tricts each containing two or more regional high school districts. The five large unit centres designated were Souris , Montague, Charlottetown , Summerside and O'Leary . In an effort to close out small rural schools he recommended tha no grant be paid on behalf of any Grade one to six classroom in the province in which the enrollment is less than ten. Each composite school centre was to conduct one class for a selected group of train¬ able retarded children and one experimental class for gifted children of Grade ten. Better equalization of the tax rate and improved meth¬ ods of financing educational costs in P.E.I , were discussed at some length. A paper issued at this time and entitled "The Consolidated Elementary School" was found very effective. It argues that, now, with improved highways and modern means of transportation we no longer live our entire lives within the confines of the local community. Modern man or woman therefore, does not have diffi¬ culties of communication. It becomes no longer a necessity that a school district be so small that a person could walk from one end of it to another as has been during the pioneer days. It recognized that the educational system as organized and oper¬ ated in the past was of great merit and produced excellent results. It is; however, not keeping pace with changing conditions and permits too much variation of educational opportunity. It points out that only by grouping of school districts for educational purposes can we hope to provide our rural children, attending Grades one to eight, with advantages comparable to those presently being offered to the children of the elementary grades in urban centres. The paper defines the consolidation of schools as the grouping together of several existing rural school districts. Representatives to the school boards are chosen to represent the various sections of a consolidated area; one overall tax assessment is rendered, the consol¬ idated school becomes the property of that area regardless of its loca¬ tion within the consolidated unit. The assets and liabilities of the entire area are assumed by the new administration. The benefits of consolidation as elaborated from a more recent point of view are as follows: 1. Better distribution of classes brought about by increased school enrollment. This makes for fewer grades per classroom and, con¬ sequently, the teacher can spend more time on each class and in assessing the need for individual attention on the part of her stu¬ dents. Individual differences on the part of the students can be given more consideration. Frequently the number of pupils per 88