E.—l.

Office of the Department of Education, Wellington, 19th August, 1907. My Lobd,— I have the honour, in accordance with the provisions of " The Education Act, 1904," to submit to Your Excellency the following report upon the progress and condition of public education in New Zealand during the year ending the 31st December, 1906. I have, &c, Geo. Fowlds. His Excellency the Right Hon. Baton Plunket, Governor of New Zealand.

REPORT.

In this Report and its proper Appendix, in the Inspector-General's Report (E.-1a) on the certificate and other examinations, the Reports of the Inspectors of Schools (E.-1b), the Reports on the Training of Teachers (E.-lc), the Report on the Publicschool Cadets (E.-1d), and the Report of the Conference of Inspectors of Schools and Principals of Training Colleges (E.-1e), is contained all the information that is of public interest with respect to the administration of " The Education Act, 1904," " The Education Act Amendment Act, 1905," and " The Education Reserves Act. 1877," and also all the principal statistics relating to matters which are more fully dealt with in separate papers, as follows : E.-2, Native Schools ; E.-3, Industrial Schools ; E.-3A, Costley Training Institution ; E.-4, School for Deaf-mutes ; E.-5, Manual and Technical Instruction ; E.-6, New Zealand University; E.-7, University of Otago ; E.-8, Canterbury College; E.-9, Auckland University College ; E.-10, Victoria College; E.-11, Canterbury Agricultural College; E.-12, Secondary Education ; E.-13, Public Libraries; E.-14, Teachers' Superannuation.

Public Schools. The number of schools open at the end of 1906, counting 94 part-time schools as 47, was 1,847, or 41 more than at the end of 1905. In Table A the schools are classified, as for 1905, according to the yearly average attendance. The classification is in accordance with the grades in Part I of the schedule to " The Education Act Amendment Act, 1905."

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