E.—l

XII

of the year, which were reduced in the course of the twelve months from £37,400 15s. 9d. to £11,532 15s 4d., or to the extent of £25,868. The Boards' general statements of accounts appended to their annual reports include information respecting the grants received from the special vote for schoolbuildings, and the amounts expended by them during the year. A summary of these accounts is contained in the Appendix, Tables IS os. 1 and 2. The following table, compiled from the Boards' statements of expenditure, shows, under different heads, the amounts expended on school-buildings by the several Boards during the year:—

TABLE L.—School-Buildings Expenditure.

Table L shows that, while the sum of £35,581 9s. 2d. was expended on new buildings, no less a sum than £22,866 Bs. lid. was devoted to the enlargement and improvement of existing ones, and that the cost of plans, specifications, supervision, &c, was at the rate of 4- 6 per cent, on the gross expenditure on buildings. Nearly all the Boards in their reports refer to the inadequacy of the moneys placed at their disposal for the erection and improvement of school-buildings. Inspection op Schools. The annual reports made to the several Boards by the Inspectors furnish a large amount of information respecting the state of education in the public schools of the different Board districts. In addition to the information supplied by the Inspectors with regard to the passes in standards, an annual return is obtained from the Boards showing the classification according to standards in the last quarter of the year. This classification is given in Table M, and sets forth the teachers' judgment of the proficiency of the scholars at the time it was made. The Appendix, Table 5, furnishes the same information respecting the several Board districts:—

TABLE M.—Classification according to Standards in the Last Quarter of 1882.

This table shows that, in the judgment of the teachers, 46-47 per cent, of their scholars were not yet fit to pass in Standard I. This proportion is somewhat

Educatioh Distkicts. o d £p § . 3 3 2 > on « fl o en a i Mn School T _ 4. Furniture and Plans, Improvements, Appliimees p tlr chase of Supervision, ■RmlSfftn 1 not included Bites. and otter Kepairs, &c. in the Expenses. preceding. Expenditure in 1882 upon Total. New Buildings. Auckland Taranaki Wanganui Wellington Hawte's Bay Marlborough Nelson ... North Canterbury South Canterbury "Westland 189 37 61 50 35 26 78 134 39 37 159 66 102 19 46 30 21 14 29 122 32 15 147 59 36 3 4 5 7 7 9 3 1 4 10 2 £ s. d. 5,656 14 0 1,611 14 0 3,038 0 1 1,843 13 0 1,259 5 3 874 19 9 1,613 15 9 3,170 11 2 2,851 15 6 223 0 0 10,592 9 2 2,845 11 6 £ s. d. 4,206 15 4 197 6 3 2,008 7 3 1,107 5 0 742 5 1 393 16 11 2,138 0 6 7,678 8 5 1,095 9 8 973 1 3 811 16 4 1,513 17 4 £ s. d. £ s. d. 1,448 0 42,195 12 10 5 8 0 88 12 8 329 15 3 418 5 3 200 0 o: 371 4 Oj 460 0 0 66 0 0 207 0 11 160 13 6 22 13 0 995 12 6' 201 1 6 217 15. 2j 131 5 6 270 13 4 1 222 18 7 580 12 51,340 15 0 93 5 8 59 13 2 £ s. d. R31 11 8 97 15 6 278 7 1 180 0 9 137 13 11 61 16 0 £ s. d. 14,138 14 2 2.000 16 5 5,654 9 8 3,749 4 0 2,970 8 3 1,603 13 7 3,935 2 9 12,691 13 11 4,529 18 8 1,808 13 11 14,098 7 3 4,671 2 2 646 0 4 233 13 3 119 0 9 772 14 4 158 14 6 Otago Southland Totals for 1882 Totals for 1881 911 869 636 604 92 96 35,581 9 2 27,359 4 0 22.866 8 11 19,552 2 1 4,957 5 5 5,129 13 2 4,902 0 32,949 19 8 3,317 8 1 3,491 6 6 71,852 4 9 58,254 12 6 Increase Decrease 42 32 8,222 5 2 3,314 6 10 .. 55 5 22,179 13 6 173 18 5 13,597 12 4

Standards. Boys. Girls. Totals. Porci itage. Coo young for line next following Preparing for Standard I. „ II. ... ., HI- ... „ IV. - „ v. ... „ vi. ... Passed Standard VI. -■<£ 12,631 8,858 7,151 7,081 5,108 2,694 1,158 401 11.188 7,834 6,902 6,821 5,100 2,724 1,141 381 23,819 16,692 14,053 13,902 10,214 5,418 2,299 782 1882. 27-32 19-15 16-12 15-95 11-72 621 2-64 0-89 1881. 25-45 20-32 16-83 17-14 11-44 5-73 238 0-71 Totals for 1882 Totals'for 1881 45,082 43,484 42,097 40,103 87,179 83,587 100 100