B.—l.

The total expenditure by the Government on manual and technical instruction for 1906 was £63,416 2s. 3d. The details are as follows : Capitation on all classes, £25,363 Is. 2d. ; grants for buildings and equipment, £24,905 3s. lid. ; grants for material for class use, £951 4s. 4d. ; subsidies on voluntary contributions, £3,225 15s. lid. ; training of teachers in subjects of manual and technical instruction, £2,415; training-colleges on account of instruction in handwork, £923 12s. 5d.; railway fares of instructors and students, £647 9s. sd. ; expenses in connection with the examinations of the Board of Education, South Kensington, and of the City and Guilds of London Institute, £701 os. 2d. ; inspection, £899 195.; free places, £3,336 os. 7d. ; sundries, £47 15s. 4d. The sum of £160 12s. 6d. was recovered by way of examination fees and from sale of material used at examinations, leaving a net expenditure of £63,255 9s. 9d. Full information on the subject of manual and technical instruction appears in a separate paper (E.-5). Chatham Islands. During the year 1906 there were five schools in operation in the Chatham Islands—viz., Te One, in the centre of Chatham Island ; Moreroa, Matarakau, and Kaingaroa, smaller schools worked as part-time schools by an itinerant teacher ; and a school on Pitt Island. The total number of children on the rolls of all the schools at the end of 1906 was 98, as against 91 in 1905, while the average attendance for the year was 78. The total expenditure on the schools for the year was £662 2s. 10d., made up as follows : Salaries and allowances of teachers, £516 os. sd. ; school furniture, requisites, &c, £86 17s. sd. ; inspection, £26 ss. ; scholarships, £33. With the exception of Pitt Island, the schools were inspected and examined in February of this year according to the regulations for the examination of public schools in New Zealand. In the main school the results were fair; in the parttime schools they were most unsatisfactory. Indeed, there seemed to be a lamentable want of appreciation, on the part of the parents of the children concerned, of the Department's efforts on their behalf. It appears to be necessary to use compulsion to secure the attendance of the children in several cases, and legislative provision is required before this can be done. Meanwhile, it has been decided that these schools should be closed. It was found impossible to visit Pitt Island School, and the children were, therefore, classified by the teacher. The attendance at this school has been very satisfactory during the year. The third examination for the Chatham Island Scholarship was held this year, and the scholarship was awarded to Percy Fougere, who is now attending the Boys' High School, Christchurch. There are now two scholarships current under this arrangement. Native Schools. At the end of 1906 there were one hundred village schools, as against ninetyfive at the end of 1905. Five new schools were opened during the year, at the end of which all the schools, with the exception of two, were in full operation. The new schools opened were Tautoro, in the Bay of Islands district; Oparure, in the King-country ; Kaiwhata, east coast of Wellington ; Waimarama and Tubara, in Hawke's Bay. Owing to decreased attendance one school— Waiotapu—was closed. In several schools increased attendance has necessitated building additions, and at the present time four new schools—Tuhara, Motiti Island, Wharekawa, and Mataora —are in hand. The total roll number on 31st December, 1906, was 4,174, as against 3,863 in 1905; the average attendance for the year being 3,607 —an increase of 179 on that of the previous year. In at least one-third of the schools the average attendance exceeded 90 per cent, of the roll number, while the average obtained by all the schools—Bs-2 per .cent. —is to be regarded as very satisfactory when bearing in mind the peculiar conditions attaching to Maori schools. In addition to the village schools there are six mission schools which are annually inspected and examined by the Department's officers. These are Otaki,

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