H.—l

42

The Otago Boys' and Girls' High Schools Board has been endowed with a 1 portion of the reserves set apart for secondary ediication in the provincial district. , The present annual value of the estate is £1,175 4s. 9d., and the probable income from renewed tenancy £2,844 ss. The capital value is estimated at £127,640. The Waitaki High School Board has received an endowment from the same source; the annual income, as stated in the latest returns, being £483 14s. sd. (£493 4s. sd. in interim report, appendix, p. 15), the probable income from renewed tenancy £724 155., and the estimated capital value £14,740. The school is not yet in operation. The Southland Boys' and Girls' High Schools are also endowed from the same source, with land valued at £53,885, producing an annual revenue of £492 2s. lid. (£l9l 19s. 6d. in interim'report, appendix, p. 15), with a probable income from renewed tenancy of £3,204. At present the girls' school only is open. The Timaru High School has just been opened. Its endowments, drawn from the reserves set apart in 1878 for secondary education in Canterbury, consist of 4,198 acres of rural land, of which part is let, producing £556 14s. 6d. per annum, increasing to £773 15s. 6d., and tbe part which is not let is estimated to be worth £273 15s. per annum. The estate is valued at £16,090. The Ashburtou High School, which has not yet been opened, has an endowment of 1,287 acres, drawn from the same source as the preceding, valued at £5,840, and let for £263 2s. a year, increasing to £452 9s. 6d. "The Auckland Girls' High School Act, 1878," endows the school with land to the value of £5,000, to be set apart out of any reserves for education. It is not easy to say what revenue might be derived from this source. If the relation between capital valuation and annual rent were the same as is shown in the return C.-3, 1879, in the case of Auckland College, the girls' school would receive more than £500 a year from the endowment. If the relation were the same as is shown in the same return with reference to reserves for primary education, the income would be only about £175. The Thames High School is to receive an endowment of land to the value of £10,000 out of the Te Aroha Block. The remarks we have made with reference to the endowment of the Auckland Girls' High School apply also to this endowment. The Whangarei High School has received an endowment of 3,841 acres, valued at £1 per acre. Supposing this to be let at a rental of 5 per cent, on the capital value, the income would be £192 per annum, an amount which would be of little service unless largely supplemented from other sources. We do not think, however, that the population of the district is large enough to warrant the expenditure required for the maintenance of a high school, the number of children in average attendance at the three public primary schools of the district being 154 at the end of 1878. The land to be set apart for the New Plymouth High School is to be of the value of £10,000, and is to be taken out of the education reserves. The estimated value of the reserves in the district for primary education is £16,755, and for secondary education, £6,985 ; and the present annual value of the whole is £928. It may therefore be assumed that land to the value of £10,000 would produce nearly £400 per annum; but this would absorb the whole income of the secondary-school estate, and £134 from the estate now set apart for primary schools. The Board of Education at New Plymouth is about to build the High School, having at its disposal for this purpose the sum of £769, being £500 received as a grant from, the Government, and accrued revenue to the amount of £269 from reserves for secondary education. During last session of Parliament a sum of £1,000 was voted, which the Government may apply towards the building of the school. "The Wanganui High School Act, 1879," endows the school with land to the value of £10,000, to be set apart out of education reserves. The whole of the primary-education reserves of the Provincial District of Wellington are valued

otago High Appxl to journals H.oi E.,Sess.n., 1879, 0.-8, P . is.

Waitaki High School. C.-3, p. 13.

Southland High c?-3,°p- is-

Timam High int°Eep Appx, p. 9. ' c.-3, p. n.

AsWburton High School. Int. Kep., Appx. p. 9. C.-3, p. 11. Auckland Girls' High School.

Thames High School.

Whangarei High School.

New Plymouth High School.

Wanganui High School.