JB.—2.

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Finance. The statement of the Board's income and expenditure for the year will be found below (page 37.) The main items of expenditure are shown below, in comparison with the figures for the previous year : —

For the conveyance of children to school and for the board of children who had to.live away from their homes in order to attend school the Board expended £4,549 135., of which the Department contributed £4,040 6s. lOd. and the Board contributed £509 6s. 2d. out of its General Fund. The expenditure shows an increase of £760 os. 2d. as compared with the previous year. Conveyance allowance was paid in respect of 635 children, and boarding-allowance for eighty-five children. The expenditure on school buildings included : General maintenance, repairs, alterations, small additions, and rents, £14,441 13s. sd. ; new buildings, £12,411 Is. lOd. ; rebuilding, £3,883 Bs. 3d. ; purchase of sites, £2,120 lis. Id. ; manual and technical purposes, £331 Bs. lOd. At 31st December, 1923, the net balance to credit of all accounts was £20,043 19s. 9d. ; the total receipts for the year 1924 amounted to £290,419 195., and the total payments to £297,446 2s. 3d. The net balance to credit at 31st December last was £13,017 16s. 6d. The Board's General Fund. —The Board regrets being compelled to report that its General Fund is proving inadequate to meet the calls upon it. For the past four years the amount of the Board's necessary expenditure upon office salaries and contingencies has exceeded by £1,800 the total departmental capitation grants it has received for administrative purposes — an average deficit of £450 per annum. In 1922 the administrative expenses of every Board in the Dominion exceeded the Government capitation grant, while in 1923 only three of the Boards managed to keep their expenditure within their income, and that only by small margins. No increase in the capitation rates for this fund has been made for many years, while, owing to the greater complexity and intricacy of educational law and administration, Boards are obliged to employ larger staffs and higher-salaried officers. In view of the foregoing, the Board is strongly of opinion that a capitation grant on a more liberal scale should now be sanctioned by the Government. Weight seems to be lent to this contention by the fact that the Department has found it necessary during the past seven years (March, 1917, to March, 1924) to increase its own office salaries and contingencies bill by 130 per cent. Agricultural Instruction.—lnstruction in elementary agriculture continued tojform an integral part of the work of the majority of the primary schools of the province, and the rural-science course has been followed in the district high schools. It is gratifying to note that each succeeding year marks an increase in the number of schools at which the garden and grounds present an improved appearance. Much, of course, still remains to be done before we approximate to our ideal in this relation, but the increasing sense of appreciation among teachers of the value of the aesthetic side of this phase of education has already been reflected in a very pleasing manner, and gives promise of the school environment becoming not the least of the elevating influences with which the child is brought into contact. As contributing to this objective, the Board's annual assistance during the past ten years in distributing trees and shrubs from the Training-college students' plots has been much appreciated by the recipient schools. School-books. —As in previous years, free grants of books were made to the children of parents in necessitous circumstances, and also to pupils coming to Otago schools from other district's where different books were in use. Supplies of suitable continuous readers were also forwarded to all schools in the district. For the purchase of school-library books and pictures for the adornment of the schoolwalls Subsidies amounting to £155 lis. were paid by the Board out of its General Fund, sixty-one schools participating in these grants. Truancy and Irregular Attendance. —Sixty-four notices were served on parents and guardians for infringements of the Education Act. Ninety-three cases of irregular attendance were investigated, and it was found that they were due more or less to illness or to unavoidable causes. For many years past the necessity for issuing penalty summonses for breaches of the Education Act has been gradually diminishing, and for the first time over a period of nearly twenty-three years it has been found unnecessary to issue any penalty summonses under the Education Act. This is a striking indication that parents are realizing the great benefits that their children receive by regular attendance at school. Junior High Schools. —During the period under review one of these schools was established in Oamaru under the control of the Waitaki High Schools Board. The arrangements under which the now school (or rather schools, for there are separate establishments for girls and boys) has been started are such as the Board will watch with great interest. It seems as if the charge of cheeseparing, so often laid against the Department, cannot be made in this case. The Board desires to make it quite clear that it has never raised any objection to the system of junior high schools, though it has criticized various details in connection with the recently established school at Oamaru. The Board hopes that

1923. 1924. Difference. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. Teachers'salaries and lodging-allowances .. 169,063 11 2 171,950 19 0 +2,887 7 10 Payments to School Committees for incidental 10,065 J3 0 10,184 8 11 +118 15 11 expenses School buildings, purchase of sites, manual and 29,176 13 1 33,188 3 5 +4,011 10 4 technical buildings and apparatus Administration .. .. .. .. 5,364 17 7 5,080 3 6 -284 14 1