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General Statement of Beceipts and Expenditure for the Year ending 31st December, 1890. Receipts. £ s. d. j Expenditure. £ s. d. To Balance at beginning of year —On By Balance at beginning of year .. 2,142 4 9 General Account .. .. 1,834 15 1 Office staff—Salaries .. .. 250 0 0 Government grant for buildings .. 2,132 16 0 Departmental contingencies.. .. 238 13 8 Subscriptions and donations for build- Inspector and Secretary .. .. 500 0 0 ings .. .. .. .. 117 6 Inspector's travelling expenses .. 150 0 0 Government statutory capitation .. 15,406 19 0 Examination of pupil-teachers .. 50 14 1 Scholarship grant .. .. .. 276 16 7 Teachers' salaries and allowances (inInspection subsidy .. .. .. 300 0 0 eluding rent, bonus, &c.) .. 15,136 14 4 Payments by School Commissioners .. 2,424 16 0 Incidental expenses of schools .. 1,807 2 1 District High School fees .. .. 385 4 0 Scholarships— Unpresented cheques brought to charge 716 8 Paid to scholars .. .. .. 388 16 0 Balance at end of year —Building Fund 388 14 7 Examination expenses .. .. 27 0 3 School buildings— Improvement of buildings .. .. , 179 4 3 Furniture and appliances .. .. 149 15 5 Plans, supervision, and fees .. 7 2 0 District High School .. .. 382 17 0 Interest .. .. .. .. 711 6 Balance at end of year—On General Account .. .. .. 1,742 0 1 £23,159 15 5 £23,159 15 5 J. D. Ormond, Chairman. H. Hill, Secretary. Examined and found correct. —James Edward FitzGerald, Controller and Auditor-General.

MABLBOBOtJGH. Sir, — Education Board Office, Blenheim, 7th April, 1891. I have the honour to forward to you the report of the Board of Education for the District of Marlborough for the year ending 31st December, 1890. The Board.—There was no change in the members of the Board, the three retiring in rotation being re-elected. The names of the members were Mr. A. P. Seymour (Chairman), the Hon. Colonel Baillie, M.L.C., Messrs. Carter, Hutcheson, Mills, Parker, Paul, H. C. Seymour, and Ward. The Board held thirteen meetings during the year. Schools. —The number of schools at work during the year was thirty-six, of which nineteen were "aided" schools. J. C. Chaytor, Esq., of Marshlands, having temporarily let a piece of ground as a school site in a locality where a school was wanted, and having granted a liberal donation of £100 towards the building, the Board has erected a combined school and dwelling-house, and has opened the school, which is now doing good work. The Board wishes that power may be given to exchange with Mr. Chaytor the site on which the school is built for an education reserve situated in the Waitohi Valley, and hopes the Minister will take such a course as he may deem fit to carry into effect the exchange. Attendance.—On the 31st December, 1889, the weekly number on the rolls was 1,854, and the average attendance 1,393. At the end of the year 1890 these had increased respectively to 1,947 on the rolls, and 1,500 in average attendance. Teachers.—The staff at the end of the year consisted of fifty-nine teachers of all grades, twenty-eight being males and thirty-one females. We have also one sewing-mistress in addition. Scholarships.—The two scholarships at the Nelson College are now held by Claud Houghton Mills, in his second year, and by William Litchfield, the winner at the last examination. Finance.—The accounts show a debit balance at the end of the year of £239 4s. sd. This has arisen from the fact that the building grant allotted to us for the last two years has been insufficient for the wants of the district. During the year 1888 we just managed to keep the cost of our buildings within the grant, but since the close of that year we had, up to December last, received only £1,211 15s. 3d., of which £450 was granted for the teacher's house destroyed by fire. The Board was also compelled to expend a large sum (in excess of the grant made for that purpose) for the rent of schools during the building of the new school at Blenheim ; and altogether our expenses, though the various w 7orks were carried out in the most careful and thrifty manner possible, had exceeded £2,300; in fact, the whole of the grant intended for use in the year 1891 is entirely spent. Office Staff.—An important change has been made during this year in the official staff of the Board. About the middle of the year Mr. W. C. Hodgson, who for twelve years had acted as joint Inspector of Schools for the Nelson and Marlborough Districts, finding that the increase in the number of schools to be visited was likely to prove too much for the time at his disposal, to the great regret of the Board, found himself obliged to send in his resignation of his office of Inspector to our district. The Board then resolved to combine the offices of Inspector and Secretary in one person, and is glad to be able to report that, although very loth to lose the services of their old Inspector, which w7ere very highly valued, it has been fortunate enough, out of forty-two applicants, to secure the services of Mr. John Smith, who for sixteen years has occupied a similar position in the Educational District of Westland. Inspector's Beport.—Mr. Hodgson's engagements with the Nelson Board compelled him to examine a portion of the Marlborough schools at the beginning of each year; but it has been decided for the future to hold the annual examinations as near to the end of the school year as possible; consequently there will be no Inspector's report from this district for'the year 1890, the schools examined by Mr. Eodgson in that year being included in the report for 1889. I have, &c, A. P. Seymour, Chairman. The Hon. the Minister of Education, Wellington.