E.—6

6

(v.) Government payments — (a) Statutory capitation upon free pupils under the Act; (b) subsidies on voluntary contributions ; (c) capitation for manual-instruction classes : (vi.) Special Government grants for buildings and apparatus : (vii.) Tuition fees of pupils : (viii.) Boarding pupils^: (ix.) Mscellaneous|_sources, such as interest|on|moneys (other than those obtained by the sale of reserves), donations, and special endowments (for scholarships, prizes, &c), rent of premises, loans raised, &c. The revenue derived from the sources (i) to (iv) is the income derived from endowments, and the " net annual income derived from endowments " is the average of this revenue for the three preceding years, less the expenditure upon the endowments and investments upon buildings approved by the Minister, and less mortgage and other charges. Capitation, payments are made on a sliding scale according to the net annual income of a school from endowments, the maximum payment per free pupil being £13 10s. per annum. In addition a lump sum of £100 is paid to each secondary school. Certain conditions as to staffing and salaries of teachers have to be fulfilled before full rates of payment on account of the attendance of free pupils can be claimed. . The question of extending the provisions for secondary education sometimes raises the question of endowments. It should be pointed out that all secondary schools are not on the same footing with respect to endowments; the net annual income from endowments of one-half of the schools is nil, while in the case of the others it ranges from about £29 to £2,238 per annum. As indicated above, however, the difference is adjusted by the Government making the capitation grant on a sliding scale, which varied in 1915 from £6 12s. to £13 10s. per free pupil. The result is that the sum of the net income from endowments and the capitation grant is practically the same for all schools. Nearly the whole of the endowments consists of grants of public lands. The following is a summary of the receipts and expenditure of all secondary schools for the year 1915 :— Summary of the Accounts of Income and Expenditure for 1915 furnished by the Governing Bodies of Secondary Schools. Receipts. Expenditure. £ s. d. £ s. d. Credit balances on Ist January, 1915 . . 31,018 10 9 Debit balances on Ist January, 1915 .. 20,238 14 0 Endowment reserves sold, mortgage- School salaries .. .. .. 87,681 15 10 moneys repaid, and insurances .. 166 14 8 Incidental expenses — Rents, &c, of reserves vested in Boards 40,412 15 7 Office expenses and salaries (excluding Secondary-education reserves.. .. 8,034 II 4 endowments) .. .. .. 3,752 1 I Interest on moneys invested .. .. 1,561 15 11 Material, printing, stationery, adverGovernment payments— tising, cleaning, games, prizes, &c. 9,775 12 8 Capitation for free places, and subsidies 68,31.6 0 6 Expenditure on manual instruction, Capitation and subsidies for manual exclusive of buildings and equipinstruction .. .. .. 1,802 15 10 mont .. .. .. .. 1,148 2 10 Grants for buildings, sites, furniture, Lands, buildings, furniture, insurance, apparatus, &c. .. .. .. 3,414 18 3 rent, and rates .. .. .. 38,760 1 2 Statutory grant (Marlborough High Expenditure in endowments, including School) .. .. .. 400 0 0 proportion of office expenses .. 6,327 4 1 Teohnioal instruction (receipts from Go- Interest, repayment of mortgages and vernment and other sources) .. 2,579 19 4 investments .. .. .. 16,660 1 5 School fees (tuition).. .. .. 19,477 0 6 Boarding-sohool Account .. ;. 24,544 9 4 Boarding-school fees, &c. .. .. 33,162 9 0 Expenditure on technical instruction .. 2,665 7 0 Transfers from Capital Account, loans Advances to pupils, and sundries, unand sundries not classified .. .. 14,200 II 7 classified.. .. .. .. 10,045 18 9 Debit balances, 31st December, 1915, .. 22,219 2 4 Credit balances, 31st December, 1915 .. 25,108 3 5 £246,767 11 7 £246,767 II 7 It will be observed that the net credit balance of all Boards at the end of 1915 * was £2,949, as compared with £10,780 at the end of 1914. The decrease is largely due to the expenditure on buildings, which amounted to £38,760, against which Government grants of only £3,415 were paid. The account in connection with boarding-estabhshments shows a profit in the aggregate of £8,618, although in a number of instances the finances of such establishments are not in the hands of the