NEW ZEALAND

GOVERNMENT GAZETTE

(PROVINCE OF NELSON).

Published by Authority.

All Public Notifications which appear in this Gazette, with any Official Signature thereunto annexed, to be considered as Official Communications made to those Persons to whom they may relate, and are to be obeyed accordingly.

By His Honour's command,
ALFRED DOMETT, Provincial Secretary.

VOL. VI. NELSON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1858. No. 16.

Provincial Secretary's Office,
Nelson, October 2, 1858.

HIS Honour the Superintendent directs the publication of the following Reports for general information.

ALFRED DOMETT,
Provincial Secretary.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE OF CENTRAL BOARD OF EDUCATION.—AUGUST, 1858.

Your committee having taken into consideration the Report of the Inspector, with especial reference to the observations there made respecting the inadequate provision for schoolmasters' salaries, and the best means of meeting the apprehended deficiency; and also having investigated the general financial condition of the board, and the various claims already made upon its funds, as well as the further demands which may be anticipated, beg to offer the following remarks and suggestions :—

It appears that, in consequence of the alterations in the Education Act, which imposed the duty of collecting the rate upon the Executive Government, the late Central Board directed their Secretary to communicate upon the subject with his Honour the Superintendent; and that for the first three months of the present educational year an arrangement has been made by which the sum of £250 per month is to be paid to the account of the Board, namely, £100 in anticipation of the rate (estimated to produce £1,200), and £150 on account of the grant of £1,800 made by the Provincial Council for the year 1858.

That the balance-sheet of the last board shows an expenditure of £2,815, and liabilities amounting to £165, or altogether £2,970.

That, assuming the grant to be continued at the same amount as at present, during the board's term of office, and the rate to realize the estimated amount, a sum of £3,000 will be at the disposal of the board, less the liabilities, or, in other words, the sum of £2,835, being £135 less than the last year's expenditure; whilst, at the same time, two new districts have been proclaimed, and applications already received for five additional schools, the annual cost of which cannot be reckoned at less than £500.

That whilst the Inspector, in his Report, has very properly called the attention of the board at the outset to these circumstances, it does not appear to your committee at present desirable to propose any measures for altering the existing law, until its provisions have been brought into operation and tested by practice; but that, with this exception, its recommendations be adopted by the board.

That the attention of your committee having been called, in connection with this subject, to the necessity of making some general arrangement respecting masters' salaries, they offer the following rules as embodying the principles which should be kept in view in making any such arrangement; and recommend an application to his Honour the Superintendent for his assistance in laying these views before the Council, and obtaining the requisite funds for giving effect to them.

1. That, in schools where the average daily attendance does not exceed twenty,