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48. Mr. Smith.] I think you said there were twenty schools with under 15 pupils ?—There are twenty-three under 15, including aided schools. 49. Do you know the lowest number attending any one school ?—I think the lowest would be at the half-time school at Bealey, which has an attendance of 6. There are two, I see, of 7, and one of 8. 50. Could your Board grant assistance to any smaller number if it was asked for ?—The practice of the Board has been to grant assistance where there are two or three families—not for one family. 51. If a settler lives in a particularly out-of-the-way part of the country, and has five children, you would not grant him any assistance at all ?—No ; the Board consider that if there is one family only the State should not provide for instructing those children. 52. He would be deprived from all benefit of the Education Act ? —Yes. 53. Mr. Hill] What number of schools are there in your district with an average attendance of between 21 and 25?— There are twenty-two schools of 20 and under 25. 54. Could you tell us the average attendance of those schools ?—Not at the moment. They would have to be picked out of the list. 55. Perhaps you could supply me with that later on ?—Yes. 56. Mr. Lethbridge.] Have you a house for your teachers at all the schools?— Not for all of them. 57. Do you give house allowance to the teachers where there are no houses ?—Yes. 58. What is your annual grant for building? —Approximately, between £5,500 and £6,000. 59. Have you ever considered giving house allowance out of that grant instead of out of capitation ?—No. I fancy that some years ago the Board were in communication with the department on the subject, and the department would not allow any of the building grant to be used for that purpose. 60. I suppose you pay all the teachers ? —Until recently all the teachers were paid through the Committees, but at the present time about one-third of them are paid direct. 61. Mr. Hogben.] Can you furnish the Commission with the Board's expenses for the three years 1898, 1899, and 1900?— Yes. All the returns are based on the working-average. 62. I see you have in Canterbury twenty-two schools with an average attendance of under 15 —of that eleven are aided schools ?—There are twenty-three altogether. Twelve are not aided and eleven are aided schools. 63. Which quarter was that ?—At the end of 1900. 64. There are twelve district schools having under 15 pupils ?—Yes. 65. Have you gone into the question of the amount that is available for the Board's expenses after the payment of teachers ?—Yes, I may say I have. 66. What do you make that to be for the year 1900 ? What was available after deducting what was required for teachers' salaries and allowances last year ?—The cost per head of teachers' salaries and allowances last year was £3 2s. 4|d., and the capitation was £3 15s. 67. Did that include the payment for the instruction of pupil-teachers ? —Yes. 68. And house allowances?— Yes. 69. Then, the balance is available for the general expenses of the Board?— The balance remaining was insufficient for the expenses of the Board. 70. How much did the Board go to the bad last year ?—They finished up with a liability of £2,000, or a little over. 71. Was that all acquired last year? —No. 72. How much was?— The new scale came into operation about April, I think. 73. Does the other expenditure include the cost of the Normal School ?—Yes. 74. The salaries of the teachers, or were they included in the general salaries?— The salaries of Normal School teachers are included in the return of the teachers' salaries. 75. Just the salaries of the Normal School ?—Not the training department. 76. That is in the general expenses of the Board ?—Yes. 77. Did the Board pay for any technical instruction or kindergarten work?—lt paid for manual and technical instruction £142 4s. 4d., and the receipts were £119 Bs. 6d. 78. Are you in a position to answer this question : Would the other expenditure of the Board amount to as much as £9,632 with the manual and technical instruction and the cost of the Normal School deducted ?—Yes, it would amount to more than that. 79. Have you included scholarships in that ?—No. 80. Nor building expenses at all ?—No. 81. Can you give me the figures ?—Yes. Putting on one side the teachers' salaries and the training department of the Normal School, the balance would be £11,168. 82. What was the amount of capitation paid to the Board last year?—£so,l7l. Then, to that has to be added the payments of the School Commissioners, £12,835. 83. Teachers' salaries amounted to how much?—£s2,32o 2s. lid. 84. Have you deducted the cost to the Board of manual and technical instruction ?—The cost of that to the Board was not £100. 85. Then, roughly speaking, about £10,500 was available for the general expenses of the Board, and they came to over £11,000? —Yes. The training grant of £500 would, of course, have to be deducted from the £1,847, leaving the net cost of the training department at £1,347. 86. And the rest of the details you will be able to show us in a return ?—I have here a statement of the receipts and expenditure based on the allowances under the proposed colonial scale, and on the actual expenditure for 1900. [Exhibit 27.] 87. Mr. Weston.] With respect to the incidental expenses in this statement, the figures represent £6,699 12s. Id: has that amount been found sufficient for North Canterbury?— Generally speaking, yes. I think there is some doubt with regard to the three large schools.