E.—l

165 with friends, 4 in asylums and hospitals, 1 at the Costley Institute, and 27 absent without leave. These are the numbers to be recorded for comparison with those of next year. The accounts of the Costley Institute, which received five boys from the Auckland Industrial School during the year, have been duly furnished by the Trustees, and are printed as a separate paper (E.-3a.). Public Libraries Subsidy. Against the vote of £4,000 for aid to public libraries, there was a first charge of £27 6s. sd. for payments made at the beginning of the financial year on account of grants deferred from the preceding year for consideration. On the Bth February, the day appointed for the distribution of the subsidy, the sum available—£3,972 13s. 7d. —was apportioned to 366 libraries, 6 of which received the maximum grant of £50, while £3,672 13s. 7d. was allotted to the remaining 360, so as to give a dividend of 4s. 9^d. for each pound of the sum on which each library's share was to be calculated. This sum in each case was the income of 1886 from subscriptions, donations, and rates, with £25 added. At the time of making the division a large number of the claims that had been made w rere informal or incomplete, and in every such case, if the claim appeared to be one that could probably be substantiated, a proportionate dividend was reserved. A further investigation of these claims resulted, however, in the rejection* of seven of them, and the reduction of six others, by which processes £69 3s. 7d. was saved. On the other hand, it was found that two claims that had been rejected could be established by the production of better evidence, and that two others had been understated; and for these reasons £17 lis. 2d. was paid out of the £69 3s. 7d. that had been saved, so that the whole distribution amounted to £51 12s. sd. less than the sum available. The number of libraries that received grants was 361. A list of these libraries and of the amounts granted is given in another paper (E.-10). The distribution according to education districts is as follows :—■

TABLE Y. —Public Libraries Subsidy.

University and Secondary Education. The New Zealand University lias conferred 28 degrees as the result of the examinations at the end of 1886. The number of graduates (not counting those that have been admitted ad eundem) is now 144; of whom 48 are Masters of Arts, 94 are Bachelors of Arts, and 1 is Bachelor of Medicine. There are 10 Bachelors of Laws and 1 Doctor of Laws, but all these except 1 Bachelor are among the graduates in Arts already enumerated. There are 740 matriculated undergraduates. The report will be printed (E.-5).

* The causes of rejection may be illustrated by one specimen. The secretary, who receives £5 a year for the management of the library, writes as follows ; "I have the honour to inform you that, when I put down £6 10s. as the amount of subscriptions for last year, those subscriptions had not been paid, and on hearing that the vote would, lapse in March I was under the impression that the first day of the month was alluded to, and I therefore made no great efforts to get in the moneys duo. Now, again, your intimation leaves me but little time, but if you could possibly allow me a week I think that I could get in all that is due. The money is all good, but it is a peculiar place and the people are sometimes touchy under pressure." This secretary had made a statutory declaration setting forth that the £6 10s. had been received. Several libraries had their claims rejected because they had devoted no part of former grants to the purchase of books.

XIX

Education Districts. No. of Libraries. Income on which Subsidy is calculated. Amount of Subsidy. Auckland taranaki Wanganui Wellington Hawke's Bay Marlborough Nelson Grey Westland North Canterbury South Canterbury Otago Southland 85 11 14 16 25 5 30 8 9 65 10 55 23 £ s. d. 1,853 16 9 155 5 3 616 0 2 363 0 3 854 16 5 175 9 3 473 1 1 213 4 0 229 6 6 1,292 12 5 450 10 11 1,013 18 .0 526 14 2 £ s. d. 847 7 4 102 15 6 220 18 8 182 5 4 334 4 0 71 15 6 292 3 5 98 13 11 108 10 8 058 13 5 154 5 9 556 6 9 293 0 11 Totals 361 8,217 15 2 3,921 1 2