E.—l.

Sess. 11.—1897. NEW ZEALAND.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

Office of the Department of Education, My Lord, — Wellington, 10th August, 1897. I have the honour, in accordance with the provisions of " The Education Act, 1877," to submit to your Excellency the following report upon the progress and condition of public education in New Zealand during the year ending the 31st day of December, 1896. I have, &c, W. C. WALKER. His Excellency the Right Hon. the Earl of Ranfurly, Governor of New Zealand.

REPORT. This Report (E.-l) and its Appendix, together with the Inspector-General'a Report (E.-1a), the Report of the Inspectors of Schools (E.-1b), and a paper (E.-lc) on Manual and Technical Instruction, furnish full information with respect to the administration of " The Education Act, 1877," " The Education Reserves Act, 1877," and " The Manual and Technical Instruction Act, 1895," and contain also the principal statistics relating to matters more fully treated in separate papers, as follows: E.-2, Native Schools; E.-3, Industrial Schools; E.-3a, Costley Training Institution ; E.-4, School for Deaf-mutes; E.-5, New Zealand University; E.-6, University of Otago; E.-7, Canterbury College; E.-8, Auckland University College; E.-9, Secondary Schools. Pupils of Public Schools. For the year 1896 the average daily attendance of pupils at the primary public schools —the " working average," by which the amounts of the capitation grants are temporarily determined —was 110,517. This number exceeds by 17 the number set down in the estimates of the year 1896-97, and is higher by 2,123 than the '' working average "of the year 1895. The estimate of the " working average " for the year 1897 is 112,000, which allows for an expected increase of about 1,500, on account of a gradual extension of school accommodation to the districts more remote from the principal centres of population. The " strict average " was 108,976, differing from the "working average" by 1,541, and being higher by 2,354 than the " strict average " for 1895. Table A shows the increase in the attendance year by year from the date of " The Education Act, 1877."

i—E. 1.

EDUCATION: TWENTIETH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION. [In continuation of E.-1., 1896.]