B.—l

times deferred in such a way as to disturb calculations made over short periods. In the year under review about ss. a head was spent on administration and inspection, and 7s. a head on incidental expenses of schools. The expenditure of the capitation grant of £4, and of the inspection subsidy, has thus been sufficiently accounted for. The other grants are for special purposes, and are devoted to those purposes, viz;., the capitation grant of Is. 6d. (if so much is actually spent) for scholarships, grants to four Boards for maintaining normal schools (about £8,000), and building grants. The money received by the Boards from the School Commissioners on account of primary-school reserves need not be taken into consideration; it does not increase the Boards' revenues, because, whether it be much or little, a sum equivalent to it is deducted by the Government from the amount due as capitation allowances. The building grant received by the Boards in 1886 (voted in 1885) was £57,600. To this is to be' added payments made to Boards by the Department to make up for losses by fire, together with some small grants to Boards that had to make large provision for school accommodation of Maori children : the total is £60,170 14s. 6d. Some additions to this amount were made from local sources, but not enough to bring up the total to £61,000. The Boards' expenditure on account of buildings was £65,007 14s. 4d. : the difference between the income and expenditure being accounted for by balances or overdrafts. The accounts of the Boards are printed with their reports in the Appendix, where also (in Tables No. 3, No. 4, and No. 9) will be found both summary and detailed statements of them. Table Nis a brief abstract of totals for the year. Similar abstracts for nine preceding years are given in the Appendix (Table No. 5). Table N. —Abstract op Beceipts and Expenditure of Boards. Dr. £ s. d. Or. £ s. cl. To Balances, Ist January, 188G .. 21,589 9 1 By Boards'administration .. .. 10,695 0 8 Government grants— Inspection and examination .. 10,211 1 10 Maintenance .. .. .. 318,018 5 5 Teachers'salaries'and allowances, and Buildings .. .. .. 00,170 14 6 training .. .. .. 290,79115 7 Reserves revenues .. .. .. 29,005 1 9 Incidental expenses of schools .. 29,104 5 9 Local receipts— Scholarships .. .. .. 5,573 0 9 Fees, donations, &c. .. .. 1,801 2 7 Interest .. .. .. .. 125 2 0 Eor buildings .. ... .. 037 11 4 Buildings, sites, plans, &c. .. .. 05,007 14 4 Interest .. ' .. '' .. .. 048 8 5 Refunds and sundries .. .. 533 19 7 Refunds, deposits, &c. .. .. 701 13 3 Balances .. .. .. .. 21,157 510 £433,232 6 4 £433,232 G 4 Last session's Public Works vote of £55,000 for school buildings made it possible to grant £45,835 4s. to Education Boards in proportion to the population of the several districts, but the money was not paid till February of this year, and therefore it does not enter into the accounts of 1886. It is included, however, in the assets of the Boards as those assets are stated in Table O. The vote provided sums amounting to £450 for high-school purposes; there was a liability of £100 remaining from the previous year ; and £8,614 16s. was reserved for Native school buildings, for which there was an unusually heavy demand during the financial year owing to the settlement of a large number of difficulties of long standing with respect to titles. The Public Works estimates w rere passed in such a form as to allow of engagements to the extent of £5,500 beyond the vote being entered into, and on this authority a sum of £3,798 ss. has been distributed to the Boards since the close of the financial year. This sum was divided equally among the Boards, in order that in the distribution of the whole amount available for the year some advantage might be given to the smaller districts; but in making the division Grey and Westland were counted for one district. From the Board's statements of assets and liabilities the next table (O and P) have been prepared, which show what the financial condition of each Board was at the end of the year. In these tables the money promised to the Boards for buildings, and paid in February, is taken into account, as also are various sums paid to Boards in the last quarter of the year by School Commissioners, and balanced by equal sums deducted early in this year from payments made by Government. 2—E. 1.

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