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176. Do you think you will have any difficulty in the future in obtaining duly qualified male teachers ? —Yes. 177. Mr. Hill] What is the limit of average attendance for which you give a salary of £56 ? —For an average of 10 the salary would be £60; an average of 12, £64. 178. Have you estimated the actual number of schools in your district carried on at a loss ?—■ Yes ; ten. 179. Have you estimated the amount lost ?—On some we lose as much as £40, and on others £10. I think the average would be £25 on each of the ten schools, or, say, at least £200 a year. 180. Do you consider it is right for your B° ar( i t0 P a y a salary of £56 a year in a school where the average attendance is only 6 ?—Yes". I consider that the teacher should be maintained at not less than £75. 181. Do you think the Board should pay that £75 ?—Yes, Ido ; and we would be willing to pay it if we had the money to do so. 182. Do you make an effort in your district to foster the giving of grants by parents who are residents ?—No; I do not think it would be right to call on the parents, unless if it were in a school of 5 or 6 in attendance. 183. Do you think there is an amount of teaching-power lost in these small schools?—l do not see why the children should be uneducated because they live in those out-of-the-way places. 184. What was the whole of the average attendance last year for your district ? —I have the average attendance of each school, and will hand it in to the Commission. Approximately, I think the average for the whole of the schools was 1,455, although I cannot say for certain. 185. Then, at a capitation of £3 15s. it would give you £5,456 ss. ? —Yes. 186. And as your expenses are £4,870 19s. 6d. there should be a balance in hand ? —But we have to pay our departmental expenses out of that. 187. Then, the difference would represent departmental expenses? —Yes. 187 a. What sum have you for buildings ?—£9oo this year. In the case of the Cobden we will have to take a certain amount out of the ordinary fund, as the schools have been condemned. 188. Do you recognise that as being legal?—No; but it is only a temporary loan. 189. How are your schools inspected in the district?— Our Inspector lives at Feilding. He comes here twice a year, and is here from eight to ten weeks. 190. What do you pay him a year ? —£2oo. 191. Do you think that is an effective method of controlling your schools ?—I think that the Inspector should be appointed by the Government. 192. Do you not think it is possible for you to have one Inspector to do the whole of the work for the Coast ?—Yes. 193. And control your schools more efficiently ?—Yes. 194. Your present Inspector is like an absentee landlord?—No; he is on the road pretty well all the time. 195. I understood you to say that the Inspector's duties and the secretary's duties would be carried on better by one man ?—No ; I said that the duties would be carried on at less cost. I •said I thought there should be one Education Board for the whole of the West Coast, including Westport, Beefton, Hokitika, and Greymouth. 196. Do you not think there should be one Inspector ?—I think so. It is a matter of opinion. 197. Mr.' Lethbridge.] What do you pay your Committee ?—A very small amount—about £150 a year. 198. Do they find that sufficient ?—No ; they have to augment it by getting up concerts, subscriptions, and so on. 199. Mr. Hogben.] What schools do you find are carried on at a loss ?—Schools with an attendance from 8 to 12. 200. Is there any school under 35 in your district that pays ?—ln the ease of the Kokin School it would just about pay for itself, the average attendance being 36 and the salary paid £96. The bonus would bring the latter up to £130. 201. Do you pay a male teacher £96? —No; a female teacher. A male teacher would receive £110 and bonus. 202. Then, the capitation grant of £3 15s. on that school, with an attendance of 36, would amount to £135 ?—Yes. We have been making a little on that school, but there should be a pupilteacher receiving £20. 203. That would bring the total to £155 ?—Yes. 204. Seven shillings a head for office expenses would give another £12 ?—Yes. 205. The total would then be £167?— Yes. 206. And the £5 for the Committee would bring the total to £172 ?—Yes. 207. Then, the capitation grant being £135, if that school were staffed properly you would lose on it under your scale ?—Yes. 208. The schools you lose on are simply schools under 10 ? —On the No Town school we lose the most. 209. You still lose on schools up to 35, and probably beyond 35 ?— We have not done so, because we have not been paying the teachers the salaries they are entitled to. 210. If the schools were staffed as they should be, and you paid the salaries according to your scale, you would lose on the schools?— Yes. 211. With regard to the expenses of the Board, could you give me the net expenditure of the Board for the last three years, exclusive of all allowances —such as teachers' salaries and allowances, house allowance, training of teachers and pupil-teachers, technical education, and so on— and inclusive of office staff and salaries, Inspector's salary, incidental expenses, &c. ?—No, I could not; but the secretary will do so.