The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1878.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5502, 14 November 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1878 .

Thebe was presented to the General Assembly during its recent session the first annual report of the Minister of Education. The period treated of is the year ended the 31 st of December, 1877. After the passing of the Abolition of Provinces Act, 1875, it became necessary for the Legislature to provide means for carrying on the work of elementary education throughout the Colony ; and this was accomplished in a temporary manner by the Education Boards Act, 1870, which, though making some important changes, did not do away with the old system previously in force in the various provinces. It was felt to be impossible all at once to inaugurate an entirely new system, and the work was held over till the following session of Parliament, when the Education Act, 1877, became law. The report of the Minister of Education deals, therefore, with a period when our system of public elementary education was in a transition state, and does not show what is being done under the present law. The information is, however, sufficiently recent to bo of public interest. The Minister acknowledges that the Boards furnished him with a largo mass of useful materials, of which he availed himself in framing his report. It appears that tho number of public schools in operation under Education Boards during the whole or part of 1877 was 730. There are only returns given of the attendance in 708 schools or school districts, aud the discrepancy is caused either by certain school committees having failed to report, or by tho returns of two or more schools in a district having been lumped together. There wero 44 half-time schools —in Auckland 30 ; New Plymouth, 4 ; Wellington, C ; and Otago, 4. These half-time schools werein sparsely - settled localities, and the average attendance in them was, as a matter of course, small. The total average attendance in all the schools for the last quarter of 1877 was 41,773. During that period there were 90 schools with an average attendance of under 15 pupils ; 171 bet ween 15 and 25 ; 200 between 25 and 50 ; 143 between 50 and 100 ; 40 between 100 and 150 ; 35 between 150 and 300 ; 10 between 300 and 600 ; and 7of 500 or over. Five of the last class were in Canterbury aud two in Otago. The number of teachers was 1400, described as follows :—Head-mas-masters, 577 ", masters, 71 ; male pupil teachers, 82 ; head-mistresses, 213; assistant mistresses, 230; and female pupil teachers, 221. To those should be added 82 teachers of needlework in girls’ 7 schools. It seems that the average attendance of scholars was not during 1877 arrived at by a uniform, method of calculation by all tho Education Boards. Tho return can be only taken as approximate. Wo give tho figures for the last quarter of 1877 :

Some of tho Boards did not distinguish between tho sexes, as is shown by the above table. Tho total of pupils on tho

school rolls for the year was 71,051, and the average attendance for the same period was 40,837. The percentage of average attendance as compared with the total number of enrolments was about 56’8 for tho year, and about 75 for the December quarter. By this time wo suppose uniform attendance register forms have been supplied by the Government, so that next year the information may be expected to be more complete. The report contains no information with regard to the ages of the scholars. Before the passing of the Abolition of Provinces Act, 1875, the funds for tho maintenance public elementary schools throughout the Colony wore partly provided for by grants from the various Provincial Legislatures, and partly by school fees, capitation tax, household rates, rent of reserves, and to a very small extent by donations. The Education Boards Act, 1876, swept away all educational rates and taxes except school fees and scholars’ capitation tax, and a vote of £117,884 for educational purposes was passed for the six months ending June 30th, 1877. Tho vote was chargeable on the Land Fund. But during 1877 the Education Boards collected a considerable sum from arrears of taxes, and from reserves, and altogether, including aid from Government, the amount expended on elementary education during tho year was £266,753 16a. lid,, not taking into account balances remaining in the hands of some of the Boards on January Ist, 1877, or overdrafts amounting to £3419 12s. 4d. on December 31st, 1877. Tho present Education Act made j tho elementary schools entirely free for ' children of school ago, and for the future tho burden of maintenance will fall on the Consolidatedßevenuo and the rents accruing from tho educational reserves. The amounts received from Government by tho Education Boards in 1877 do not appear to have been apportioned with regard to population or average attendance. In Patea the rate was as high as £l7 Gs. Cd. per head of tho average attendance, whilst in Hawke’s Bay it was only £2 Bs, Tho fact is that the Education Boards Act, 1876, laid down no principle of distribution, and the apportionment of supplies was partly regulated by the extent of tho applications. Each of the Education Boards was requested .to send in a statement of its requirements, and those statements generally received very favorable consideration. In some places there was urgent need for school buildings, and the want was met as far as possible ; but after deducting the cost of these, tho discrepancies between the amounts expended by different Boards (based on average attendance) wore remarkable. "We give the figures : —Patea, £9 10s. 2d.; Westland, £6 19s. 9d.; New Plymouth, £C 7s. 2d.; Canterbury, £4 16s. 9d.; Auckland, £4 15s. 3d.; Wellington, £4 10s. 4d.; Marlborough, £4 14s. 2d,; Otago, £4 Bs. lOck; Nelson, £3 17s. 2d.; and Hawke’s Bay, £3 Ha. 4d. On looking at the departmental expenditure in the various districts, and comparing one with another, some curious facts are revealed. In Nelson, where the number of schools were reported as Go, and tho average attendence for the last quarter of 1877 as 2972, we find that £705 os. sd, was all that was required for salaries and allowances of Secretary and Inspector, and for printing, advertising, stationery, etc.; whilst in Westland, where the schools numbered 28, and the average attendance for the same period was 1953, there was required for like purposes no less a sum than £1652 19s, 7d. Wo find that in the latter district both an Inspector and Secretary were employed, whereas in Nelson ono officer fulfills all the duties. In Westland tho Inspector was much more highly paid, though appalentlyho had far less work. In Nelson nothing was paid as allowances to members of tho Education Board ; in Westland there was a charge 'of £176 9s. Westland’s bill for printing, advertising, stationery, etc., totaled up to £535 os. 9d.; Nelson was contented with the more modest sum of £ll9 3s. 9d. For teachers’ salaries and allowances, and for petty repairs and ordinary current expenses, Westland paid £11,021 ss. 2d.; Nelson only paid £10,444 2s. 2d. For sundry expenses, not classified, tho charge in Westland was £730 Is. Id.; and in Nelson £4l 12s. 7d. In Westland there was paid for school buildings £7340 Bs., and in Nelson £1896 12s. 2d; A part of Westland’s larger expenditure may bo accounted for by the fact that the district is comparatively now, and that until within the last three or four years there was no system of elementary education worthy the name. Everything had to bo created. Similar discrepancies can bo found in the comparative expenditure of other districts, but Westland appears to have been the chief sinner, and we have compared the expenditure there with expenditure in Nelson because over a very largo area of both districts prices and local conditions are about the same. On the whole, there seems no sufficient reason why the cost per head for primary education should have been much higher in the one district than tho other. Since the passingof the Education Act of 1877 the number of children attending tho public schools has very largely increased, and tho demand for more accommodation has been urgent; but a great deal has already been done to place matters on a better footing in this respect, and tho next annual report may, we hope, show that every one of the Boards has been able fairly to meet tho requirements of its district.

, — Boys Girls Totals. Auckland .. .• * Auckland Training Schools. New Plymouth Wellington Marlborough Nelson •• Westland Caulorbury Utago 4,308 XX iuo 450 5,710 0,190 3,403 71 *74 305 1,410 5,iyo 7,801 82 41)0 180 1,130 0,583 701 2,072 1.033 10.73‘i 11,080 -1L773