Jan. 21.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 269

ficates of proficiency at any place and time that may seem fit to him, and may require candidates for such special examinations to give fourteen days’ notice of their intention to be examined.

24. By or on behalf of each candidate at such special examinations there shall be paid to the Inspector, or to the Secretary of the Education Board, as the Board may direct, the following fees, viz.: If there be only one candidate, £1; if there be two candidates, 10s. for each candidate; if there be three candidates, 6s. 8d. for each candidate; if there be four or more candidates, 5s. for each candidate. But no fee shall be payable in the case of any child on the roll of any public school, or of any child of school age, if he be examined, either at his own school or at any other school, at the time of the Inspector’s annual visit to such school.

25. All such certificates shall be on forms issued by the Department, and shall be signed by an Inspector of Schools.

26. Notwithstanding clause 21, the Inspector need not, at the time of his annual visit to a school, examine for certificates of proficiency, and Standard VI. certificates of competency, the pupils of S6 and other candidates who are of school age. He may arrange to hold a central examination for all such pupils and candidates from a town or district, due notice of such examination being given. This examination, being in lieu of the annual examination of S6, is not to be regarded as a special examination within the meaning of clauses 23 and 24.

Nevertheless, at the time of his annual visit to the school, the Inspector shall satisfy himself of the general efficiency of the instruction given in S6, as provided for in clause 9.

27. The Inspector or Inspectors of each district shall make an annual return showing, with respect to each public school subject to their inspection, the number of pupils in the several classes and the number present in each class at the time of the annual visit. The return shall indicate the degree of attention paid to the several compulsory subjects and to the additional subjects respectively, and state in brief the condition of each school as to order and discipline, and as to the manners of the pupils. The return shall also include a statement of the average age of the pupils in each class.

28. The following subjects shall be compulsory in all schools for classes P, S1, and S2: (1) English, (2) arithmetic, (3) drawing, (4) singing, (5) physical instruction. Instruction of the kind indicated in clauses 48, 49, and 50 must also be given.

29. In the same classes the following shall be the additional subjects: Group I.—(1) Lessons on objects, (2) handwork, (3) geography (in S2). Group II.—Needlework.

30. All the additional subjects may be taken in any school. Subject (1) or subject (2) of Group I. must be taken by boys and girls in every school. In schools below Grade 7, two of the subjects of Group I. must be taken by boys, and, where needlework is not taught, by girls also. In schools of Grade 7 and higher grades, all the subjects of Group I. must be taken by boys, and not more than one of them may be omitted by girls.

31. The following subjects shall be compulsory in all schools for classes S3, S4, S5, and S6, viz.: (1) English, (2) arithmetic, (3) drawing, (4) singing, (5) physical instruction, (6) geography (courses A and B), (7) history (course A), including civic instruction. Instruction of the kind indicated in clauses 48, 49, and 50 shall also be given.

32. In the same classes, the following shall be the additional subjects, viz.:—Group I.—Elementary science, or lessons on objects; (2) handwork; (3) geography, course C; (4) history, course B. Group II.—(1) Needlework; (2) military drill.

33. All the additional subjects may be taken in any school. Subjects (1) or (2) of Group I. must be taken by boys and girls in every school. In schools below Grade 4, either lessons on objects or handwork must be taken by boys, and, where needlework is not taught, by girls also. In schools of Grades 4, 5, and 6, two of the subjects of Group I. must be taken by boys, and, where needlework is not taught, by girls also. In schools of Grade 7, and higher grades, at least four and a half hours a week must be given to the subjects of Group I. by boys, and two and a half hours by girls: not more than one subject may be omitted by the former, and not more than two by the latter.

At least two hours a week must be given to needlework by all the girls of S3–6 in every school where there is a mistress; provided that, in the case of girls who are attending classes in cookery, dairy-work, dress-making or laundry-work recognised under the regulations of the Manual and Technical Instruction Act, it will be sufficient if one hour a week is given to needlework; and, further, that S6 girls who are attending such classes need not take needlework while they are so attending.