226
Sunday School, and the Church occasionally with
their parents."

In only two schools, each numbering 11 scholars,
and receiving respectively £50 and £40 from the
Government Grant, do the number of Presbyterians
preponderate. The numbers in the one case are:
Presbyterians, six; Church of England, five. In the
other: Presbyterians, seven; Church of England,
four.

In schools connected with the Wesleyan Church,
out: Of 397 scholars, 254, or nearly 64 per cent, were
children whose parents belonged to the Wesleyan
Church; of the remaining, 36 per cent, about 23 per
cent were children of members of the Church of
England, and the rest were either unknown or be-
longed to different denominations.

In one school, which numbers 31 scholars, the
parents of the children are stated to be with one or
two exceptions members of the Church of England.
In this case the religious instruction given consists
chiefly in reading and explaining the Scriptures, the
Wesleyan Catechism being taught once a week: the
master is a member of the Church of England. In
the case of two other schools connected with the
Wesleyan Church, the numbers whose denomination
is unknown or different from that to which the
schools belong preponderate.

Summary.
An arrangement of the scholars on the books of
all schools receiving Government aid, according to
their religious denominations, gives the following
results:—

946 or 57.2 per cent belong to the Church of
England.

200 or 12.1 per cent are Presbyterians.
376 or 22.7 per cent are Wesleyans.

Of the remaining 8 per cent, the denomination of
66; or of more than 3 1/2 per cent is unknown, 38 or
more than 2 per cent are Roman Catholics, 9 are
Congregational Independents, 14 are Baptists, and 2
are Plymouth Brethren.

From this it will be seen that the number of
scholars belonging to the Church of England dis-
tributed through the schools of the several denomi-
nations is somewhat in excess of the total number
belonging to all denominations educated in Church
of England schools.

There are only 200 Presbyterians in all the schools
receiving Government aid, while the number of
scholars in Presbyterian schools is 348.

The number educated in the Wesleyan schools
exceeds the number of Wesleyans in all schools
by 21.

The facts given above show that a plan which
would apportion the Government grant, according to
the census returns of the numbers belonging to
each denomination, proceeds on "a faulty basis of
calculation."

£5100 in aid of schools was last year apportioned
as follows:—

Church of England ... £3000
Presbyterians ... £1100
Wesleyans ... £1000

A division of funds which does not correspond
either with the numbers educated in the schools of
each several denomination, or with the numbers of
each denomination distributed through all the
schools.

In the next place the Commission would draw at-
tention to such details of organization and man-
agement in the schools of the different denominations
as spring immediately from their connection with
religious bodies, and may therefore be supposed in a
greater or less degree to affect the character of the
religious teaching in the several schools.

The schools in connection with the Church of
England are subject to certain resolutions adopted in
the Synod of that body. These resolutions provide:
That all schools of the nature of Parochial Schools
shall be under the management of a committee, to
consist of not fewer than five communicants of the
church, the curate and churchwardens to be ex
officio members, and the curate to be ex officio chair-
man.

With these bodies rests the appointment and dis-
missal of teachers, subject to the approval of the
curate, and the ultimate sanction of the Bishop. In
case of dispute between the curate and committee,
an appeal lies to the Bishop, whose decision is final.
The office of master is regarded as a church office,
the teachers holding it under license from the
Bishop; and the teaching of the young is, in
some instances, considered a fitting probation for the
Diaconate. The resolutions of the Synod further
provide that "the religious teaching shall be exclu-
sively under the control of the curate of the parish ;"
while, to the committee, belong "the fixing the
amount, and the apportionment of school fees, and
the disposal of the Government grant, subject to an
appeal to the Bishop."

The Bishop states in a communication to the
Commission that—"It is among the duties of the
clergy to promote the education of the children
within their cure, hence schools will be found in
nearly all the districts, which are under the charge
of clergymen, and in most instances such schools
have been established through their suggestions and
exertions, and are well attended, or otherwise, in
proportion to the interest taken by them in the
education of the children, and to their personal in-
fluence among the parents."

The regulations of the Synod as to the appoint-
ment of teachers by local committees have not
generally been carried out; the appointments in the
majority of instances have been made by the Bishop
of Christchurch. In eleven instances no local com-
mittees exist, and in several instances they exist only
in name.

With regard to supervision of the schools by the
clergy, only two instances have come under the
notice of the Commission in which clergymen of
the Church of England regularly visit the schools in
their parishes, for the purpose of giving religious or