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1884. NEW ZEALAND

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

Office of the Department of Education, SlB — , Wellington, 28th May, 1884. I have the honour, in accordance with the provisions of " The Education Act, 1877," to submit to your Excellency the following report upon the progress and condition of public education in New Zealand during the year ending the 31st day of December, 1883. I have, &c, His Excellency Sir William F Drummond Jervois, G C.M.G-., &c, Governor of New Zealand.

EEPOET. The Education Department was organized m the beginning of the year 1878 mainly for the administration of " The Education Act, 1877," but it is now also charged with the management of certain other educational institutions that do not come under the operation of the Act. The mam object of this report is to furnish full information concerning the "public schools" established and maintained under the Education Act, and the administration, under the Education Beserves Act, of the reserves appropriated by the General Assembly for the partial maintenance of the primary and the secondary schools. A brief summary is also given of the work of other educational institutions, fuller information respecting them being supplied in separate parliamentary papers. These papers contain reports on Native schools (E.-2), industrial schools and orphanages (E.-3), and the institution for deaf-mutes (E.-4), to all of which (except some of the industrial schools and orphanages) the Education Department sustains a relation similar to that which the Education Boards and School Committees conjointly bear to the primary schools, on the University of New Zealand (E.-5), the University of Otago (E.-6), the Canterbury College (E.-7), and the Auckland University College (E.-8); on secondary schools (E.-9), nearly all of which are required by law to make annual reports to the Minister of Education • and on the distribution of the vote of £6,000 for public libraries (E.-10). The reports of the Education Boards, and the reports by the School Commissioners of their administration of the education reserves, are contained m the Appendix to this report. The Inspector-General's report on the annual examination for teachers' certificates, and the reports of the Boards' Inspectors of Schools are printed m separate papers (E.-1a and E.-1b respectively) School Attendance. A list of all the schools in operation during the past year, with an abstract of the enrolments and the average daily attendance at each, is appended (Appendix, pages 45-58, Table No. 10) The following table contains the most important particulars of the attendance for the year in each Board district •—

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EDUCATION. SEVENTH ANNUAL EEPOET OF THE MINISTEE OF EDUCATION. [In Continuation of E.-l, 1883.]