E.—l

XIII

TABLE Q.— Deficiency of School Buildings. (In this table schools with less than ten pupils have not been counted.)

The distribution of the ordinary votes for school buildings was made as follows: Auckland, £9,450; Taranaki, £1,650; Wanganui, £3,925; Wellington, £5,050; Hawke's Bay, £2,525 ; Marlborough, £900; Nelson, £2,025; Grey, £775; Westland, £750; North Canterbury, £6,000 ; South Canterbury, £1,800; Otago, £6,000; Southland, £3,400; balance to Native schools, £750: total, £45,000. The following distribution was made of the special vote for schools in newly settled districts: Auckland, £3,112; Taranaki. £1,605; Wanganui, £2,479; Wellington, £2,168; Hawke's Bay, £1,185;' Marlborough, £644; Nelson, £489; Grey, £319; Westland, £200; North Canterbury, £1,642; South Canterbury, £825 ; Otago, £1,389; Southland, £703; Native schools, £3,368; undistributed, £4,872 : total, £25,000. Considerable difficulty was experienced in making a fair allocation of the moneys available under this vote; the difficulty was due mainly (1) to the different idea's held by the various Boards of the schools properly to be included under the term " schools in newly settled districts," some Boards apparently holding the view that it applied to all new schools, or even to the extension and rebuilding of old schools, while other Boards based their applications on the more obvious interpretation that it applied only to schools in districts so recently settled as to allow time for a school population to grow up; (2) to the varying ideas of the extent and cost of the buildings required (to start a school) for a given number of children ; (3) to the large excess of the amounts claimed by the Boards over the amount available, the total claims amounting to £47,354; (4) to the absence in the Education Department of the means for directly checking the claims either in respect to the character of the districts in which it was proposed to set up new schools, as to the number of children of school age likely to attend the schools if erected, or as to the reasonableness of the amount claimed. The Inspectors of Schools, who are or might be the persons best fitted to supply this information, are the officers of the Boards, and their services are not available to the Department for this purpose ; in consequence, inquiries that were necessarily largely indirect, and somewhat prolonged, were instituted, and the utmost that can be said is that all that could be done under the circumstances was done to make the distribution an equitable one. The difficulties might be avoided in the future by subdividing in a somewhat different manner the various votes for school buildings under the heads of (a) the maintenance, repair, and rebuilding of old schools ; (b) the erection of new school buildings. It is also desirable that the Education Department should have direct means of obtaining information in regard at least to the claims made under the heading (b).

Education Districts. Schools in Operation. Schools not belonging to Boards. Schools without Residences. Schools with less than 10 sq. ft. for each Child (but not less than 8 sq. ft.). Schools with less than 8 sq. ft. for each Child. Available in 1900 for Buildings. (Tables O and P.) lUckland taranaki Vanganui Vellington lawke's Bay larlborough f elson 364 60 131 132 70 25 100 23 23 196 65 216 139 37 2 11 "8 "l 180 20 50 86 24 5 42 14 6 39 16 7 28 4 6 1 5 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 k 1 £ s. a. 1,479 12 4 1,680 15 5 1,198 5 10 -1,148 18 4 589 12 5 900 0 0 2,194 0 9 398 0 0 657 0 1 3,203 10 0 1,805 6 11 -734 13 9 671 18 10 S-rey Vestland forth Canterbury South Canterbury )tago Southland "8 "5 5 7 1 Totals for 1899 .. Totals for 1898 .. 1,544 1,521 77 191 517 457 32 41 10 10 12,894 10 6 13,617 4 4