EDUCATION (COMPARATIVE COST OF).

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1887 Session II, E-01

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Sess. 11.—1887. NEW ZEALAND.

EDUCATION (COMPARATIVE COST OF).

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

The Seceetaey, Education Department, to the Hon. the Minister of Education. Sic, — Education Department, Wellington, 18th October, 1887. At your request I have prepared the following statement with respect to the cost of " maintenance " of schools in several different countries. A tabular statement would be misleading, because the word "maintenance" has different meanings in different places; and, moreover, it is almost impossible to extract from accounts kept on different principles of division information of exactly the same kind in all cases. By maintenance in the case of New Zealand schools is meant all expenditure except for buildings, inspection, office management, refunds or other items of account rather than outlay, interest, and scholarships. The total for 1886 (p. ix., Eeport) was £319,899 Is. 4d. The average attendance for the year (p. ii., Eeport) was 83,405. The cost per unit of average attendance was therefore £3 16s. Bd. In schools having less than 50 children each the cost was £5 lis 1 . 7d. ; in schools of between 50 and 100 each it was £3 19s. 4d.; and in larger schools £3 3's. 6d. each. If everything except buildings is included the Boards' expenditure must be stated at £4 3s. 3d. per unit of average attendance. In New South Wales in 1886 the average attendance (p. 7, Eeport of the Minister of Public Instruction for 1886) was 105,538. The expenditure for all purposes except buildings, sites, repairs, rents, &c, was £499,338 18s. 4d. (p. 34). This is at the rate of £4 14s. Bd. each, to be compared with £4 3s. 3d. in New Zealand. The money spent on maintenance in the stricter sense was £430,080 135., or £4 Is. 6d. each, to be compared with £3 16s. Bd. in New Zealand. £63,164 received as school fees is included in this calculation. In Victoria it is stated in the Eeport for 1885-86 that the cost for instruction "under heads 1 and 3 "■—that is, for salaries and other payments to teachers, and for books, requisites, cleaning, fuel, and exhibitions, but not including repairs, rent, buildings, management, and inspection—was £4 3s. 9Jd. each. This is to be compared with £3 16s. Bd. in New Zealand. In South Australia the expenditure on primary education is stated (p. 86, Eeport, 1886) to have been, for the year 1886, £90,767 lis. sd. It is stated (p. xii.) that parents paid £23,736 ss. The total is therefore £114,503 16s. sd. Building expenses are not included. The number in average attendance was 28,000. The cost for each was therefore £4 Is. Id., to be compared with £4 3s. 3d. in New Zealand. In Queensland the average attendance for 1886 (Eeport, p. 6) was 32,350. The expenditure on primary education is said (p. 10) to be £179,653 7s. 6d., of which £37,309 ss. 9d. is for buildings and furniture, leaving £142,344 Is. 9d. for other purposes. This is £4 Bs. each, to be compared with £4 3s. 3d. for New Zealand. The following facts relating to the United States are taken from the " Eeport of the Commissioner of Education for the Year 1884-85," published at Washington in 1886. The "grand total" of expenditure for all States and Territories is (p. xxxvii.) 110,384,657 dollars, and of this sum 16,137,995 dollars were expended on "sites, buildings, furniture, libraries, and apparatus." The amount therefore expended on maintenance (in the wider meaning) was 94,246,662 dollars. The " average daily attendance " (p. xxxiv.) was 6,520,300. The cost per unit of average attendance was therefore 14-45 dollars or £2 19s. Bd., to be compared with £4 3s. 3d. for New Zealand. The amount £2 19s. Bd. is an average quantity: in Massachusetts, selected as an example of the most advanced States, the amount is £4 14s. 7d., while in West Virginia, an example of the most backward States, it is only £1 6s. sd. I have not selected Massachusetts as representing the highest scale of expenditure, but because it is representative of the best public life of the States in the most settled districts. Other States spend more in proportion to the attendance: thus in Nevada the cost (in 1883-84, the last year for which returns are available) was £6 os. 6d., to be compared with £4 3s. 3d. in New

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Zealand. The data for Massachusetts, West Virginia, and Nevada are taken from the tablesalready referred to, and are as follows : " Total expenditure "—M., 7,020,430 dollars ; W.V., 699,331 dollars (exclusive of sites, buildings, &c.); N., 162,012 dollars. " Sites, buildings, furniture, libraries, and apparatus" —M., 1,208,225 dollars; N., 9,694 dollars (including expenditure for repairs). "Average daily attendance"—M., 253,955; W.V., 109,177 ; N., 5,227. The figures that follow are taken from the " Eeport of the Committee of Council on Education" for 1885-86. The cost of " maintenance" —" i.e., salaries of teachers, books, repairs of furniture and buildings, lighting, and warming " (p. xxxiv.) —is stated at page xxxviii. The cost in Board schools is as follows: In London, £3 7s. lOfd.; in England, including London, £2 6s. 2id.; in England and Wales, £2 ss. 4d.; in England, excluding London, £1 18s. 6d.; in Wales, £1 15s. 9£d. The corresponding figures for the voluntary schools are—£2 2s. 3f d. ; £115s. 10|d; £115s. 9|-d. ; £1 15s. 4J;d.;. £1 13s. These figures are to be compared with £3 16s. Bd. for New Zealand. The only available recent report with sufficiently copious statistics of Canadian education is "Report of the Minister of Education, Ontario, for the Year 1885, with the Statistics of 1884." The expenditure (p. xxi.) was 3,280,862 dollars, of which 341,198 dollars was for sites and buildings,, leaving 2,939,664 dollars for maintenance. The average attendance (p. xiii.) was 221,861. The cost for maintenance, therefore, was 13-25 dollars or £2 14s. 9d. each, to be compared with. £4 3s. 3d. in New Zealand. The ages to which the compulsory clauses apply in the different colonies are as follows: — New South Wales ... ... ... ... ... Six to fourteen. Queensland ... ... ... ... ... ... Six to twelve. Victoria ... ... ... ... ... ... Six to fifteen. Tasmania ... ... ... ... ... ... Seven to thirteen. South Australia ... ... ... ... ... Seven to thirteen. New Zealand... ... ... ... ... ... Seven to thirteen. I have, &c, W. J. Habens, The Hon. the Minister of Education, Wellington. Acting Secretary. [Approximate Cost of Paper. —Preparation, nil; printing (1,525 copies), £1 3s.]

Authority: Geobge Didsbuey, Government Printer, Wellington.—lBB7.

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