3

L—l 3.

Maintenance— £ (a.) Wooden school buildings, 3£ per cent, on £814,850 ... ... 28,520 (b.) Brick and stone school buildings, 2 per cent, on £118,855 ... 2,377 Total ... ... ... ... ... 30,897 4. The Committee are of opinion that the following is a fair estimate of the cost of rebuilding wooden school buildings and renewing the more perishable parts of brick and stone buildings (excluding teachers' residences). This estimate is based on the assumption that the average life of a school building in wood is thirty-five years, and that the perishable parts of brick and stone buildings need renewal every forty years : — (c.) Eebuilding of wooden school buildings— 6 10 per cent, on (buildings over 30 years) £64,840 ... ... 6,484 5 per cent, on (buildings 25-30 years) £102,787 ... ... 5,139 2 per cent, on (buildings 20-25 years) £155,367 ... ... 3,107 Total ... ... ... ... ... 14,730 (d.) Renewal of parts of brick and stone buildings ... ... ... 500 Grand total ... ... ... ... ... 15,230 5. While the information available is not as complete in the case of teachers' residences as in that of other school buildings, we believe that we are justified in estimating the present cost of construction of such residences as being about one-fourth of that of other wooden school buildings. The Committee, therefore, are of opinion that such present cost may be fairly estimated as £203,713. 6. Adopting the cost of maintenance of school buildings mentioned in paragraphs 3 and 4 hereof, we are of opinion that the following is a fair estimate of the cost of maintenance and rebuilding of teachers' wooden residences and of the maintenance of brick and stone residences : — £ Maintenance ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 7,724 Eebuilding ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 3,683 Brick, maintenance ... ... ... ... ... ... 125 Total ... ... ... ... ... 11,532 7. The Committee are of opinion, therefore, that the Government should make provision for the following amounts, namely:— £ Maintenance, school buildings ... ... ... ... ... 30,897 Eebuilding school buildings ... ... ... ... ... 15,230 Maintenance, teachers' residences .. ... ... ... 7,724 Eebuilding teachers'residences ... ... ... ... ... 3,808 Total ... ... ... ... ... 57,659 8. The Committee have not provided in the above estimates for the rebuilding of schools and residences in brick and stone, as the life of such buildings is estimated at not less than a hundred years, and there are no school buildings approaching chat age in New Zealand. 9. The Committee are of opinion that all applications for new school residences should be strictly scrutinised, and that no such application should be granted if it be reasonably possible for a teacher to rent a house or to obtain suitable residential accommodation otherwise. The Committee may point out that house allowances are payable under " The Public-school Teachers' Salaries Act, 1901." 10. As to the amounts payable in case of rebuilding rendered necessary by fire, the Committee point out that, if the basis for the allocation of the ordinary grant recommended above be adopted, the Government would begin to pay for the rebuilding of wooden schools as soon as they are twenty years old. If, therefore, any school over twenty years is destroyed by fire, the Government, having already paid part of the cost of rebuilding, should be liable only for the remainder of such cost. If the Committee assume thirty-five years to be the average life of a school building in wood, then when a building is destroyed by fire the amount really due from the Government for its reinstatement would be as follows :— If the building were not over 20 years ... ... ... Full cose. Over 20 and not over 21 years ... ... ... ... 98 per cent. „ 21 ~ 22 „ ... ... ... ... 96 „ „ 22 „ 23 „ ... ... ... ... 94 „ „ 23 „ 24 „ ... ... ... ... 92 „ „ 24 „ 25 „ ... ... ... ... 90 „ ~ 25 „ 26 „ ... ... ... ... 85 „ „ 26 „ 27 „ ... ... ... ... 80 „ „ 27 „ 28 „ ... ... .. ... 75 „ „ 28 „ 29 „ ... ... ... ... 70 „ „ 29 „ 30 „ ... ... ... ... 65 „ „ 30 „ 31 „ ... .. ... ... 55 „ „ 31 „ 32 „ 45 „ „ 32 „ 33 „ ... ... ... ... 35 „ „ 33 „ 34 „ ... ... ... ... 25 „ „ 34 „ 35 „ ... . 15 „ „ 35 „ 36 „ ... ... ... ... 5 „ „ 36 years ... ... ... ... ... ... Nil.