E.—l.

■HW T- he total attendance for the whole colony continues to improve. *or the year 1900 the average was 111,747; for 1901 it was 111,797 • while last year it reached 113,711, which is the highest that has been attained in any year since the coming into force of the Education Act of 1877 As in Lyui, owing to the prevalence of sickness, one quarter shows a considerable S, ?£-°f ? GOl ?V ared with the rest 5 1902 it was the last quarter, in 1901 tne third quarter of the year.

TABLE A.-School Attendance and Yearly Increase from 1877 to 1902.

The /f J no er f ge ° f the weekl y roll-numbers for the year shows a marked increase (1083) over that for 1901, but it still falls 9 short of thaH, the" ear J lorn A 1S c hlgheSt yet recorded - The figures for 1897 were 133 961 • or 1901 they were 132,869; and for 1902 they were 133,952. The number on he roll at the end of the year also shows the substantial increase of 911 over 32Sand m sill 1 - ln D " embe ;' T-' the a ° tual totals being respectivlly and 131,351, this year's number being in advance of any previous year's. Partly through the operation of the School Attendance Act of 1901 and partly from other causes, such as the increase in the number of schools m sparsely populated districts attendance at public schools has improv d and he c seems to be good reason to hope that it may still further improve The standard of regularity of attendance reached in 1900 and 1901-namely 841 of the averse weekly roll-number rose to 84-9 in 1902. This figure is a high one compared with the corresponding hgures for the British Isles and for the several States of the Australian Commonwealth. According to the latest returns which are Available the average attendance in primary day-schools in England was 83-6 per cent FoiL U tT r f me t'l n Otland u 82 " 9 Per Cent " and in Ireland 65 per cent

II

School Attendance. Yearly Increaee on Year. ■OK i i H I-si o I Average Attendance. Fourth Whole Quarter. Year. a * m f* +=•*- go S= !°'3T S Average Ai a si* Z,'%"5 Fourth o Quarter. ttendaiicB. Whole Year. 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 50,849 59,707 68,124 74,359 76,309 79,416 84,883 90,670 95,377 99,206 103,534 104,919 108,158 110,665 112,279 114,305 116,819 119,900 122,425 123,533 123,892 123,207 123,416 122,725 123,456 55,688 65,040 75,566 82,401 83,560 87,179 92,476 97,238 102,407 106,328 110,919 112,685 115,456 117,912 119,523 122,620 124,686 127,300 129,856 131,037 132,197 131,621 ; 131,315 130,724 131,351 132,262 49,435 45,521 • 57,301 53,067 73-8 62,946 60,625 74-6 63,009 61,822 74-2 66,426 63,709 73-6 70,077 67,373 74-0 74,650 72,657 75-1 80,183 78,327 76-6 83,361 80,737 76-1 87,386 85,637 77-0 90,849 90,108 79-3 94,308 93,374 80-3 96,670 94,632 79-9 96,264 97,058 803 100,917 99,070 80'6 99,872 98,615 78'5 107,032 104,996 81-8 108,708 108,394 82-8 110,274 110,517 88-3 111,952 112,328 83-9 109,561 ! 111,636 83-4 109,050 110,316 82-6 111,498 111,747 84-1 112,354 I 111,797 84-1 111,556 113,711 84-9 ! 8,858 > 8,417 ! 6,235 1 1,950 1 3,107 5,467 5,787 4,707 3,829 4,328 1,385 3,239 2,507 1,614 2,026 2,514 3,081 2,525 1,108 359 [-685] 209 [-691] 731 9,352 10,526 7,866 6,835 ' 5,645 1,159 I 63 3,619 3,417 5,297 3,651 4,762 : 4,573 5,169 5,533 J 3,921 3,H8 4,591 4,025 1,766 3,463 2,771 3,459 2,456 2,362 1,611 r_406 3,097 4,653 2,066 '-1,045] 2,614 6,279" 2,556 1,676 1,181 1,566 1,160 1,678 [-576] -2,391] [-306] " [-511] [-591] 2,448' 627 856 911 [-798] 7,546 7,558 1,197 1,887 3,664 5,284 5,670 2,410 4,900 4,471 a, 266 1,258 2,426 2,012 -455] 4,875 3,398 2,123 1,811 -692] -1,320] 1,431 50 1,914