B. — 6

STATE FIRE INSURANCE. The results of the past year's operations of this Office are very satisfactory. The increase of business is the greatest attained in any year since the establishment of the Office, and the underwriting surplus the largest yet recorded. The increase in the sum underwritten, amounted, to £2,700,000, bringing the total for the year of renewals and new business to nearly £22,000,000. The gross surplus for the year 1917 amounts to £40,610, which has been allocated as follows : Unearned premium, reserve, £3,085 ; investment fluctuation reserve, £1,000 ; leaving a surplus of £36,525. The income-tax, however, which for the first time has been applied to this Office, amounted to £13,924, and this amount has to Ik; deducted from the above-mentioned surplus, leaving a net balance on the year's operations of £22,601. The total income for 1917 amounted to £91,381, as against £82,695 for 1919. The total accumulated funds of the Office at the close of the year 1917 amounted to £182,645, as against £.155,959 for the previous year. The total assets of the Office rose from £166,880 in 1916 to £208,220 in 1917. GOVERNMENT PRINTING AND STATIONERY DEPARTMENT. Prices of paper, stationery, and materials used in connection with the printing trade still continue to advance, and in some cases the advance is from 300 to 400 per cent, over pre-war prices. This will necessitate a considerable increase in the vote for this Department, as paper and stores must be obtained, and the tendency is for the prices to rise even higher than they are to-day. The matter is still further complicated by the difficulty in obtaining deliveries by reason of the shipping shortage. The total value of the printing-work for the year was £127,196, and the value of the stationery supplied to Departments was £27,767. PUBLIC SERVICE SUPERANNUATION FUND. During the year ended 31st December, 1917, retiring-allowances aggregating £14,371 per annum were granted to eighty-one contributors retired by reason of age or length of service ; seventeen contributors who retired as medically unfit were granted allowances amounting to £1,252 per annum ; fifty-two widows and sixty-three children were granted the statutory allowances, totalling £1,755 per annum ; seventy-three allowance's, amounting to £5,380, were discontinued. The total number of existing allowances at the end of the year was 1,373, representing an aggregate annual payment of £100,389. The total amount invested to the ,j* 31st December, 1917, was £976,405, yielding interest at an average of 5j per cent. The total number of contributors to the fund on date was 13,784. EDUCATION. The Education estimates for the current financial year show a considerable increase over the amount expended during the previous year. This is due primarily to statutory provisions resulting from the steadily increasing school population of the Dominion, which necessitates greater expenditure year by year in teachers' salaries, the maintenance of buildings and other services, more particularly in connection with our elementary schools. During the year, in anticipation of parliamentary sanction, small additions were made to the emoluments of pupilteachers, probationers, and teachers in training. In the case of these young people the position demanded prompt action, as the attractions of other occupations were cutting off the supply of applicants. The most pressing education need at the present time is an adequate supply of properly trained teachers, and no important step in educational progress can be made until a large increase in the number of efficient teachers has been secured. It is impossible to bring about the important reform of reducing the size of the large classes in our "city schools because of the acute shortage of teachers and the difficulty of securing the proper type of young people for the teaching profession. Again, if we are to attain a higher standard of individual and national efficiency, the scope of compulsory education must be extended so as to include young people up to the age of ..sixteen or seventeen, who, during the most formative years of their lives, should be required to continue their education in order to become better fitted as

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