15

H.—2l

The College buildings are of stone. They are situated on land the purchase, so far as I understand,' of Bishop Pompallier, but I am not aware whether as private property of himself, or as belonging to him as Bishop. The allotment is numbered 77, Takapuna. On this land there are situated also a church, of wood, and a house, also of wood, used till recently as a teacher's residence, but now as a cook-house. The sunk floor of the College buildings was undivided, but is now partitioned; it measured in all about 50 ft. by 20 ft. The ground floor contains one large room used as school-room and refectory, capable of accommodating 100 pupils, and five other rooms; on the floor above is one large room used as a dormitory, and having sleeping accommodation for 100 children, and four smaller rooms. Another floor above this was commenced, but remains uncompleted. The roof is covered in above the whole. The church can seat about 100 adults. It was erected partly by private subscription. I am not aware at whose cost the college buildings were erected. The contributions towards the building of the church passed in part through my hands. When I took charge of the College there were sixteen pupils. There had previously been more, but Father Vinay, on leaving for Waikato, removed some of the pupils with him, I think about twenty, Native and Half-caste boys. Of those left, two were Natives and fourteen Europeans, all boys. The children were in a very filthy state when I took charge of the College, and the state of education was very low ; but the children were young, ranging in age from three to eight years. Beside M. Vinay, lam not certain whether there were any teachers there. There were some students, and I have heard that they sometimes acted as teachers. I will furnish returns of the average attendance of scholars from March, 1865, showing race, sex, and average ages. Since 1867 the average attendance has been : March quarter, 1867 ... 46 Europeans, 10 Natives and Half-castes, June „ ... 37 „ 11 September „ ..38 „ 13 „ December ~ ... 35 „ 17 „ ~ -, Dj. -m j March quarter 1868 ... 30 17 yAged 3to 10 and June „ ... 35 „ _15 „ some 18 ' September „ ... ... 25 December „ ... ... 20 ... ... ... For the year 1867, the average cost of these pupils was £12 7s. 6d.; for the year 1868 it amounts to £14 2s. Bd. This increase is attributable, in my opinion, to the decrease in the number of pupils resident. For a considerable time (1867 and part of 1868) there was another regular teacher, since dead. There was always some one there resident, priest or student, who could take my place if required. There was no distinction made in the treatment of European and Native children. They had always, except in the case of very young children, single beds—they had mattresses, sheets, and blankets. The dietary allowed rice and sugar for breakfast, potatoes and soup for dinner, oatmeal and milk for supper. Meat was sparingly allowed, the purchases were mostly of soup-meat. On Fridays they had coffee and biscuits as a substitute for the soup. There was no restriction in the amount of food allowed. The hours were generally,—from 9.30 a.m. to 11 a.m., English secular instruction ; from 11 a.m. to 12.30, work on the College grounds; during this time the boys were in charge of a farming overseer, who was paid from the funds of the institution (self and wife) at the rate of £50 per annum, together with rations. His duties were to teach the boys agriculture. His wife was employed in cooking and washing, and as a general servant. At 12.30, dinner and play till 1.30 p.m., then out-door work was resumed till 4 p.m., then school again until 6 p.m. At 6.30 p.m. they had supper, and from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. they were generally employed in religious instruction under the priest or some of the students resident at the College. Most of the children were too young for labour, and with them " out-of-door work " could only signify recreation. When I had no assistant in the school I generally employed one of the elder pupils, European or Half-caste, to assist me in teaching. On Monday there was no school. This day was set apart entirely for washing clothes, which the boys were taught to do for themselves. Saturday also was appropriated to washing out the buildings, and general personal ablutions. This course was regular with very few exceptions. Sunday was set apart for religious exercises and walking. The school was frequently inspected by the Bishop, or those sent by him, as well as by the Government Inspector. The ecclesiastical visitors, to my knowledge, never expressed dissatisfaction with their inspection. There appeared to have been great neglect and want of system before I took the charge. This showed itself in the dirty and ragged condition and apparently low diet of the children. There has been ho uniform clothing (most of it being given gratuitously), except when they walked out on any public occasion, when they were all clothed alike in blue. On those occasions they wore shoes and socks, but not at other times. I have used the past tense here, as the attendance has now fallen to only four pupils, of whom only two are paid for by the Provincial Government; one European and one Native are not paid for at all. Of the European children in the establishment all were admitted by order of the Provincial Government at a capitation allowance, originally of £10 per head, reduced about twelve months ago to £5. I then declined to admit any children at this rate, as we could not support them. Even at the £10 rate the institution was at a loss for the board of the children (omitting any notice of their lodging or education) of more than £4 per head. The General Government capitation allowance for Natives was discontinued on the 31st December, 1868. I was first informed of the intention, I think, in November, at which time I had