H.—l

3

mistresses, 213; assistant mistresses, 236; and female pupil-teachers, 221. To these may he added 82 teachers of sewing, or work-mistresses, whose duties are for the most part limited to the giving of lessons to girls in needlework and other industrial branches during a portion of the school time. They are engaged almost solely in schools where the attendance does not warrant the employment for the whole of the school hours of a fully-qualified mistress or assistant mistress in addition to the master. The following table furnishes information respecting the number of teachers employed in the schools of the several Education Districts. The classification has been carefully made from the returns furnished by the Boards, and may be taken as approximately correct:—

TABLE B.—TEACHERS.

Attendance oe Scholars. No uniform practice has hitherto heen followed by the different Education Boards in regard to the keeping of the school registers, and the calculation of the average attendance. While great care and attention have evidently been bestowed on this matter by some of the Boards, there is reason to believe that in some instances the registers of attendance have been imperfectly kept or almost wholly neglected. The returns of attendance at the several schools for the past year which accompany this report must therefore be regarded as only approximately correct. These attendance returns give the numbers on the books and the average daily attendance for the whole of the year 1877, and also for the last quarter of the year. The following is a summary of the attendance returns :—

TABLE C. —ATTENDANCE.

NtjTOEE OP TeACHEES iMPLOTED D-EIttG LAST QuAK :eb op 18' 7. Males. Females. Education Districts. Totals. Teachers of Sewing. Head Teachers. Assistants. Pupil Teachers. Head Teachers. Assistants. Pupil Teachers. Luckland few Plymouth 'atea lawke's Bay ... Wellington larlborough ... felson Vestland Janterbury )tago 133 14 6 19 55 14 39 22 107 168 8 2 2 1 39 9 73 5 2 10 19 2 80 10 68 17 17 1 272 32 8 45 147 29 96 65 369 337 24 3 1 1 2 5 22 21 "■i i 10 19 9 25 8 47 47 3 48 2 2 4 44 26 16 81 58 1 36 19 Totals 577 71 82 213 236 221 1,400 82

'OE THE YEAB II 177. 'oe the Last [uaetee op Ii S77. Education Distmcts. Tot :al Nun Attend! Enroll! iber of mts lents. ■erage I .ttendai laily tee. Tot ;al Nun Attendi Enrolr iber of mts .ents. rerage J .ttendai )aily or or ice. Boys. Girls. Total. Boys. Girls. Total. Boys. Girls. Total. Boys. Girls. Total. Auckland „ Training Schools New Plymouth Patea Hawke's Bay Wellington ... Marlborough Nelson Westland Canterbury ... Otago 7,043 14 571 170 594 2,495 1,916 10,561 11,005 5,760 77 394 112 469 2,393 1,780 9,969 8,608 12,803 91 965 282 1,800 6,220 1,063 4,888 3,696 20,530 19,613 4,393 11 "99 435 1,507 3,368 63 "76 300 1,443 7,761 74 478 175 1,250 3,535 735 2,950 1,921 10,209 11,749 6,271 14 430 129 535 2,021 1,446 7,698 7,836 5,210 77 296 88 389 1,916 1,354 7,136 6,692 11,481 91 726 217 1,421 4,729 924 3,937 2,800 14,834 14,528 4,398 11 106 456 1,532 3,493 .1 "74 305 1,440 7,891 82 496 180 1,130 3,583 761 2,972 1,953 10,736 11,989 5,466 6,343 4,743 5,406 5,710 6,490 5,026 5,499 Totals 71,951 40,837 55,688 41,773