E.—l

24

At the end of the year the standard classification of the children in the village schools was as follows :— Class P 1,902 „ SI ... 493 „ S2 444 „ S3 448 „ S4 455 „ S5 229 „ S6 121 „ S7 29 Nineteen certificates of proficiency and thirty-eight of competency were gained by children in the village schools during the year. There were 391 European children in attendance at Native schools, 355 of whom were in December, 1909, in the preparatory classes and lower standards, and thirty-six in Standards VFand VII. Four certificates of proficiency and ten of competency were gained by European children during the year. Of the 4,121 children on the rolls of the schools in December, 1909, 86*7 per cent. were] Maoris speaking Maori in their homes, 3*B per cent, were Maoris speaking English. and 9*5 per cent, were Europeans. In connection with this classification and with the tables that accompany this report, it is to be noted that the term " Maori " as now defined applies only to children who are by birth full Maori, three-quarter Maori, or half-caste, and excludes children who are three-quarter European. In various public schools in the Dominion there were at the end of 1909 4,434 children of Maori or mixed race. Tables 11 and Ha (E.-3) show the classification of these children according to districts, ages, and standards respectively. Twenty-one certificates of proficiency and four of competency were gained by Maori children in public schools. So far as can be ascertained from the statistics obtainable the number of children of Maori or mixed race on the rolls of primary and secondary schools at the end of 1909 (omitting Maoris attending public secondary schools and Maoris at schools not under Government inspection, of whom no separate return is made) was as follows : — Number per 10,000 of Maori Actual Number. Population at Census of 1906 (47.731). I. Primary schools— (a.) Government Native schools... ... 3,730 (b.) Mission schools ... ... ... 231 48-4 (c.) Public schools ... ... ... 4,434 928-9 11. Secondary schools... ... ... ... 360 75-4 Special technical training ... ... ... 13 2-7 Totals ... ... ... 8,768 1,055-4 Chatham Islands. During the year 1909 there were four schools in operation in the Chatham Islands —viz., those at Te One, Te Roto, and Matarakau, on the mainland, and a school on Pitt Island. At the end of 1909 the total number of children under instruction was ninety-two, as compared with eighty-five at the end of the previous year, while the average attendance for the year was ninety-one. The total expenditure on the schools for the year 1909 was £731 18s. 3d., made up as follows: Salaries and allowances of teachers, £652 16s. Bd.; scholarships, £43 10s.; inspection, £20 3s. 3d.; other expenses, £15 Bs. 4d. The schools at Te One, Matarakau, and Te Roto were examined in the month of December, according to the regulations for the inspection of public schools in New Zealand. The results generally were fair. Pitt Island school was not visited, as time did not permit of any inspection or examination.