E.—l

XX

into an ordinary village school. Two new village schools have been opened—at Otaua, in the Hokianga District; and at Te Ahuahu, near Waimate, Bay of Islands. Two schools that had been closed for a time have been reopened —one at Matakohe, in the Kaipara District, and the other at Tologa Bay, East Coast. Two subsidised schools have been opened—at Taumarere, Bay of Islands; and D'Urville Island, in the Nelson Provincial District. The number of schools in operation at the end of the year was 72, of which 59 were village schools, 5 subsidised, 3 half-time schools, and 5 boarding-schools. There were 58 masters (with salaries ranging from £205 to .£6O), 7 mistresses (from £155 to £76 10s.), 25 assistant-mistresses (from £35 to £20), and 30 sewing-mistresses (£2O each). The number of children sent to boarding-schools by the Department and receiving instruction in them was 67. These were distributed among the several schools as follows :25 boys at St. Stephen's, Parnell; 10 boys at Te Aute, Hawke's Bay; 20 girls at Hukarere, Napier; 11 girls at St. Joseph's, Napier; and 1 girl at St. Mary's, Ponsonby. Besides the Government pupils there were at the end of the year 76 children of the Native race attending these schools, the cost of their maintenance being paid from the endowments of the several institutions. Of these pupils there were 30 girls at Hukarere, 11 boys at St. Stephen's, and 35 boys at Te Aute. In the other schools there were at the end of the year 1,215 boys and 946 girls (total 2,161), less by 61 than at the end of 1884. The average attendance for the last quarter of 1885 was 957 boys and 744 girls (total, 1,701), or 76"5 per cent, of the mean number on the books. This is rather less than the corresponding percentage (78-5) for the year at the public schools. It is probable that but for the fact of the Motukaraka school, with an average attendance of 30, being unavoidably closed during the last quarter of the year, the percentage would have reached 78. The slight falling-off in the number of pupils, notwithstanding the increase in the number of schools, seems to be due to a general decline of the Maori population in some of the settlements where sanitary precautions are much neglected. The number of European children attending the Native schools—many of them the schoolmasters' children—is probably about 150. Many of the pupils are of mixed race. The returns show that 227 are half-caste, 1,537 Maori or more Maori than half-caste, and 397 are European or more European than Maori. As to their ages—73 are under five years, 1,183 above five but under ten, 805 above ten but under fifteen, and 100 are above fifteen. During the year 639 children passed in the standards of Native school inspection: in Standard 1., 278; in Standard 11., 214; in Standard 111., 106; and in Standard IV., 41. These numbers reduced to percentages of the sum of the number on the rolls of the several schools at the several dates of examination give for Standard 1., 13 ; 11., 10 ; 111., 5; IV., 2 : total, 30. The expenditure, exclusive of the cost of new buildings, and of payments connected with boarding-schools, superior instruction, and apprenticeship, was £12,304 Bs. 7d. Of this sum £10,375 3s. 7d. was paid in teachers' salaries and allowances ; £224 for the travelling expenses of teachers when going to new schools ; £386 4s. lOd. for books and school requisites ; £171 10s. 2d. for prizes; £252 3s. for repairs, planting, and minor works ; £768 10s. sd. for inspection, superintendence, and travelling; and the remainder, £126 16s. 7d.,isfor sundries. This cost may be stated as £7 per unit of average attendance, and £5 10s. for each child belonging to the schools. Native reserve funds contributed £211 9s. 9d. towards this expenditure. The expenditure on boarding-schools and apprenticeship was £1,532 15s. Part of this sum was paid in the form of subsidies to the schools, and part as a direct outlay for the benefit of individual children. Treating it as if it were all spent for the direct benefit of the 67 individual children on whose behalf payment was made by the Department, the expenditure was about £23 for each child. The school at the Chatham Islands, established in 1885, is maintained out of the Native Schools vote. Its affairs have not been taken into account in the foregoing statements. The expenditure in 1885 was £182 11s. Bd. Only one return of attendance has been received. The number of children that had been