I

1898. NEW ZEALAND.

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

Office of the Department of Education, My Lord,— Wellington, 4th July, 1898. 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, 1897. I have, &c, W. C. WALKEE. His Excellency the Right Hon. the Earl of Eanfurly, G-overnor of New Zealand.

REPORT. In this Report and its proper Appendix, in the Inspector-General's Report (E -1a) on the certificate examinations, and in the Reports of the Inspectors of Schools (E -1b), is contained all the information that is of public interest with respect to the administration of " The Education Act, 1877," and " The Education Reserves Act, 1877," and also all the principal statistics relating to matters which are more fully treated of 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, Manual and Technical Instruction; E.-6, New Zealand University; E.-7, University of Otago; E-8 Canterbury College; E.-9, Canterbury Agricultural College; E.-10, Auckland University College; E.-11, Secondary Schools. Public School Pupils. For the year 1897 the estimated average daily attendance of pupils at the primary schools-the "working average," which determines the amount of the canitation grants—was 112,000; the actual returns for the year give 112,328, which number is larger by 1,811 than the corresponding number for the previous year The "strict average" for 1897 is 110,993, exceeding the corresponding number for 1896 by 2,017. In Table A the progress of attendance during the twenty years of the operation of the Education Act is exhibited, E.—l,

EDUCATION: TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION. [In continuation of E.-1., Sess. 11., 1897.]