E.—2

APPENDIX B. EXTRACT FROM THE THIRTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION. EDUCATION RESERVES. On the 31st March, 1911, the School Commissioners teased to hold office, under the provisions ill the Education Reserves Amendment Act, 1910, which provided, inter alia, that on the Ist April, 1911, the date on which the Act came into force, the School Commissioners appointed under the principal Act should cease to hold office, and that all reserves and endowments hitherto vested in them should be vested in the Crown and dealt with by the Land Board of the district in which they were situated. Accordingly in future years the statistics in regard to education reserves will be set out in this report in a somewhat different form. The cordial thanks of all those interested in the progress and development of education in this Dominion are due to the gentlemen who have so ably and unselfishly carried out in the past the important work of administering the education reserves, primary and secondary, in the several districts. Tables Gl, Gla, and Glb give a summary of the accounts of the. School Commissioners, which are also given in full in the same appendix. These accounts may be presented in outline as follows :— TABLE G. (a.) Receipts and Expenditure of School Commissioners, 1910. Receipts, & Expenditure. £ Balances, Ist January, 1910 .. .. 14,002 Offioe expenses and salaries .. .. 2,273 Receipts— . Other expenses of management .. .. 2,439 Primary reserves .. .. .. 59,990 Paid for primary education.. .. .. 53,032 Seoondary reserves .. .. .. 6,168 Paid for secondary education .. .. 4,198 Investments'repaid .. .. .. 4,560 Investments and refunds .. .. .. 14,852 Interest .. .. .. .. 2,335 I Balances, 31st December, 1910 .. .. 10,647 Sundries .. .. .. .. 386 Total .. .. .. £87,441 Total .. .. .. £87,441 (b.) Cash Assets and Liabilities of School Commissioners, 31st December, 1910. Liabilities. £ Assets. £ Amounts due to Capital Account .. .. 1,292 Arrears of rent and interest due .. .. 7,880 Other liabilities .. .. .. .. 8,628 Balance at bank .. .. .. £10,969 Net balance, 31st Deoember, 1910 .. .. 48,227 On mortgage .. .. .. 39,348 50,317 Total .. .. .. £58,147 Total .. .. .. £58,147 Balance brought down, let January, 1911, £48,J27. The payments made to Education Boards for primary education out of proceeds from education reserves during the year amounted to £53,032, as compared with £55,367 for the previous year. The revenues of the Boards are not, however, increased by this amount, for the Government deducts a like amount from grants payable to the Boards. The payments made by the School Commissioners to the governing bodies of the various secondary schools are shown in Table K7 of the secondary-education report (E.-6), and amounted during the year to £4,198, as against £4,628 in 1909. This sum was distributed to the various secondary schools within the district administered by the School Commissioners in proportion to the number of pupils in average attendance at these secondary schools, exclusive of those in any lower department. The cost of administration during 1909 and 1910 is as follows : — 1909. 1910. £ £ Total net income .. .. .. .. .. 65,708 68,515 Cost of administration .. .. .. .. 4,522 4,712 Cost of administration per cent, of income .. .. 6-88 6-88 Table G2 shows the total income from education reserves for the several districts for the ten years 1901-10, and the cost of administration for the same period. Summarized, this appears as follows, the figures for the period 1900-9 being inserted for purposes of comparison :— 1900-9. 1901-10. £ £ Total income for ten years .. .. .. .. 587,003 608,005 Cost of administration for ten years .. .. .. 37,537 37,840 Cost of administration per cent, of income .. .. 6-39 6-22 As will lie seen from these figures, the decrease in the cost of administration, which was noticed lust year in connection with the figures for 1900—9, is this yeai still more marked. In one or two districts, however, the cost of administration was very high.

i —E. 2 (App. B).