5

E.—9

ments, £20,260 received as school fees, £3,362 as boarding-school fees, £69 as interest, and Government grants amounting to £2,825; but not including balances, refunds, sales, withdrawal of investments, and other matters of account. Intimation has been made to the high schools accustomed to receive grants from Parliament that aid in this form is no longer to be expected. The proposals referred to in last year's report for the establishment of a general system of examination for the upper forms of the secondary schools have not found favour with the headmasters. A conference of masters was held in Nelson in February, 1888, at which resolutions were passed as follows : — " That this conference is not at present prepared to suggest any practical scheme for the regular examination of secondary schools, and. is of opinion that the entrance examination of the New Zealand University should be used as far as possible as a test examination of the highest forms." " That the Senate of the New Zealand University be respectfully requested to give every encouragement to high schools, by cheapening and localising the matriculation and junior scholarship examinations, so that they may be used to test the work of the ordinary fifth and sixth forms."

AUCKLAND COLLEGE AND GEAMMAE SCHOOL. 1. Bepobt of the Board. 1. Board. —Of the Board of Governors of the Auckland College and Grammar School the Chairman is the Hon. Sir George Maurice O'Eorke, 8.A., Speaker of the House of Eepresentatives; and the Vice-Chairman is the Hon. Colonel Theodore Minet Haultain. The Board consists in all of ten members. The Mayor of the City of Auckland is a member of the Board ex officio. Three members are elected by the Auckland Board of Education; three are elected by a constituency made up of the members of the Legislative Council usually resident within the Provincial District of Auckland, and the members of the House of Eepresentatives for the electorates of the same provincial district; and three are elected by the Senate of the University of New Zealand. The present members of the Board are as follows :Ex officio : Mr. Albert E. T. Devore, Mayor. Elected by Board of Education : Mr. Thoophilus Cooper, Mr. J. M. Lennox, and Mr. Samuel Luke. Elected, by members of the General Assembly: Sir G. M. O'Eorke, 8.A., Mr. Graves Aickin, and Mr. J. H. Upton. Elected by Senate: The Hon. Colonel Haultain; Eev. CM. Nelson, M.A.; Hon. J. A. Tole, 8.A., LL.B. 2. Staff. —A list of the teaching staff is given in the " Answers to inquiries." At the beginning of 1887 Mr. A. Inkersley, M.A., resigned, and, no appointment of a successor being made, the number of the staff was to that extent reduced. In the second term Mr. E. Dickson, M.A., resigned in consequence of failing health, and soon afterwards died. In his place, after some temporary arrangements, Mr. D. Davenport, B.A. (Oxon.), was appointed. 3. lioll. —A further diminution in the number of pupils has occurred, which is attributable to the continued depression in trade. In the last term of 1886 the number was 202, and in the last term of 1887 the number was 166. 4. Scholarships, &c. —The examination for district scholarships held in August, 1886, was conducted under the new regulations adopted by the Board of Education; and the district scholars so appointed, both the senior scholars and the junior, have proved themselves to be boys of much promise. It is considered that under these regulations the scholarships will be found to be much more useful than before. The Board of Governors had announced that free tuition in this school would be granted in each year to a certain number (six) of holders of certificates obtained in the examinations for district scholarships. After the examination of 1886 application for admission was made on behalf of one such candidate; in 1887 there has been none. The foundation scholarships established by the Board of Governors are yielding excellent results; as are also the Eawlings scholarships. 5. Examinations. —For the general examination of the school the Board has not deemed it necessary in the past year to call in examiners from outside. The Inspector-General has visited the school, and his report is, as before, satisfactory. He expresses himself thus: "The quality of the work done in this school is steadily improving." 6. Drawing, Worksliop, &c. —Attention has been paid, as heretofore, to freehand, geometrical and, especially, mechanical drawing. Good results have been obtained in the workshop. 7. Night-school. —In July, 1887, a communication was received from the Auckland Board of Education, notifying that a free night-school had been successfully opened in the Newton East District schoolhouse, and requesting this Board to co-operate by providing the services of a teacher of science. To this request the Board of Governors acceded; and Mr. H. J. Carson, natural science master in the Auckland College and Grammar School, was appointed to be science master in the free night-school. The average attendance at his classes there has been a small fraction less than one hundred. 8. Gymnastics. —Some slight addition has been recently made to the supply of gymnastic apparatus. During the winter term, and in the first half of the summer term, a voluntary class was successfully conducted by Mr. Carrollo at his gymnasium, the fees of which were paid by the pupils.