E.—l

36

The value of residences, and board and residence, and of house allowance when payable, is excluded from the above figures. Of 214 male assistants the salaries of nineteen were over £500, of fifty-six between £400 and £501, of sixty-nine between £300 and £401, and of seventy below £301. Of 194 female assistants the salaries of nineteen were over £350, of thirty-eight between £300 and £351, of fifty-five between £250 and £301, and of eighty-two under £251. In considering these figures it should be borne in mind that nearly one-third of the teachers are classified in the lowest grade, and that many have had no training in teaching and no teaching experience whatever. In the secondary departments of district high schools salaries are paid in accordance with a general scale. The average salaries paid to secondary assistants in 1922 were as follows : Male assistants, £302 ; female assistants, £289 ; all assistants, £294. The total annual rate of salaries paid to teachers of district high schools, including the special payments to head teachers, was £35,566, which is equivalent to £13 10s. per head of the average weekly roll number. Lower Departments of Secondary Schools. . (Table K.ll in E.-6.) Lower departments for pupils who have not passed S6 may be held in connection with secondary schools, provided that no part of the cost of instruction or of the maintenance of the department is met out of income from the endowments of the school or from Government grants. Twelve secondary schools (including Christ's College, Christchurch) have lower departments attached to them, two such departments having been closed in 1922. The total number of pupils in 1922 was 590, as compared with 774 in 1921. The roll number included 344 boys and 246 girls, and the total number of teachers was twenty-three (eight males and fifteen females). A large number of the pupils board at the school hostels, indicating that these departments are used by the children of country residents able to afford to send their children away from home to attend school. The tuition fees charged. average £11 per annum and the boarding fees £50. Finance. (See also Tables K7-K9 in E.-6.) The income of secondary schools is derived from the following sources : — (i.) Rents from special reserves allocated to them by statute : (ii.) Statutory grant given in lieu of special reserves (in one case) : (iii.) Interest upon moneys derived from the sale of reserves and invested in accordance with the Education Reserves Act: (iv.) Income from the secondary-school reserves controlled by the Land Boards divided among the secondary schools in the several land districts in proportion to the number of pupils in average attendance Jower departments excluded) : (v.) Government payments — (a) For teachers' salaries and incidental expenses ; \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-fees of pupils : (ix.) Miscellaneous sources, such as interest on moneys, donations, and income from special endowments (for scholarships, prizes, &c), rent of premises, &c. The revenue derived from sources (i) to (iv) is the income from endowments, the " net annual income derived from endowments" being this sum less the expenditure incurred in connection with the endowments and school property and upon building purposes approved by the Minister. The " net annual income " and receipts from tuition fees are deducted from the amount payable to the High School Board by the Department for salaries.