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Expenditure. £ s. d. £ s. d. Maintenance (salaries, material, &c.) .. .. 1,885 10 3 Buildings, fittings, and apparatus .. .. 476 13 9 2,362 4 0 Gain for the year .. .. .. 71 11 0 Truancy.—From the following statement an estimate may be formed of the work undsrtaken during the year for the suppression of truancy and irregular attendance : 984 notices were served on parents and guardians for infringements of " The Education Act, 1904," section 141 ; 34 notices were served on parents whose children were not attending any school; 347 cases of irregular attenders were investigated ; 169 penalty summonses were issued under section 145. Under the above 169 penalty summonses 164 convictions were obtained, 3 cases were withdrawn, and 2 cases were dismissed owing to the production of exemption certificates. The total amount of fines inflicted for the year was £35 3s. 6d. The Board lays upon head teachers the duty of furnishing at the beginning of each month information concerning all pupils who during the preceding month have failed to attend school each week the number of times obligatory under the Act. Head teachers are also enjoined to be very careful in the exercise of their powers regarding the granting of exemption certificates, and not to omit from their monthly return for the Truant Officer the name of any defaulter, unless they are satisfied of the genuineness of the plea of exemption. Scholarships.—During last year the Board decided to adopt the proposal of the Education Department that the Junior National Scholarships Examination be the examination for the Board's Junior Scholarships, and that the Civil Service Junior Examination be the examination for the Board's Senior Scholarships. In support of the proposal it was pointed out that, if the Board continued to hold its scholarship examinations according to its own syllabus of work, there would have to be carried on in many of its schools prsparation for four different sets of examinations —viz. : For the Board's Junior and Senior Scholarships, for National Scholarships, and for the Junior Civil Service. Consideration for the interests of the teachers and pupils induced the Board to waive its own syllabus of work and examinations, and to award its scholarships upon the results of the Junior National and the Civil Service Junior Examinations. The annual examinations in December last were held in accordance with the amended regulations. The Department conducted the examinations and examined the papers of the candidates, thereafter transmitting the results to the Board, and the latter awarded the scholarships according to the marks gained. Of the 65 competitors for Junior Scholarships who sat for the Department's Junior National Scholarship Examination, 36 were successful in passing the examination, and 25 of them received scholarships. Of the 30 competitors for the Board's Senior Scholarship who sat for the Civil Service Junior Examination, 27 were successful in passing the examination, and 25 of them received scholarships. Of those who gained Junior Scholarships, 14 of them were boys and 11 girls ; and of the successful senior candidates, 20 of them were boys and 5 girls. Twelve of the Senior Scholarship winners had previously held Junior Scholarships. The amount expended on scholarships for the year was £1,130 ss. 6d. Physical Exercises. —As in previous years, instruction in physical exercises and drill has been carried on in a satisfactory manner in all the schools in the district. There seems reason, however, to doubt whether the greater number of commodious and well-furnished gymnasiums attached to many of the schools in and around Dunedin were utilised as much as they might have been. If fairly regular practice of the exercises with backboards, horse, bridge-ladder, and parallel-bars as recommended by the Board were carried out, the injurious effects alleged to be produced by the use of non-hygienic desks and seats would, no doubt, be more than counteracted. Conveyance ot? Children to School.—The Department's attitude on this question is beyond the Board's comprehension. It will make no payment for children under seven years of age unless they are accompanied by at least an equal number of children over twelve years of age ; none for any child under ten years of age unless the distance from his home is over four* miles by the nearest road, and none for any child of ten years of age and upwards unless the distance from his home is over four miles by the nearest road. The Board cannot conceive why children between six and seven should be excluded from the benefits of conveyance unless they are accompanied by an equal number over twelve, nor why no payment should be made for children under ten whose home is not more than three miles, and for those of ten and upwards whose home is not more than four miles from the school, nor why the Department should have prescribed distances without regard to the character of the roads over which they are measured. For children of from ten to twelve years of age, two miles an hour is not bad walking over many of our country roads. If they live from three to four miles from school, they are on the tramp from three to four hours a day. This, with the time they work at school, makes for them a working-day of from nine to ten hours —truly a cruel burden of work for children of tender years. In the Board's opinion, the Department has entirely failed to realise the conditions on which the conveyance system can be successfully worked in this part of the colony. As the Board has more than once pointed out, no system of per capita payment for the carriage of children can work satisfactorily, for it ignores the varying conditions as to the configuration of the country, the character of the roads, and the number of children to be conveyed. The sum suffices in cases where the conditions are favourable, but it is altogether inadequate where the roads are bad, and only a small number of children are to be provided for. The inevitable result has been that children in very sparsely populated districts have been deprived of the means of education, foe it has been found impossible to get people to undertake the work of conveyance for the amount made available. The Board again urges that the only satisfactory solution of the problem is to give to Boards sufficient grants to enable them, with their

* Three miles,—Sec, Eduo,