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E.—l

The cost of administration in 1909 was £4,522, or 6*BB per cent, of the total income. The corresponding figures for 1908 were £4,817, or 7-15 per cent. of the total income. Table G2 in E.-2 shows the total income from education reserves for the several districts for the ten years 1900-9, and the cost of administration for the same period. Summarized, this appears as below :— £ Total income for the ten years 1900-9 ... ... ... ... 587,003 Cost of administration during the same period, 1900-9 ... ... 37,537 Cost of administration per cent, of income ... ... ... 6-39 The cost of administration shows a slight decrease as compared with previous years, but is still very high in one or two districts. Native Schools. The number of Maori village schools in operation at the end of the year 1909 was ninety-four. During the year three new schools were opened—viz., Whangape, Pawarenga, and Waitapu—all in the Hokianga district; and two schools—Hauaroa or Taumarunui, in the King-country, and Ruapuke Island, Foveaux Strait—were transferred to the control of the Education Boards in their respective districts. The school at Ngongotaha, Rotorua, and the side school at Lower Waihou, Hokianga, were closed during the year ; while the schools at Pamoana, Wanganui River, and Te Kopua, King-country, were closed temporarily for want of teachers. On the rolls of the ninety-four schools at the 31st December, 1909, there were 4,121 children, as against 4,217 at the end of 1908. The average attendance for the year was 3,680, the percentage of regularity being 85*4, an increase of 1 per cent, on that of the previous year. The average weekly roll number shows a slight fallingoff, being 4,308, as against 4,479, a result due largely to the transfer of the schools above referred to. \. The number of pupils on the rolls of the six Native mission schools was 231, and on those of the secondary Native schools 360. At the end of the year, therefore, the total roll number of all the Native schools inspected by officers of the Department was 4,712, the average weekly roll being 4,898, and the gross average attendance being 4,213. The number of institutions that offer secondary education to Maori boys or girls has been increased this year, and now amounts to nine, at eight of which the Government provides a number of free places tenable for two years by children who have qualified under the regulations. The number of free places held at the end of the year 1909 was 124. In addition to the** provision under the Senior Scholarship Regulations for apprenticing Maori boys to various trades, arrangements have been made in the regulations issued during the year by which boys, as the holders of agricultural scholarships, may receive a practical training in general farming. The scheme for the training of Maori girls as nurses has now matured, and the two girls who were the first to qualify as registered nurses are now following their profession amongst their people. The new regulations relating to Native schools, which were compiled and issued to teachers during the year, are now in operation.||-The syllabus of work therein will be found to follow closely that prescribed for the public schools of the Dominion, a fact which bears testimony to the advance made by the Native schools in recent years. The total expenditure on Native schools during the year, including £29 10s. 6d. paid from Native reserves funds, was £32,917 16s. Deducting recoveries, £137 175., the net expenditure amounts to £32,779 195., as against £33,234 19s. Id. in 1908. Included in this is the sum of £3,509 9s. 2d. expended on new buildings and additions, £2,704 12s. 3d. on secondary education, including boarding-school fees for holders of scholarships from village schools, industrial scholarships, and nursing scholarhips. The staffs of the village schools included seventy-six masters, eighteen mistresses in charge, 104 assistants, and five sewing-teachers. The total amount paid in salaries for 1909 was £22,177 14s. 9d., the average salary of the head teachers being £169 12s. 4d.