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receiving Government scholars who have creditably completed the village-school course remains unchanged. These schools are four in number, and at the end of the year 80 Government scholars and 101 other pupils were under instruction in them. At St. Stephen's, Parnell, there were 23 Government scholars and 21 others; at Te Aute, Hawke's Bay, the numbers were 10 and 50; at Hukurerc, Napier, 20 and 30 ; and at St. Joseph's, Napier, which is for Government pupils only, the number was 27. It may be added that the department pays day-school fees for one Maori boy at Rangiora High School and for another at Timaru High School; and also pays in part for the maintenance at St. Stephen's, Parnell, of one Maori boy apprenticed to a trade. The number of children on the rolls of the ordinary Native schools in December was 2,512, and the average attendance for the last quarter of the year was 1,996. For the whole year the average attendance was 2,070. The roll number (2,512) is made up of 249 half-castes, 1,825 Maoris, and 438 Europeans. The boys number 1,412 ; the girls, 1,100. There are 76 pupils below five years of age, 1,334 between five and ten, 998 between ten and fifteea, and 104 above the age of fifteen. During the year 420 pupils passed the First Standard, 198 passed the Second, 122 the Third, and 63 the Fourth or highest standard of the Maori school code. At the end of 1888 there were 65 masters in charge of Native schools, with salaries from £205 to £48; 9 mistresses, £150 to £48; 25 assistant mistresses, £55 to £15; and 41 sewing mistresses, receiving £20 each. The expenditure on account of buildings, fencing, and school furniture for the year amounts to £1,441 18s. 7d. The other expenditure (towards the defraying of which the sum of £210 Is. was received from Native Reserves Funds) amounts to £15,547 9s. Id., made up of the following items: Teachers' salaries and allowances (including £25 for loss of office), £11,677 145.; removals of teachers, £103 16s. Bd.; books and school requisites, £400 15s. 4d.; prizes, £227 6s. Id.; repairs and minor works, £374 13s. 3d.; inspection and superintendence, including travelling, £761 2s. 7d.; grants in aid of musical instruments and games, £13 14s. 6d.; allowance to teachers for receiving Maori girls, in turn, into their families, £30; boarding schools, £1,600 ss. 9d.; sundries, £358 os. lid. Mr. Pope's report (E.-2) is, as usual, a very interesting paper. His work of inspection, in which he is relieved from time to time by Mr. Kirk, includes one annual visit, which is never omitted, to every Native school, from Te Kao, in the extreme north of the Auckland District, to Stewart's Island; and this work is most efficiently supplemented by the more frequent visits of the District Superintendents—Mr. 11. W. Bishop' R.M., Mr. J. H. Greenway, Mr. R. S. Bush, R.M., and Mr. J. Booth, R.M. —to whom the thanks of the Department are due for their zealous and judicious help. Institution for Deae-mutes. The annual report of the Director of the school at Sumner and the medical officer's report are printed in a separate parliamentary paper (E.-4). Of the forty-two pupils under instruction at the end of 1887 there were nine who did not return after the midwinter holidays. Seven of these had received sufficient instruction (on the articulation method) to qualify them for taking part in ordinary conversation, and two were prematurely withdrawn by their parents. Six new pupils were received during the year, and the number in attendance at the end of 1888 was thirty-nine. The expenditure for the year was £3,210 14s. 5d., accounted for as follows : Salaries, £1,206 16s. 7d.; board of pupils, £1,470 10s. 7d.; rent, £345 ; travelling, £89 Is. 5d.; sundries. £99 ss. lOd. Towards this cost the parents contributed £329 lis. The expenditure for the current year will be on a lower scale, the Director's salary and the rate of payment for the pupils' board having both been considerably reduced. The Blind. There are nine blind pupils wholly or partly maintained by the Government —seven at the institution for the blind in Melbourne, and two in a similar institution in Sydney—the payments being made through the Colonial Secretary's Office,