2

E.—l3

11. Extract from the Twenty-seventh Annual Eeport of the Minister of Education. By a vote of last session a sum of £3,000 was again granted for subsidies to public libraries. Forms of application were sent to all libraries known to the Department, and notice was inserted in the Gazette of the 3rd December, 1903. The method of distribution of the vote was the same as that adopted in the previous year, as follows: A nominal addition of £25 was made to the amount of the income of each library derived from subscriptions, donations, and rates, provided that the receipts for the year were not less than £2, and the vote was divided according to the amount thus augmented; but no library received credit for a larger income than £75—that is, in no case did the augmented amount on which distribution was based exceed £100. In accordance with the Gazette notice, the day appointed for the distribution of the subsidy was the Bth February, 1904, and the amount of the vote was divided among the 396 libraries from which applications, each accompanied by a statutory declaration on the proper form, had been received. The vote, as thus dealt with, afforded a subsidy of 3s. 6"63 d. in the pound of the nominal income, and the subsidies ranged from £17 15s. 4d. to £4 15s. lid. Some libraries supplied with the proper form failed to send in formal claims by the 31st January, 1904, the date fixed by the Gazette notice, and did not therefore participate in the vote. The number of libraries participating in the vote shows an increase of thirty-two as compared with the number aided in the previous year. In order that the purpose intended to be served by the vote may be attained, it is made a condition for participation that the whole of the subsidy granted in each library in the previous year shall have been expended in the purchase of books. The following table shows the distribution according to education districts : —

Summary of Distribution of Public Libraries Subsidy.

Education Districts. Number of -Libraries. Income. Amount on which Subsidy is calculated. Amount of Subsidy. Auckland Taranaki Wanganui Wellington Hawke's Bay Marlborough Nelson Grey Westland North Canterbury South Canterbury Otago Southiand Chatham Islands 16 26 20 28 5 28 5 4 68 17 53 :il ■> £ s. d. 2,616 2 2 496 12 2 1,223 10 10 3,111 17 4 673 19 10 150 4 6 737 4 9 161 1. 4 92 11 0 1,828 19 7 362 13 8 950 9 9 265 18 0 17 16 10 £ s. d. 3,807 8 11 778 9 11 1,372 5 10 ■1,094 4 11 1,262 11 11 249 7 6 1,288 7 5 286 1 4 192 11 0 •2,660 12 1 763 15 4 2,121 16 9 940 18 0 67 16 10 £ s. d. 676 9 1 138 6 1 243 16 0 194 8 0 224 6 1 44 6 1 228 17 9 50 16 4 34 4 1 472 13 7 135 13 8 376 19 2 167 3 1 12 1 1 Totals 396 12,689 1 9 16,886 7 9 3,000 0 0