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Attendance.—At the end of the year there were 10,653 children attending the Board schools, of the following ages: Five years and under six, 803; six years and under seven, 1,191; seven years and under eight, 1,369; eight years and under nine, 1,231; nine years and under ten, 1,335 ; ten years and under eleven, 1,344 ; eleven years and under twelve, 1,116 ; twelve years and under thirteen,, 1,029; thirteen years and under fourteen, 686 ; fourteen years and under fifteen, 414 ; above fifteen years, 135 : increase for the year, 234. Standards—Class 8., 2,638 ; Standard 1., 1,287; Standard 11., 1,589; Standard 111., 1,680 ; Standard IV., 1,464; Standard V., 994; Standard VI., 657 ; above Standard VI., 344. Scholarships. —The annual examination for scholarships, which was conducted in December, brought together 107 candidates—sixty-six from the city schools, eighteen from the country schools, and twenty-three from the Wairarapa and West Coast. Buildings.—The chief items of expenditure from the building grant are : Mangatainoko, completion of buildings, £266 6s. Bd. ; Eketahuna, additional class-rooms, £494 6s. 9d. ; Mangaone, completion of residence, £167 18s. 4d. ; Masterton, improvements to sanitary arrangements and complete water-supply, £136 14s. 7d.; Carterton, additional class-rooms and alterations to old buildings, £257 195.; Kaiwaiwai, additional class-room and new furniture, £226 9s. Bd. ; Shannon, completion of buildings, £194 6s. lid.; Hutt, repairs and improvements, £59 ss. 6d. ; Levin, completion of buildings, £154 65.; Manakau, completion of buildings, £173 16s. Bcl. ; Paraparaumu, new schoolhouse and furniture, £225 Bs.; Mount Cook Girls', new latrines and additional piece of land, £108 9s. 9d.; Clyde Quay, new infant school and fittings, £890 4s. lOd.; Newtown, new latrines, £70 125.; Kilbirnie, additional land, £78 lis. 6d. With the limited sum allotted for schoolbuildings the Board has been compelled to exercise the most watchful economy to enable it to deal with the demands made, and even then the most urgent repairs and reconstruction have had to be postponed time after time. The temporary structures which had to be provided in rapidly-growing centres of new settlement are barely sufficient to meet the most urgent needs of the time, and ultimately necessitate considerable improvements towards completion. Special grants of £50 in each case were made to the residents at Manakau, Shannon, Hastwell, and Kereru to enable them to gather the children together until such time as the Board could see its way to place education matters on a fair footing in those rapidly-thriving settlements. With these amounts fairly convenient rooms have been erected, but, of course, without lining or proper means of ventilation. However, the amount placed at the Board's disposal will not admit of further consideration being shown in these cases at present. When the attendance reaches beyond the numbers for whom accommodation has thus been found it becomes necessary for the Board to render the rooms more comfortable and to erect additions. In centres like these there is not the remotest chance of any spare residence being rentable, and the Board has therefore to build at once if it means to place a properly-qualified teacher in charge. The impetus given to new settlements by the erection of school buildings is simply enormous, and shows most plainly that the advantages of the present system of education are now being fully realised. The marvellous growth of Mangatainoko and the rapid increase at the Kaitawa and Hastwell Schools, each within a very few miles of Pahiatua, while the attendance at the schools which have been established for some years has gone on increasing steadily, cannot but be conclusive evidence of this fact. In addition to these, newer settlements through the Forty-mile Bush have already made application for recognition, and presented cases which cannot be ignored. In December last a special committee of the Board proceeded to report on the applications for school buildings which had been received from different places within what might be termed the Forty-mile Bush district. At Hastwell, the temporary building was found to be taxed to its utmost. Three children in a dual desk seemed the usual thing, while in several instances four were jammed in. The teacher's table was pushed into the fireplace, and the board and easel rested against it to make room for the desks. So much were the Committee impressed with the urgency of this case that they immediately instructed the architect to call for tenders for an additional class-room, and have the work done without delay. The schools at Mauriceville East and Kaitawa were being conducted by able and efficient teachers in such utterly unsatisfactory premises that justice could not be done to the children. In addition to these cases, the- Board's committee were well satisfied that the claims from Tawataia, Makakahi, Newman, and Ballance, for much-required buildings, must be met as early as possible. The residents of Newman have since erected a public hall, and placed it at the Board's disposal to meet their case in the meantime. The Board had hoped that it would have been able, during the past year, to build a new school in Ghuznee Street; but, unfortunately, the funds at its disposal have not been sufficiently elastic to enable this long-felt want to be met, and the old building has had to be endured. Inspection.—ln July last the Board decided to appoint an Assistant-Inspector, and selected Mr. Thomas B. Fleming, M.A., LL.B., who has every qualification for the office, and will no doubt prove an able and efficient officer. As the larger portion of the inspection and examination of the schools for this year has fallen on Mr. Lee, he alone has submitted the report. Mr. Lee considers that the standard work as a w 7hole is satisfactory and improving, not more than nine out of the seventy-three schools which have been examined being in a more or less unsatisfactory condition. In five of the weakest schools a change has been made in the head teacher since the examination. The total attendance at the time of the examination was 10,694, an increase of 234 over the numbers for last year, the result of the work giving 6,438 standard passes as against 5,985, with an average percentage of passes of 93-3. By an arrangement with the head teachers, a programme has been adopted for 1891 whereby the dulness of ordinary school-life will be considerably lessened, and the work made more attractive and interesting. Technical School.—By an arrangement with the City Corporation, the Board obtained the authority of Parliament to make an exchange of the sections in Ballance Street for a more suitable site in Victoria Street, and have since accepted a tender for the erection of a building containing new offices for the Board's business, and more suitable accommodation for the Technical School.