E.—l

II

University; E.-6, University of Otago; E.-7, Canterbury College; E.-8, Auckland University College; E.-9, Secondary Schools. Public Schools. The number of pupils on the school-rolls at the end of 1893 was 124,686, the increase for the year being 2,066. The average annual increase in the sixteen years since the date at which the Education Act came into force has been 4,312, and there has been an increase every year. Until last year there was always an increase in the average attendance as well, and accordingly an increase of 2,430 was estimated for 1893. Owing, however, to a wide-spread epidemic of measles, the average attendance for the year fell short of that of the year 1892 by 455. In consideration of the derangement in the finances of the Boards that was a necessary consequence of this unforeseen diminution, the method of computing the attendance on what is known as the "working average" has been temporarily revived, and this method was applied to the last three quarters of the year, with the result of a mean addition of 2,274 attendances (2| per cent.) to the average attendances of the three quarters, the greatest addition being 3,345 for the quarter ending on the 30th of September. The " strict" average for the year was 98,615, and with the additions made for three quarters by reverting to the "working" average the number on which the capitation payment was made becomes 100,321, while the estimate for the year was a " strict " average of 101,500.

TABLE A.—School Attendance and Yearly Increase from 1877 to 1893.

The only districts in which the strict average attendance of 1893 was not less than that of 1892 are Wanganui and Hawke's Bay. The particulars of attendance in the several districts are given In Table B. The effects of the epidemic can be readily traced here by the diminution (from 80*6 to 78-5) in the percentage ratio between the school-rolls and the daily attendance. Two other features of this table call for notice. The first is the great differences with respect to regularity of school attendance: the highest percentage being 82-4, and the lowest 7T5. The second is the very unequal areas of operation of the several Boards: three Boards are responsible for the daily instruction (on an average) of more than 18,000 pupils each; six others for about 6,000 each—the range being from 9,416 to 4,115; and the remaining four for less than 1,700 each, with range from 2,415 to 1,364. This disparity appears to be the main cause for the contrasts between salaries in cases of approximately equal responsibilities, which contrasts again are the main incitement to the movement in favour of a " colonial scale " of payment of teachers.

School Attendance. Yearly Im :rease on Year. H o ,3 S « U a'si 5 3 g.9|M S H l«i Sain •5 a, s >fl a ° o © Average Ai ;tondance. iff l O O is a . H !H a o o Average Attendance. Fourth Quarter. Whole Year. Fourth Quarter. Whole Year. 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 50,849 59,707 68,124 74,359 76,309 79,416 84,883 90,670 95,377 99,206 103,534 104,919 108,158 110,665 112,279 114,305 55,688 65,040 75,566 82,401 83,560 87,179 92,476 97,238 102,407 106,328 110,919 112,685 115,456 117,912 119,523 122,620 124,686 49,435 57,301 62,946 63,009 60,426 70,077 74,650 80,183 83,361 87,380 90,849 94,308 96,670 90,264 100,917 99,872 45,521 53,067 60,625 61,822 63,709 67,373 72,657 78,327 80,737 85,637 90,108 93,374 94,632 97,058 99,070 98,615 73-8 74-6 74-2 73'6 74-0 75-1 76-6 76-1 77'0 79-3 80-8 79-9 80-3 80'6 78-5 8,858 8,417 6,235 1,950 3,107 5,407 5,787 4,707 3,829 4,328 1,385 3,239 2,507 1,014 2,026 9,352 10,526 6,835 1,159 3,619 5,297 4,762 5,109 3,921 4,591 1,766 2,771 2,456 1,611 3,097 2,066 7,866 5,645 63 3,417 3,651 4,573 5,533 3,178 4,025 3,463 3,459 2,362 [-406] 4,653 [-1,045] 7,546 7,558 1,197 1,887 3,664 5,284 5,670 2,410 4,900 4,471 3,266 1,258 2,426 2,012 [-455]