ballarat, Bendigo, Bairnsdale, and Stawell, are classed as certified science schools, and are eligible to receive State school exhibitioners (holders of government scholarships).

In these schools full courses in mining, engineering, geology, etc., extending over three or four years have now been established.

The total expenditure in connection with technical schools for 1901-2 was £22,958 38. 14. ($114,790).

During the coming year the question of relating the work done in these schools more closely to the industrial life of the district will be carefully considered. It is intended to withdraw subsidy from those schools which are not able to attract a sufficient number of students, and which do not in their teaching supply a real need in local industrial requirements.

Expenditure. The total public expenditure for education for the year ending June 30, 1902, was $4,001,014.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

One of the great difficulties in this sparsely peopled State is, naturally, to provide education for the settlers in the country districts and on the gold fields. The farms are large, and it is not easy to place schools within reach of all the children. The country provisional schools are the most expensive to provide, as buildings have to be erected, and the teacher paid an adequate salary, though there may be only a dozen or so scholars to teach. It is doubtful what method will have ultimately to be pursued. In America and Canada an attempt has been made, apparently with success, to centralize the instruction in larger schools and to convey the children of scattered settlers from a distance daily or weekly or even to establish boarding houses for them.

The cost per head in the provisional schools is £7 1s. 11d. (about $36) on the average attendance and £5 13s. 5d. ($28) on the enrollment. The cost per head in special schools in the northwest is as much as £8 6s. 6d. ($41) on the average attendance. The cost per head for the children of the whole State in government schools is £4 10s. 9d. ($22) on the average attendance, or £3 14s. 1d. ($18) on the enrollment. The government, however, recognizes that, in spite of the expense, education must be provided for these isolated settlers, who are doing such valuable work in developing the resources of the country.

Teachers' training and salaries.-The great event of the year has been the opening of the training college for teachers. The college has been established at Claremont, about halfway between Perth and Fremantle, and is open both for day and resident students of both sexes. It is clearly advantageous, for many reasons, to the students that they should be in residence, but the position of the college enables those whose parents reside in the metropolitan district to reach it easily. The college can accommodate sixty students, and, as the course of training is for three years, should send about twenty trained teachers per annum. There is no fear that this number of teachers would ever be too many for the vacancies in the schools. Apart from the present influx of children, which is abnormal, the ordinary growth of population and the ordinary retirement of teachers through marriage, age, or other causes will always be in excess of that number. *

It has been pointed out in the reports of previous years that the average salary of the teachers has been very low, and that it was essential, if a good startwas to be secured, that they should receive a wage above, rather than below, that ruling in other professions in the State. Since the new scale of salaries has been in operation there has been a satisfactory increase in the average salary, which is now £151 10s. 9d. ($757) for heads and adult assistants. This, however, is not a sufficiently large sum when it is borne in mind that it is not as much as most mechanics receive, and the remuneration of the lower branches of the service is still very small. During the year a fresh adjustment of salaries has been made by the abolition of bonuses for successful teaching. This system has been found unsatisfactory. It is practically impossible to award bonuses on any other basis than that of school reports, and the school report may be good owing to the efforts of one or two individuals of the staff, whose work has benefited others on the staff who have not deserved such bonus; or, on the other hand, the weak teachers may have deprived the deserving ones of the bonus to which their real efforts should entitle them. The Government, in making arrangements for the abolition of this system. was enabled to set by a somewhat larger sum of money for increasing the regular salaries of such of the staff as had previously received these sums.

Promotion. The old system of examination of individual children by the inspectors has now been entirely abolished, and in all the schools the teachers are given the responsibility of judging the suitability of children for promotion from one standard to another. The promotion of bright children has been more rapid under the new system. There is a slight increase in the number of children reaching the upper standards, and the inspectors note that the system not only encourages the bright children by giving them an opportunity of passing on more quickly to higher work, but at once equalizes the classes, makes the task of the teachers less difficult, and gives them also more scope for originality. There is said to be a marked improvement in the tone of the school work and the intelligence of methods. The schools can now be judged by the inspectors on these points, and they are not obliged to spend their whole time in testing the "passing" capacity of individual scholars. Much more assistance can be

given to the teachers under the new system, as the inspectors are able to spend more time in showing better methods and giving advice.

Manual training.-Needlework, which is most necessary for girls, is being taught throughout the schools, and the inspectors are taking care sufficient time is given to it.

The important subjects of manual training and cookery have been developed during the year. Though the numbers passing through the Perth and gold-field centers (special classes) have been slightly less than in previous years, this is due to the fact that other centers are being prepared, and that classes of teachers have been held by Mr. Hart and Miss Devitt to enable their systems to be extended much more widely throughout the State. While they were holding classes for teachers some boys and girls had for the time to stand down. There have, however, been 473 boys instructed in the use of tools in the metropolitan district; 146 girls have been through the cookery course, while in the gold fields 270 and in Northam 46 boys have received instruction from well-qualified teachers in other parts of the State-for example, at Donnybrook, etc.-teachers have begun courses of instruction after seeing the work as carried out in Perth. In addition to a class for some months in Perth, a summer course during the Christmas holidays was attended by over 20 teachers at Bunbury.

***

The technical school has made great strides under Mr. Purdie's direction, and now can boast of being a most flourishing institution, the temporary and inadequate buildings which house it in no way damping the ardor of the teachers or students.

Expenditure.-The amount expended in 1902 for primary education ($426,510) was 78 per cent of the entire educational expenditure for the year, viz, $545,985.

NEW ZEALAND.

The following particulars with respect to the operations of the New Zealand system of education for 1902-3 have been furnished to this Office by Mr. Mark Cohen, editor of the Dunedin Evening Star, whose comments add great interest to the facts presented:

Partly through the operation of the school attendance act of 1901 and partly from other causes, such as the increase in the number of schools in sparsely populated districts, attendance at public schools has improved, and there seems to be good reason to hope that it may still further improve. The standard of regularity of attendance reached in 1900 and 1901-namely, 84.1 per cent of the average weekly roll number-rose to 84.9 in 1902. This figure is a high one compared with the corresponding figures for the British Isles and for the several States of the Australian Commonwealth. According to the latest returns which are available, the average attendance in primary day schools in England was 83.6 per cent of the net enrollment, in Scotland 82.9 per cent, and in Ireland 65 per cent. For the Australian States the numbers were: New South Wales, 72.6 per cent; Victoria, 66.5; Queensland, 81.3; South Australia, 79.9; West Australia, 81.6; Tasmania, 74.4. These returns are for 1901 in the case of Scotland, Ireland, and New South Wales, and for 1902 in the others.

The number of children of Maori and mixed race attending the public schools has increased during the year by 340-namely, from 2,688 to 3,028; the number of such children in the Maori village schools was greater by 444 in 1902 than it was in 1901; in the Maori boarding schools there was an increase of 7. In the aggregate there were 6,626 children of Maori and mixed race receiving instruction last year, as against 5,835 the previous year; that is, there was a total increase of 791.

The proportion of boys to girls is almost the same as for 1900 and 1901-52 per cent to 48 per cent. Taking the average for the last four years, for every 100 boys on the rolls of the schools there are 92.4 girls.

The ratio of the children under 10 years of age to those over that age is slightly lower than it was last year. The actual percentages are, respectively, 51.9 and 48.1 of the roll number.

The following table of attendance at schools on March 31, 1901, is interesting:

The number of schools open at the end of 1902, if 92 half-time schools are counted as equivalent to 46 full-time schools, was 1,708, or 31 more than were open in December, 1901.

On December 31, 1902, there were employed in the State schools 3,704 teachers, of whom 2,957 were adults and 747 pupil teachers. The average number of children in attendance was 30.7 to each teacher. Out of the total number of adult teachers 1,272 were men and 1,685 women; in other words, for every 100 men engaged in teaching in the public schools of the colony there were, at the end of 1902, 132 women so employed. Comparison with the principal Australian States and with England shows that for every 100 adult male teachers the number of adult female teachers was: In New South Wales, 66; Victoria, 87; Queensland, 108; South Australia, 186; England, 293. In this colony the proportion of female to male teachers in 1892 was 94 of the former to 100 of the latter, so that the proportion of female to male teachers has increased in the interval from 94 to 132 per cent of males. On which fact the secretary of education comments thus: "It will be seen that the substitution of women for men as teachers in our primary schools is a process that has been going on for some time in various countries, although it has not yet reached in New Zealand the stage it has reached in England and America, or even in South Australia." The number of pupil teachers actually employed in New Zealand at the end of the year was 747, or about one-fifth of the total number of the staff of the schools.

The effect of the public school-teachers' salaries act has been to improve the staffing of the schools by reducing the average number of children under the charge of one teacher. It is to be feared, however, that in some cases the number of children actually under the charge of a single teacher considerably exceeds the number that the act appears to indicate. It would probably tend to greater efficiency if, subject to the conditions of classification and suitability of the several teachers for the various classes of each school, the average number under the instruction of any teacher or teachers did not in general greatly exceed the number indicated by the scale of staffs in the schedule to the act, which allows not more than 60 children for each adult teacher, and not more than 30 for each pupil-teacher, or on the average not more than 45 for each member of the staff. But neither school committees nor education boards appear inclined to take advantage of this provision in the act, with the result that the lot of the second male assistant is an exceedingly unhappy one just now, seeing that the standard of living throughout the colony has been raised on the average over 20 per cent; and teachers of this class are leaving the service by the score, in order to improve their worldly position.

The total of all salaries and allowances at the rates paid at the end of the year was £418,564 18s. 7d. ($2,092,824). This includes the salaries and lodging allowances of pupil teachers, as well as all salaries, house rent, and other allowances paid to adult teachers. The average salary per teacher was therefore £113 Os. 6d. ($565). The principal item showing an increase is that of teachers' salaries and allowances, £419,701 ($2,098,505) for 1902, as against £382,061 ($1,910,305) for 1901, but out of this the sum of £6,742 ($33,710) was paid as the last installment of the increases to salaries for 1901. The net increase over 1901 was therefore £24,156 ($120,780) on this head. Another item showing a considerable increase is the expenditure on manual and technical instruction, which was £11,605 ($58,025) for 1902, as against £7,611 ($38,055) for 1901.

At the beginning of 1902 there were 69 Maori schools, and during the year this number has been increased by S. The total cost of educating the Maori children during the year was £26,946, or about £7 per pupil.

A field in which there has been marked advance during the year has been the manual and technical department, to which much attention has been devoted.