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•• £ , js. d. £ 8. d. Salary of Commanding Officer ... ... 310 0 0 Clerical assistance ... ... ... ... 154 3 4 Travelling-expenses of Commanding Officer ... 258 16 10 723 0 2 Capitation ... ... ... ... ... 1,607 0 0 Arms,accoutrements, ammunition,&c. £3,934 2 8 Less recoveries ... ... 679 10 0 3,254 12 8 Rent, &c, of rifle ranges ... ... ... 139 19 7 Railway fares of cadet corps ... ... ... 292 1 8 Training camps ... ... £4,095 17 9 Less recoveries ... ... 416 1 3 3,679 16 6 Contingencies ... ... ... ... 83 2 6 9,056 12 11 Total ... ... 9,779 13 1 An illustrated manual of physical exercises is being supplied for general use in schools. Conveyance of School Children. In 1907 £8,994 Is. Id., made up as follows, was paid for conveyance of school-children —viz., railway fares of pupils attending public schools, £1,878 10s.; of pupils attending private schools, £725 10s.; of holders of free places attending district high schools, £1,487 45.; of holders of free places attending secondary schools, £1,558 125.; and of pupils (including holders of free places) attending technical schools, £1,732 10s. 9c1.; grants for conveyance of children by road and water, £ s. d.—viz., to Auckland Education Board, £102 195.; Taranaki Board, £68 ss. 6d.; Wanganui Board, £81 45.; Wellington Board, £254 12s. 6d.; Hawke's Bay Board, £15 35.; Marlborough Board, £12 7s. 6d.; Nelson Board, £104 15s. Id.; North Canterbury Board, £68 14s. 9d.; South Canterbury Board, £179 Is.; Otago Board, £396 9s. 6d.; and Southland Board, £328 2s. 6d. Civil Service Examinations. The Civil Service Examinations were, as usual, conducted by the Education Department—the Junior Examination in December, 1907, and the Senior Examination, simultaneously with the examinations for teachers' certificates, in January, 1908. For the Junior Examination there were in all 2,173 candidates, representing a still further increase on the number reached in previous years. Of this total, 1,304 (or a little over 60 per cent.) entered for the examination ostensibly as candidates for admission to the public service under the Civil Service Regulations; the remainder made use of the examination for other purposes, as candidates for senior free places in secondary schools and district high schools, for the examination of pupil-teachers in the service of Education Boards and for Education Board senior scholarships, or under the conditions of tenure of Junior National scholarships. Of the Civil Service candidates, properly so considered, 943 passed the examination, 620 of them with credit, as shown in the order-of-merit list published in the Gazette of the Ist February, 1908. For the Senior Examination there were 231 candidates, and the names of IH4 of this number were published in the Gazette of the 13th February, 1908. 39 as having passed the examination, and 125 as having passed in two or more subjects. Further particulars are given in the report of the Annual Examinations (E.-1a). Scholarships and Free Places. The Education Board scholarship scheme by which the Education Boards, under local regulations approved by the Minister of Education, award annuallv a large number of scholarships of varying value out of an allowance of old standing, amounting to Is. 6d. per head of the average attendance, still remains one of the chief doors of entry to secondary schools for the most promising of the

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