APRIL 20.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 1151

IX. HOLIDAYS.

The following holidays shall be observed in all Native schools, and no other holiday shall be taken except with the sanction of the Department.

(1.) All Saturdays and Sundays; Good Friday and Easter Monday; Dominion Day (fourth Monday in September); King’s Birthday (3rd June); Agricultural Show Day, when the show is held within such distance of the school as to render only one day’s holiday necessary; anniversary of the province in which the school is situated; half-day on the day of the general election, unless the distance of the polling-booth from the school is so great as to make a full day necessary; Arbor Day.

On the afternoon of the school day preceding the loyal holidays—viz., Dominion Day, King’s Birthday, anniversary of province—teachers are expected to address the children on some appropriate topic connected with the occasion for which the holiday is given.

On Arbor Day, when this day is made a special occasion for planting trees, shrubs, &c., the usual lessons need not be given. At the conclusion of such work the children are to be given a holiday for the remainder of the day. Should the work referred to not be done, the usual lessons will be required and no holiday will be taken.

(2.) First-term holidays: One week, beginning third Monday in May.

Second-term holidays: One week, beginning first Monday in September.

Midsummer holidays: Six weeks, beginning not earlier than the third Monday, and not later than the fourth Monday in December.

(3.) Should circumstances render it necessary, teachers may be authorized to postpone any holiday, otherwise all holidays must be strictly observed on the prescribed dates.

(4.) In connection with the midsummer holidays, to prevent loss of time, permission will be given to teachers in remote localities to close school on such dates as will suit the local means of travelling. Due notice must, however, be given to the Department, and in no case must the holidays exceed six weeks.

X. ATTENDANCE REGISTERS AND RETURNS.—AVERAGE ATTENDANCE.

I. ATTENDANCE REGISTERS AND RETURNS.

1. The head teacher of every Native school shall enrol in an admission register, in the form provided by the Department, the name of each child in the school, with such other particulars as are required by the register.

2. Such register may consist of a record card for every pupil in the form provided; but in such case this form of record must be consistently adopted throughout the school, a proper receptacle must be provided therefor, and due precautions must be taken to secure the completeness and permanence of the record.

3. The head teacher of every registered school shall keep a register of attendance in the form provided by the Department, and all the teachers in the school shall assist in keeping the register and in making up weekly and quarterly summaries of attendance.

4. The attendance of scholars in every school shall be registered every morning and every afternoon; provided that in no case shall the register be marked later than one hour and a half before the close of morning or afternoon school, as the case may be. The register shall be marked and kept in accordance with the directions printed thereon.

5. The attendance of a child at morning school shall be reckoned as one attendance, and the attendance of a child at afternoon school shall be reckoned as one attendance, and a school open in the morning and open in the afternoon shall be deemed to have been open twice. The school shall be held to be open any morning or afternoon if at least one child is present before the first half-hour of the ordinary school time has passed. The average attendance for any quarter or any lesser period shall be ascertained by first throwing out of account what shall be called “excepted” half-days—that is, every morning and every afternoon on which the attendances have numbered less than one-half of the number of pupils belonging at the time to the school—and by throwing out of account the attendances also of every such morning and such afternoon, and then by dividing the remaining number of attendances by the remaining number of half-days.

6. If any child whose name is entered upon the register of attendance of any school shall be duly attending at an examination conducted by the Department, or an Education Board, or the University of New Zealand, or at a recognized class for manual instruction, then the time necessarily spent by such child at such examination or class, or in travelling thereto, shall be reckoned as time spent in attendance at such school; and the head