E.—2

1888. NEW ZEALAND.

EDUCATION: NATIVE SCHOOLS. [In continuation of E.-2, 1887.]

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

No. 1. EXTEACT FROM ELEVENTH ANNUAL EePOET OF THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION. Eight new schools were opened during the year: at Taita, in Hobson County; at Te Matai, near Te Puke; at Eaukokore, in the Bay of Plenty; at Wharekahika or Hicks Bay, and Kawakawa, near East Cape ; and at Eangitukia, Tikitiki, and Tuparoa, near the Waiapu Eiver. The school at Eort Galatea, on the confines of the Urewera country —closed for a time on account of the destruction wrought by the volcanic outbreak at Tarawera —has been reopened. The school at Tokomaru, Open Bay, which was abandoned in 1884, has been revived, with good prospects of success ; and the school at Te Ngaere, near Whangaroa, closed for three years, is undergoing a new probation. The Upper Waihou school has been closed, owing to the adverse influence of Hauhauism; and the school at Oruawharo, subsidiary to Otamatea, has been given up on account of the small number attending. The school at Uawa, Tologa Bay, has been handed over to the Hawke's Bay Board of Education. The number of schools in operation at the end of the year was 79, not including four boarding-schools, to which a considerable number of the more advanced, pupils are sent by arrangement with the Trustees. Of the 79 schools 67 were ordinary village schools, and 12 were either subsidised or subsidiary schools. The report of Mr. Pope, the Inspector of Native Schools (E.-2), furnishes very full information respecting the condition and progress of all these schools. The Government pupils at boarding-schools were 74 in number, 15 of whom were at S. Joseph's (Eoman Catholic) School, Napier, and 59 at Church of England schools. The 59 are, for the most part, pupils who have passed the Fourth (the highest) Standard at the ordinary Native schools, and the 15 are children selected from districts where there is no local school. With the 59 Government scholars at Church of England boarding-schools (29 boys at S. Stephen's, Parnell; 10 boys at Te Aute, Hawke's Bay ; and 20 girls at Hukarere, Napier), 82 other pupils (19, 43, and 20 at the several schools in the order in which they have been named) are maintained at the sole cost of the Trustees of the schools. The number on the books of the ordinary Native schools in December was 2,631, as against 2,346 a year ago. Of the 2,631 pupils, 1,973 were Maoris, or more Maori than European; 242 were half-castes; and 416 European, or more European than Maori (many of these being the children of the teachers). With respect to age, 72 were under 5 years, 1,384 ranged from 5 to 10 years, 1,032 from 10 to 15, and 143 were above 15. The working average for the year was 2,247, and for the fourth quarter, 2,095 —1,189 boys and 906 girls; the strict average for the year being 2,138, and for the fourth quarter, 1,977. The increase in the working average for the year (as compared with 1886) was 227, and for the last quarter (as compared with the last quarter of 1886), 249. The mean of the four quarterly average roll numbers is 2,674; so that the working average for the year shows an average daily attendance of 84 per cent., and the strict average for the year shows an average daily attendance of 80 per cent. This indicates a regularity of attendance superior to that of the pupils of the public schools, except those of Otago, where the average daily attendance is 84-5 per cent., to be compared with 84 per cent, in Maori schools. I—E. 2