E.—l.

The 74 schools were under the charge of 60 masters and 14 mistresses, whose salaries range between £74 and £233; and there were 60 assistants and 14 sewing-mistresses, with salaries between £7 and £50. The expenditure on Native schools for 1897 was as follows:—Teachers' salaries and allowances, £12,565 lis. Id.; books and school requisites, £517 45.; repairs and small works, £474 lis. 7d.; inspection, £885 10s. 4d.; boardingschools and scholarships, £1,857 6s. lid.; buildings, fencing, furniture, &c, £4,335 6s. 2d.; sundries, £107 os. 3d.: total, £20,742 10s. 4d. Fuller details, together with the Inspector's report, will be found in another paper (Native Schools, E.-2). Mr. Pope's report shows that the numbers of children who passed the several standards in Native schools in 1897 were as follows:—Standard 1., 470; 11., 339; 111, 249; IV, 128; V, 23; VI, 5: total, 1,214. Industrial Schools. The number of inmates on the books of the industrial schools increased from 1,559 to 1,588 during the year : 150 have been discharged, and 179 admitted. The-increase in Government schools was 12; in private schools, 17. Of the whole number of 1,588 inmates, 589 though under the control of the institutions were not dependent on them for maintenance, 119 being licensed to reside with their friends, 439 placed at service, 3 in hospital, 3 in lunatic asylums, 1 in blind asylum, 2 on probation at the Costley Training Institution, 2 in prison, and 20 absent without leave (8 from places of service and 12 from the schools). Those who were dependent on the schools for maintenance number 999, divided as follows:—581 resident inmates of the schools, 396 boarded out, and 22 girls whose maintenance was paid for in several appropriate institutions. Of the resident inmates 199 were in Government and 382 in private schools; and of the children boarded out 385 were from Government schools and 11 from private schools. Great care is taken to avoid an undue commingling of different classes of children in the Government schools, so that, although there are 1,099 nominal inmates of these schools, the number actually resident is only 199 —only 18 per cent.; the rest are accounted for as follows :—385 are boarded out, 85 are living with their friends, 371 are in service, 41 in institutions better suited to their condition, and 18 absent without leave.

TABLE T.—Inmates, 1896 and 1897.

Of the 150 discharged during the year, 125 were discharged by warrant, 16 attained the age of 21 years, 6 died, 2 were transferred to the Costley Training Institution, and one was married with the consent of the Manager, who was her guardian. The causes of the 6 deaths are recorded as follows: —A young woman, aged 19, on the books of the Caversham School, died of tubercular meningitis ; a young man of 18, licensed to service from the Caversham School, was drowned while bathing; a girl of 17 died in the Auckland Industrial School of sarcoma and wasting; a girl from Burnham, aged 12J, died in the hospital from chronic inflammation of the ear; a little girl of 10, belonging to St. Joseph's School, Wellington, died of abscess of the liver; and a very delicate boy, aged I\, belonging to Caversham, died of enteritis and pneumonia,

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loarded oui ISC! ;iden< :o. Service, ;o. Toti LlS. o It P M P 8 p o h-1 a P r4 d a ft o 9 d a a p QJ I © p i a rovernment Schools — Auckland Burnham Caversham 'rivate Schools — St. Mary's, Auckland St. Joseph's, Wellington St. Mary's, Nelson 30 176 211 11 21 30 165 190 10 105 76 1 12 16 5 11 100 88 62 62 258 41 243 195 20 10 66 21 19 4 3 37 264 214 17 12 67 81 524 482 66 80 326 5 10 13 3 78 529 492 79 78 332 "J 4 7 46 66 253 e 4 2 1 "6 2 Totals .. 428 32 396 556 34 9 581 575 43 7 611 1,559 34 5 ' 1 1,588