E.—l3

11. Exteact feom Twenty-second Annual Report of the Ministee of Education. Previous to the vote of last session granting .£2,000 for aid to public libraries, there had been no vote for that purpose since 1886, when the amount for distribution was £4,000. In the division of the vote for 1886 a nominal addition of £25 was made to the amount of the income of each library derived from subscriptions, donations, and rates, provided that the receipts for the year were not less than £2, and the vote was divided according to the amounts thus augmented. In the present instance, in order to secure a fair share to the smaller libraries, the total subsidy being smaller, the further limitation was made that no library should receive credit for a larger income than £75 —that is, in no case should the augmented amount on which distribution was based exceed £100. In accordance with a Gazette notice of the 25th November, 1898, the day appointed for the distribution of the subsidy was the Bth February, 1899, and on that date the amount of the vote was divided among the 285 libraries from which applications, each accompanied by a statutory declaration on the proper form, had been received. The result was that a dividend of 3s. 3 - 3 d. was given for each pound of the sum on which each library's share was calculated. The possible minimum was thus £4 Bs. 5d., and the maximum amount paid to any library was £16 7s. 7d. Some libraries supplied with the proper forms failed to send in formal claims by the 31st January, the date fixed by the Gazette notice, and did not therefore participate in the vote. The number of libraries aided in February, 1887, was 361; those aided this year were 285 in number; possibly the cessation of the grant between 1887 and 1898 led to a loss of interest in the case of some of the smaller libraries, resulting in their extinction. The following table shows the distribution according to education districts: —

Summary of Distribution of Public Libraries Subsidy.

III.—List showing Distribution of Subsidy in Detail. [The word "Income" here means income from rates, subscriptions and donations, and net proceeds of lectures, entertainments, &c., for the year 1898.]

2

Education Districts. Number of Libraries. SuSsTaSJed.J of Subsidy. Auckland Taranaki Wanganui Wellington Hawkc's Bay .. Marlborough Nelson Grey Westland North Canterbury South Canterbury Otago Southland 70 7 15 16 22 4 24 4 5 49 11 41 17 £ a. d. 1,837 1 11 227 11 7 1,192 17 9 2,403 17 9 453 0 0 128 5 9 325 0 7 109 11 6 81 19 6 1,544 13 7 371 18 5 777 18 8 193 16 5 £ s. d. 453 1 1 55 14 2 133 18 11 158 7 8 163 1 5 37 7 11 148 0 0 34 6 6 33 18 0 321 7 8 89 7 9 270 2 1 101 7 3 Totals 285 9,647 8 5 2,000 0 0

Library. Income. Subsidy. Library. Income. Subsidy. Auokl. .ro. £ s. d. 6 5 3 5 16 5 4 8 5 6 17 8 16 7 7 4 11 8 14 10 11 9 11 7 6 16 9 6 10 3 6 8 11 7 19 0 5 11 1 10 9 5 Auckland —. continued. Alexandra Aponga Arapohue Arataiiu Auckland Bombay Cambridge Dargaville Gordon Settlement Hamilton Helensville Hikurangi Hoteo North Huntlv £ s. d. 13 4 11 10 11 0 2 0 0 16 17 9 794 5 4 3 0 0 63 15 10 38 9 6 16 15 0 14 15 0 14 7 3 23 10 6 8 18 0 38 18 4 Kaeo Kaipara Plats Kaitaia Katikati Kaiwaka Kaukapakapa Kawakawa Kuaotunu Lichfield Lucas Creek Maburangi Mangapai Mareretu Matakana Lower .. £ a. d. £ a. d. 9 4 3 5 12 1 5 3 0 4 18 9 8 0 0 5 8 1 21 8 10 7 12 1 2 0 0 4 8 5 5 5 0 4 19 1 16 15 6 6 16 10 8 4 0 5 8 9 6 7 0 5 2 8 2 3 6 4 9 0 24 3 3 8 10 14 11 6 6 9 8 5 0 0 4 18 3 2 10 0 4 10 1