160

siderable portion of the expense as required
by the Ordinance.

2. The plan of providing entertainments
   for the children attending school, as well as
   for their relations and friends, has become
   much more common than formerly. Such
   meetings as these are valuable, not only
   as an indication of the interest which is
   actually felt in the different schools, but also
   because they cannot fail to foster and keep
   alive that feeling, by making the school a
   centre of attraction in the neighbourhood.

3. As a general rule the Board has had
   the benefit of the cordial co-operation of
   the various local Committees in removing
   defects and increasing the efficiency of the
   respective schools. In many cases the active
   assistance thus afforded has been of the
   greatest advantage.

4. It will further be found that the candi
   dates for the representation of the people in
   the Provincial Legislature, as a general rule,
   lay particular stress upon the importance of
   the question of Education, a circumstance
   which besides affording evidence of the
   general interest which is felt in the subject,
   gives reason to hope that the imperfections
   which at present exist will be taken into
   serious consideration and, as far as practi
   cable, removed at the next session of the
   Provincial Council.

Since the date of the last report, five new
schools have been established, viz., the
Arowhenua, Lower Heathcote, Oxford,
Avonside, and the Christchurch Roman
Catholic Schools. Of these the two first
have been established in accordance with the
provisions of the Education Ordinance
which refer to ordinary cases, and in accor
dance with those provisions the residents in
the neighbourhood have contributed one
fourth of the whole cost of the buildings,
besides a sum of £20 for books, apparatus,
&c.; the remaining three were established
under the clauses which provide for special
grants, and which appear best adapted for
schools intended to be maintained as deno
minational schools. Beside these the school
at Pigeon Bay, formerly not in receipt of
any grant, has been brought under the
management of a local committee in connec
tion with the Board, and receives a grant in
aid of £75 per annum. At Lincoln a
master’s house has been erected, and in a
short time a school-room will be ready for

use. The school formerly existing in this
district has been abolished, and the new one
has been put under a thoroughly efficient
management. Meetings for the organization
of new schools, attended by the chairman of
the Board, have been held at Waimate,
Eyerton, on the Lower Eyre, and at Fern-
side, on the road from Rangiora to Oxford.
In each case it is expected that new schools
will be shortly in operation. Thus, altoge
ther, since the date of the last Report, ten
new schools have been, or are on the point
of being, established.

Statistics.

The number of schools actually in receipt
of aid from the Board is 36.

The whole number of children on the books
of the different schools during the year 1865
was 3054, being an increase of 356 on the
year 1864.

The number of attendants during the
December quarter 1865 was 2080, being an
increase of 272 on the December quarter,
1864.

The number of children in average atten
dance during that quarter was 1399, being
an increase of 179 on the average attendance
during the same quarter of the preceding
year.

The school fees received during the year
1865 amounted to £2432 13s., being an in
crease of £222 17s. 10d. on the amount re
ceived during the previous year.

The total expenditure on ordinary schools
including the erection of buildings, contingen
cies and current expenditure, during the
year 1865 amounted to £7151 2s. 6d. Of
this sum, however, £3432 13s. were contri
buted, as already mentioned, by school-fees;
and a sum of £328 by voluntary contri
butions for building, making a total sum of
£2750 13s. independent of the Government
Grant. The balance paid by the province
therefore amounts only to the sum of £4400
9s. 6d.

It will be seen, on comparing this expen
diture with the expenditure of the former
year, that the Board has succeeded in effect
ing a considerable reduction, not only in the
rate per child, but in the actual amount ex
pended.

During the year 1864 the total sums ex
pended were—from Government grant £5417
18s. 9d., and from independent sources