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Statements of Assets and Liabilities on 31st December, 1882. A. Exclusive of Building Fund. Assets. £ a. d. Liabilities. £ s. dCash in bank on this account, 31st December, Balance of Scholarship Account, 31st December, 1882 ... ... ... ... 82 6 9 1882 ... ... ... ... 14 15 4 Due from G-eneral Government on Scholarship Deduction on account of reserves 'revenue'in Account ... ... ... ... 25 0 0 hand ... ... ... '... 250 0 0 £107 6 9 £264 15 4 B. Building Fund only. Nil £ s. d. Balance of account, 31st December, 1882 ... 597 5 4 Balance of amounts due, or to fall due, under contracts ~, ~. ... ... 85 0 0 £682 5 4

WELLINGTON. Sir,— Wellington, 31st March, 1883. The Board of Education of the Wellington District has the honour to submit hei'ewith its annual report, in accordance with section 102 of " The Education Act, 1877." The Board. —At the beginning of the year 1882 the following gentlemen comprised the Board : The Hon C. J. Pharazyn (Chairman), Messrs. H. Bunny, J. R. Blair, G. Beetham, M.H.R., W. Hutchison, M.H.R., C. Pharazyn, Dr. Newman, the Rev. J. Paterson, and the Yen. Archdeacon Stock. In March the Hon. C. J. Pharazyn, the Rev. James Paterson, and the Yen. Archdeacon Stock retired by rotation. The Hon. C. J. Pharazyn did not offer himself for re-election. At the election in March by School Committees the Rev. J. Paterson, the Hon. G. R. Johnston, and Mr. Thomas Mason, M.H.R., were duly elected. An extraordinary vacancy, caused by the resignation of Mr. Charles Pharazyn, was filled by the election of Mr. W. C. Buchanan, M.H.R. At the meeting of the Board held on the 31st March Mr. J. R. Blair was elected Chairman and Treasurer. The Board held sixteen meetings during the year, and the Finance, Normal School, Building, and Appointments Committees of the Board had numerous meetings. School-Buildings.—During the year the erection of a large new school of the first class at Masterton was finished, and affords ample accommodation in the meantime for that thriving town. Additions were made to the Taita School. New schools have been built at Taueru, Whiteman's Valley, Wallace, and Mungaroa. A residence has been provided for the teacher of the Opaki School. School Residences in Country Places. —The funds placed at the disposal of this Board hitherto have been quite insufficient for the providing of urgently needed school-buildings. The erection of teachers' residences in country places has, in consequence, been almost nil. Residences in many of these districts are of as much importance as the schools. Without them great difficulty is experienced in carrying on the schools. The want of them greatly restricts the choice of the Board in filling vacancies, and the incessant changes of teachers from this cause lead to a lamentable waste of the children's time and opportunities. School Sites.—The purchase of school sites has in the past absorbed an undue portion of the Board's Building Fund. This necessity does not seem to have had sufficient weight with the Government in the allocation of the grant between the various districts. The Minister of Education, in his report of 1880, says, " The intimate knowledge which has now been- acquired respecting the circumstances of the several education districts has shown that—while some of them, more particularly those in the South Island, had been somewhat fairly provided with schoolbuildings at the date of the abolition of the provinces—in the City of Wellington no schoolbuildings had been erected at the public cost until the appropriations from the colonial revenue became available for this purpose ; and this has necessarily led to a very large expenditure, not only on buildings, but also on the purchase of school sites/ J Yet in 1879 the amount of grant to Otago was £44,522 6s. 4d.; Wellington, £13,857 os. 9d.: in 1880, Otago, £28,500; Wellington, £16,000. These figures speak'for themselves. "Equality of sacrifice " may be a just political dogma, but it cau only be so when applied to " giving "as well as " taking." The traveller who visits Otago and Canterbury, with their numerous, large, and costly school-buildings,* and compares with these the wooden school-buildings of this district, may well be excused for asking if the same Government controls the system in both Islands,

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