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The capitation grants earned during the year, and since received, amount to £1,150 2s. lOd. For buildings the receipts amounted to £19,600 17s. 3d., and the expenditure to £20,639 lis. 10d., leaving a debit balance of £1,092 14s. 7d., to which should be added the debit balance of £1,156 18s. 6d. brought forward on Building Account from 1902, showing a total deficiency of £2,249 13s. Id. on this account at the end of the year. The building and fitting-up of the three manual-training schools proved more costly than was anticipated. Their total cost was £3,591 Bs. Id., towards which the Government grants amounted to £2,292. The Board has applied for a supplementary grant of £1,299 Bs. Id. to meet the additional cost, and the request is still under consideration. Buildings.—The Board is glad to report that a substantial increase has been made in the amount of the ordinary building grant for the maintenance and renewal of school buildings. It is impossible as yet to estimate whether the increased grant (£12,917) will suffice to meet all requirements, for a very large number of buildings, all of wood, erected nearly thirty years ago, stand in present need of a large outlay for renewal, and some have to be replaced with new structures. The Board is doing its best to administer the grant efficiently and economically. Competent foremen are employed, under direction of the architect, to carry out such repairs and improvements as cannot be made the subject of a tender and contract. The applications for special building grants for the erection of new schools, arid the enlargement of existing schools, to meet the requirements of new settlements and growth of population, have been pressed upon the Government from time to time, but there has been a tedious and unaccountable delay in dealing with them. The Board cannot believe that it is the' desire of the Government to withhold the means of education from those who are encouraged by the State to take up land in new and outlying settlements of the country, but several applications for schools in such districts have been held over for a protracted period for consideration and inquiry; and, as regards the town and suburban schools, there has been a delay of fully twelve months in dealing with some of them. The Board earnestly hopes that more prompt consideration will in future be given to its' applications for special building grants. [The following correspondence has since taken place between the Board and the Acting-Minister of Education. —Secretary for Education.] Sib, — Education Board, Auckland, 31st May, 1904. The Auckland Education Board at its last meeting instructed me to wait upon you at your visit to Auckland, and to bring under your notice the extraordinary delay on the part of the Department at Wellington in dealing with applications from this district for special grants for building and other purposes. The new conditions upon which the building grants voted from year to year by Parliament are distributed require the Board to obtain the authority of the Minister for the erection of a new school or for the enlargement of an existing school which may become necessary through the rapid growth of population. To this condition the Board would not object if it were satisfied that its representations, supported in each case by the recommendation of an Inspector of Schools, were dealt with fairly and promptly by the Minister. But the experience of the past two years does not give adequate ground for such an assurance. The vexatious delays and the not infrequent refusal to authorise works of urgent necessity give no little cause for the supposition that there is a desire to deprive this Board of its fair share of the liberal appropriations made by Parliament, at the invitation of the Government, to provide for the educational requirements of the colony. The Board recently communicated with the Bt. Hon. the Premier on the subject; and it is in consequence of his lamented illness that I now address you in the hope of obtaining your assistance in the matter. I will now briefly mention the principal items in regard to which we desire to lay before you our grounds of complaint:— 1. Oturua (near Botorua). —Twelve months have elasped since this application (for a new school) was made. The settlers are in earnest in desiring a school, and the Inspector has reported in favour of the same. Amount asked for, £186. 2. Kawhia.— An application for a grant of £1,100 to build a new school and residence was met by an offer from the Minister to hand over the Native school and dwelling. The Board accepted that offer, and in December last applied for a grant of £440 to enlarge the school building, which cannot possibly accommodate both European and Maori scholars. Since the closing of the Native school the Maoris have begun to send their children to the public school, and the Board feels that it would be unwise to discourage them in their laudable desire for the education of their children. But without an enlargement the building is too small for the purpose. This application stands " postponed " for an indefinite period. 3. Wade. —A small addition is required at this school. The Inspectors have more than once visited the district and reported upon an alternative proposal to build a school at the Orewa. On each occasion they have recommended the enlargement of the Wade School as the best course to adopt. The amount asked for is only £90, yet this request is also indefinitely " postponed." 4. Walton. —A school held for many years past in a railway cottage has now outgrown the accommodation provided thereby. A grant of £235 was applied for in September last, supported by the recommendation of an Inspector. It has been shown that the children of the district cannot be conveyed by rail or other means to any neighbouring school. The Board has been unable hitherto to obtain a definite answer from the Minister to this application. In the meantime the health of the children and their efficient instruction are endangered for the want of suitable accommodation. 5. Hamilton West. —A separate class-room for the instruction of the pupils of the district high school is here an urgent necessity. A grant of £380 was applied for in October last. The Department has urged, in reply, that there is no need for such addition. The District School Committee have loudly protested, and have at length rented a separate building for these pupils, a course which the Board has felt bound to approve. It is probable that some further addition will have to be made to this school beyond the class-room asked for. It is not encouraging to anticipate that, if such application be made, it may be delayed an answer for seven months or longer. 6. In February of this year applications were made for special grants to establish manual-training schools at the four centres of Thames, Cambridge, Hamilton, and Waihi. The total amount asked for in respect of these four centres is £3,366 6s. The Board has received notice that the application "will receive attention." It is very important that the Board should be made acquainted with the Minister's intentions in this matter. His decision may probably affect the plan of the class-rooms at Cambridge and Waihi, for which special grants have been authorised for the accommodation and instruction of the district-high-school pupils at those schools. 7. The Board built a new school at Mangatete (Awanui) at a cost of £220, and application was subsequently made for a special grant of that amount. The work was begun before the Board had received any intimation that the previous consent of the Minister was required before undertaking the outlay. The school has met a real want, caused by new settlement. It has a roll number of nearly forty scholars, Europeans and Maoris. It surely cannot be intended that the cost of this special work should be defrayed out of the allowance set apart for the maintenance and renewal of existing schools.

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