B.—l

XXV

the new school-room built to supply the place of the old one that was destroyed by fire in 1884; Burnham, £36 19s. 6d. ; Auckland, £35 7s. lOd. Thanks are due to the ladies who visit all the boarded-out children and make a report on every case every month. It is proposed to arrange if possible for the extension of this system of visiting, so as to obviate the necessity of making inquiries through the police authorities as to the welfare of young people placed at service. It should be remarked that the police officials render very efficient aid to the Department, not only in making such inquiries, but also in tracing defaulting parents and obtaining payment from them. Public Libeaeies Subsidy. A vote of £4,000 was passed in the session of 1885 for aid to public libraries. Only £3,967 18s. 4d. was available for distribution, the sum of £32 Is. Bd., paid on account of the vote of 1884, but within the financial year 1885-86, being a first charge against the vote of 1885. Six libraries, with an aggregate income of £1,982 15s. 9d., received £50 each instead of the larger sums which would have been due to them had they been allowed a proportional share in the distribution. Three hundred and fifty-two smaller libraries, with an aggregate income stated at £6,468 ss. 9d., had allotted to them by way of subsidy £3,667 18s. 4d. The distribution was calculated while there was some uncertainty as to the accuracy of the accounts submitted by several of the libraries. Further investigation of these accounts has led to a deduction of £20 2s. 9d. from the calculated subsidy, and this sum is lost to the libraries through errors in the accounts of some of them. A further possible loss to the libraries as a whole and a corresponding gain to the Treasury arises from the fact that owing to delays in the clearing-up of disputed questions of account £27 16s. 6d. of the subsidies allotted remained unpaid at the end of the financial year, and therefore could not be paid out of the vote. The part of this liability —£20 Bs. 4d. —that has been paid will be a charge against any new vote in aid of public libraries, and the remainder— £7 Bs. 2d.—which is still under consideration will, if paid at all, be charged in the same way. The subsidies actually paid were distributed among the different education districts as follows :—

TABLE Y. —Public Libraries Subsidy.

The case still under inquiry belongs to the Auckland District, the income of the library being stated at £5 16s. 3d., and the subsidy calculated being .£7 Bs. 2d. University and Secondaey Education. The report of the New Zealand University (8.-5) states that after the last examination for degrees the degree of Bachelor of Arts was conferred on 18 candidates. At the same time 8 Bachelors of Arts were admitted to the degree of Master of Arts, and Ito the degree of Bachelor of Laws. The number of graduates admitted on examination is now 123. Of this number 44 are Masters of Arts, 77 Bachelors of Arts, and 2 who have not graduated in arts are Bachelors of Laws. The number of matriculated undergraduates is 609. The lectures at Auckland University College in 188S were attended by 5 graduates, 18 matriculated students of the New Zealand University, and 34 non-4-B. 1.

Education Distbicts. Number of Libraries. Income. Amount of Subsidy. Luckland ?aranaki Vanganui Vellington lawkc's Bay larlborough kelson ■forth Canterbury South Canterbury Vestland 5-rey )tago iouthland 87 8 16 17 28 5 27 69 8 8 8 58 23 £ s. d. 1,913 8 7 119 14 0 746 6 3 427 5 0 876 11 0 178 1 2 506 1 5 1,222 0 10 438 10 2 216 16 6 229 6 8 1,128 0 2 357 16 0 £ s. a. 883 15 7 76 17 3 251 2 3 204 18 0 365 0 2 72 17 3 283 19 2 6G6 15 0 135 7 6 100 4 3 103 4 4 572 11 4 224 5 4 Totals 357 8,358 17 9 3,940 7 5