E.—l.

The payments made to Education Boards for primary education out of the proceeds from education reserves in 1907 amounted to £47,385 4s. Bd., as compared with £47,406 2s. lid. for the previous year. The revenues of the Boards are not, however, increased thereby, as equal "amounts are deducted from the grants otherwise payable by the Government. The payments for primary education were distributed among the several Education Boards as follows : Auckland, £3,588 155.; Taranaki, £1,424 3s. 6d.; Wanganui, £2,725 3s. 2d.; Wellington, £3,750 13s. 4d.; Hawke's Bay, £3,889 55.; Marlborough, £240; Nelson, £635 45.; Grey, £88; North Canterbury, £14,586 35.; South Canterbury £3,440 55.; Otago, £9,196 10s. 7d.; Southland, £3,821 2s. Id. The payments for secondary education from reserves under the control, of the School Commissioners amounted to £4,353 13s. 7d., as compared with £3,700 15s. 9d. for 1906. This money is distributed by the Commissioners among the governing bodies of secondary schools in the provincial district in proportion to the number of pupils in average attendance at these secondary schools, exclusive of those in any preparatory department.

Table G2. —Income and Cost of Administration of School Commissioners.

Table G2 shows the total income from education reserves for the 1898-1907, and the cost of administration by the School Commissioners for the same period. In comparing these figures with those for 1897-1906, published in last year's report, it will be seen that the total income amounted in the last ten years to £572,119, as against £556,071 for 1897-1906, an increase of £16,048. The percentage of cost of administration shows a slight decrease 676, as compared with 687. It may be noted, however, that in Westland more than a quarter of the total income for the last ten years has been absorbed bv the expenses of administration. The School Journal. Although the powers of an Education Board in prescribing the school-books to be used m the district under its control are limited by the provisions of an Order in Council, considerable diversity nevertheless exists in the text-books used in the several districts, and parents have complained that removal from one education district to another, and even from one school to another frequentlv involves the purchase of an entirely new set of school-books In order to alleviate such a hardship, and with a view to relieving parents generally of part of the cost of providing books, it was decided in 1906 that the Department should publish a School Journal for free distribution to schools The School Journal is published in three parts-viz., Part I (sixteen pages), for Classes I and II; Part II (sixteen pages), for Classes 111 and IV; and Part 111 (thirty-two pages) . for Classes V and VI. Public schools, Native schools, and special schools (such as industrial schools) are supplied with free XfS a i M 7 °4P™ te 2 nd . secondary schools purchase copies at the rate of id. per copy for Part I, and Id. for Parts II and 111

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Provincial District. Total Income for the Ten Years 1898-1907 inclusive. Cost of Administration for the Ten Years 1898-1907. Cost of Administration Per Cent, of Income. .uckland 'aranaki Vellington lawke's Bay larlborough lelson Vestland lanterbury Itago £ 44,681 34,948 54,311 43,759 3,366 12,466 3,673 177,277 197,638 £ 3,542 4,124 4,786 2,846 303 807 992 6,207 15,091 £ 7-93 11-80 8-81 6-50 9-00 6-47 27-01 3-50 7-64 Totals for 1898-1907 .. Totals for 1897-1906 .. 572,119 556,071 38,698 38,212 6-76 6-87