E.—l

TABLE W.—Payments and Recoveries, Private Schools, April to December, 1886.

The statement that the Government pays the private schools Is. a day for each child is more exact than any conclusion that could be drawn from the foregoing table. In this year particularly such a table does not afford sufficient data for correct conclusions : for the first three months, as has been stated, Government payments were made through the Colonial Secretary's Office, and in April the payments were made for March and were not affected by the deductions made in subsequent months on account of direct payments from Boards to schools. In the case of the Government schools the whole expense falls in the first place on the Government, recoveries being obtained from Charitable Aid Boards for cases of mere destitution, and also from some of the parents under orders of Court. The recoveries from Boards are part of a new system which at the end of the year had been in operation only thirteen months, and, as the payments are usually made by the quarter, the payments made in 1886 are not the full payments of four quarters, and do not represent the fair receipts of a year. On these schools the expenditure has been as follows: —

TABLE X.—Cost of Government Schools.

As the number of children maintained by these schools has varied from 842 to 820, and the expenditure has been above £19,000, the average cost for each child has been a little over £23. The ordinary payment for a boarded-out child is 7s. a week, or £18 ss. a year ; but, as many of these children require an outfit before they caii be sent out to board,'and"as their affairs occupy much of the time of the managers of the schools and other officers, it is not possible to distinguish between the cost of maintaining the children in the schools and the cost of maintaining boarded-out children. It is also to be remembered that the officers of the institutions have responsibilities with respect to children sent to service, and to all that are on the books, and that the expenditure on the schools includes the cost of education of the children residing in them ; and that the staff of officers cannot be reduced in exact proportion to the declining numbers of resident inmates. Further, in the case of Burnham it has been thought wise to invest some money (about £200) in the improvement of the estate, in the hope that it will yield a return in future years. The department is deeply indebted to the ladies who visit all the boardedout children, and make a report on every case every month. The police authorities, too, render many important services to the department in connection with the industrial schools. Taking into account the 7 non-committed children (1 boy boarded out from Kohimarama, 2 girls boarded out from Kent Street, 1 girl sent out to service from Kent Street, and 3 boys at Caversham), the whole number belonging to the schools is 1,609, of whom 583 are in the schools, 546 boarded out, 283 at service,

XVIII

School. Government Payments. Becoveries. Net Expenditure by Government. i. Mary's, Ponsonby .. i. Joseph's, Wellington i. Mary's Nelson £ s. d. 548 0 0 165 19 0 1,373 10 0 £ s. d. 28 2 6 3 0 0 201 9 6 £ s. d. 519 17 6 162 19 0 1,172 6 6 Totals 2,087 15 0 232 12 0 1,855 3 0

School. Cost of School. ! Cost of boarding out. i Becoveries. Net Cost. iuckland .. ... Burnham Daversham £ s. d. '2,004 9 7 3,996 16 0 3,311 7 9 £ s. d. 2,073 8 2 4,225 2 3 3,519 18 7 £ s. d. 413 15 5 1,333 2 4 1,213 5 10 £ a. d. 3,664 2 4 6,888 15 II 5,618 0 6 Totals .;. 9,312 13 4 9,818 9 0 2,960 3 7 16,170 18 9 5alary and expenses of Visiting ( 'fficer 241 0 2 Total 16,411 18 11