Appendix A.]

E.—2

uncertificated teachers fell from fifty-seven to fifty-one, and of the latter number eleven held partial qualification. Maintenance. —The expenditure on salaries and allowances to teachers engaged in primary departments was £81,722 16s. 4d., the giants to School Committees and other incidental expenses amounting to £6,900 3s. 7d., making a total of £88,622 19s. 1 Id. The expenditure on salaries, as compared with the previous year, showed a further increase of £4,229 9s. 4d. The salaries paid to teachers in secondary departments amounted to £2,551 13s. 2d., showing what appears to be a decrease of £222 os. 2d. The apparent decrease, however, is accounted for by the fact that the salary paid to the teacher in the department of the Normal School is now included in the expenditure under Training College. The following table* gives the annual totals under the two headings from 1878 to the present year: —

Training College. —At a meeting of the Board, held on the 12th June, Mr. T. S. Foster, M.A., was appointed Principal of the Training College. As Mr. Foster had then been carrying on the duties for some months owing to the illness of his predecessor, little interruption was caused to the work of the institution. In his report,f which is appended, the Principal gives information as to the number of students enrolled during the year, and the degree of success attained by those who sat for examination ; and interesting reference is also made to the arrangements for teaching-practice and observation, additional subjects taken during the year, the general health of the students, and the social side of their life. In view of the large increase that has taken place within recent years of the number of students, the working-conditions of the institution cannot be regarded as satisfactory. With this in mind, and with the approval of the Department, the Board has taken steps to acquire a site for a new training college. The training of the teachers has hitherto been carried on in the building originally erected as a Normal School, which not only affords inadequate accommodation, but is unsuitable in many ways for the successful discharge of the important functions rightly ascribed to training colleges. Scholarships. —Of the candidates that entered for the Board's Junior Scholarships, ninety-eight sat for examination (fifty-three boys and forty-five girls). Forty-nine succeeded in qualifying, while a similar number failed. For the Junior National Scholarships there were 171 candidates. Of these, 101 passed the examination, and seventy failed to qualify. Twenty-eight candidates (eighteen boys and ten girls) sat for the Board's Senior Scholarships, of whom twenty-five qualified. Mr. S. P. McCallum (Boys' High School), Miss H. C. W. Gunn (Girls' High School), and Mr. L. R. de Roo (Boys' High School), the first, second, and fourth candidates in order of merit respectively, having elected to forego their claims, Gammack Scholarships have been awarded to the candidates third and fifth in order of merit, as shown in Return No. 5, J which also contains a fist of the candidates to whom scholarships in the several classes have been awarded, and of all scholarship holders as at the end of the year 1912. Attendance. —It will be seen from the printed table contained in this report that the percentage of attendance (88-85) for the year 1912 is almost identical with that of the previous year (88-99). The Truant Officer reports that for the year 1912 the attendance, generally speaking, has been well maintained, owing, in a measure, to good weather and the absence of epidemics. Notwithstanding these favourable conditions, however, a very large number of children were reported as being irregular in attendance, while the names of others have been taken by Mr. Blank himself from the school registers. Of the 165 cases taken into Court, fines were inflicted in ninety-three instances. Fifty-nine cases were either withdrayvn or held over for a month in order to give parents another opportunity of sending their children to school regularly, or, as the alternative, of being fined. In his report Mr. Blank points out that his object has always been to take Court proceedings as a last resource only, of which the Board entirely approves, being of opinion that, while the Act exercises a beneficial effect generally, the operation of its penal provisions should be reserved for parents and guardians who show themselves quite indifferent or grossly careless as regards their duty to their children. It appears that a serious trouble to be contended with is the demand for employment of children of school age. The closing of school for the longer holidays induces parents to put their children to work, and in many cases valuable time

* Condensed into live-yearly periods from 1878 to 1903. f See Appendix 1) of this report. } As the return is mainly of local interest it has not been printed.

XIX

Year. Salaries. Salaries. Incidental Expenses. ncidental Expens Totals. Average Attendance. l_ 1878 .. 1883 .. 1888 .. 1893 .. 1898 .. 1903 .. 1904 .. 1905 .. 1906 .. 1907 .. 1908 .. 1909 .. 1910 .. 1911 .. 1912 .. " £ s. d. 31,919 0 0 42,240 19 10 50,749 14 6 56,291 15 9 55,390 3 11 56,748 2 10 55.579 11 2 57,965 18 7 62,939 2 10 64,240 10 2 65,218 15 9 73,133 5 10 75,389 11 8 77,493 7 0 81,722 16 4 £ s. d. 6,276 6 9 6,090 15 9 6,400 7 5 6,871 14 10 5,933 11 1 5,922 10 7 6,027 5 8 6,717 16 4 6,759 16 3 6,694 12 11 6,825 12 1 7,107 10 1 6,487 11 11 6,693 7 7 6,900 3 7 £ s. d. 38,195 6 9 48,331 15 7 57,150 6 3 63,163 10 7 62,323 15 0 62,670 13 5 61,606 16 10 64,683 14 11 69,698 19 1 70,935 3 1 72,044 7 10 80,240 15 11 81,877 3 7 84,186 14 7 88,622 19 11 9,641 12,844 15,920 17,543 17.580 16,227 16,712 16,923 16,876 16,232 17,536 17,634 18,063 18,847 19,205