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TARANAKI. Sir,— School Commissioners' Office, New Plymouth, 20th May, 1909. I have the honour to hand you herewith' the balance-sheet and statement of accounts of this Board for the year ended 31st December last, duly audited and certified. It will be noticed that the account of income shows an increase from rents of £1,114 Is. 10d. as compared with that of the previous year. Many, of the leases granted'for twenty-one years with perpetually recurring rights of renewal are now arriving at the revaluation period, and the awards made in nearly all cases show an appreciable increase in the rentals payable during the next term. These rents are fixed by arbitration and based upon the unimproved or prairie value of the land, so that lessees are not penalised by the taking into account of their own improvements. In every case the separate valuation made of the tenant's improvements has shown substantial interests acquired as the result of occupation and industry, and invariably much in excess of the requirements of the lease. Unlet reserves have been few and of' indifferent value, but lands recently vested in the Commissioners appear to be of a betteri description, and are shortly to be offered for lease by public auction, as is the Board's custom. There has been no change in the membership during the past year, the Board still consisting of Messrs. Francis Simpson, Charles Edwin Major, and William Thomas Jennings, M.P., appointees of the Crown, and Henry Faull and myself, nominated by the Education Board. The noxious-weeds question continues to be the one great trouble of the Commissioners, and the utmost vigilance has to be exercised to keep careless tenants alive to their responsibilities. Fortunately, most of the Board's lessees are fully sensible of the importance of combating the growth of blackberry and ragwort, which infest certain ; but'so long as Native lands are allowed to remain neglected (as is so often the case), so long will the industrious and careful'settler find his difficulties intensified and his own hard work discounted by the indifferences of his neighbour. T have, &c, The Hon. the Minister of Education, Wellington. James Wade, Chairman.

General Statement of Receipts and Expenditure for the Year ending 31st December, 1908.

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Primary. Secondary. Total. Receipts. Balance at 31st December, 1907 Eents from reserves Transfer fees Interest on fixed deposits Sale of old building Sale of old safe £ s. d. 1,287 5 8 4,065 11 3 1 10 0 21 15 1 3 0 0 7 10 0 £ s. d. 815 6 9 526 1 9 26 "l5 8 £ s. d. 2,102 12 5 4,591 13 0 1 10 0 48 10 9 3 0 0 10 0 0 2 "l0, 0 Total receipts ... 5,386 12 0 1,370 14 2 6,757 6 2 Expenditw, ■a. Secretary's salary Office accommodation Stationery, stamps, telegrams, and printing Travelling-expenses, members and secretary Insurances — Guarantee, fire, and employers' liability Purchase of safe, and repairs to old safe ... Advertising Acts of Parliament Law-costs Arbitrations and new leases Commission on sale of leases Bates Bank commission Surveys and architect ... Eanger and other inspection Land Fund — Improvements on reserves Purchase of school-site Distribution from revenue — Taranaki Education Board Wanganui Education Board New Plymouth High School Board £ s. d. 93 15 0 18 15 0 11 7 11 20 4 9 £ s. d. 31 5 0 6 5 0 3 16 1 4 15 7 £ s. d. 125 0 0 25 0 0 15 4 0 25 0 4 9 16 11 13 12 4 2 10 10 8 17 5 9 79 8 4 7 11 6 15 15 4 0 7 6 9 13 6 98 6 3 2 17 2 4 10 8 0 6 10 0 6 8 29 11 6 12 14 1 18 3 0 2 10 17 6 17 12 5 108 19 10 7 11 6 15 15 4 0 10 0 9 13 6 130 11 0 0 2 6 32 4 9 3 16 0 15 0 0 3 16 0 15 0 0 2,702 10 0 1,297 10 0 I i 4,000 0 0 800 0 0 300 0 0 Balance, 31st December, 1908 ... 4,417 17 968 14 9 3 416 1 954 12 9 5 4,833 19 1,923 6 6 8 Total expenditure 5,386 12 0 1,370 14 2 6,757 6 2