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have been supplied with books very much below the price at which they were otherwise procurable.

The Resolutions of the Board respecting the salaries of masters, which are appended to the present Report, as lately modified after a twelve months\' experience of their effect, show that a minimum amount of salary is ensured equal to the English average; susceptible of increase in the majority of instances to the extent of from 10 to 30, and in the case of married couples, even to 50 per cent. In other cases, where the population is more scattered, the Board reserves to itself the power of recognising meritorious exertions by means of gratuities. It may therefore be safely asserted that all the material conditions for securing the benefits of a sound education are now fulfilled on a scale nearly commensurate with the means and the requirements of the Province.

It remains then to inquire how far they have gained their object; what the present state of the schools is, and what can still be done to improve them.

Under the first head, we may look to the numbers of children under tuition, their attendance, their age, and the instruction they receive; under the second, to the Committees, the masters, and the additional developments the schools are capable of.

No 1. Numbers.—In the Report of the Nelson Commission on Education we find that at the time the present plan was set on foot, the population of the Province was 6,000; and the number of children receiving education was 400, or 1 in 15, exclusive of private schools. The population may now be reckoned at about 9,000 and the last Returns give the total number attending the schools at 1,365. Deducting the children from Taranaki who entered our schools at once on their arrival here, as a matter of course, but many of whom have since returned home, and recollecting that about 150 of those children had separate schools of their own; the proportion would now be 1 in 7. But this average does not by any means show the real state of the case.

The Roman Catholic School, before included, is here omitted; no account is taken of the number taught in three schools just commenced or in the night-schools which are open for six months of the year, the Nelson College is left out of the account as are all the private schools; for the numbers in which we must wait until the coming census is taken. I believe that the proportion which those who are now receiving education of some kind bear to the whole population is 1 in 6, which, taking its scattered nature into account cannot be looked upon as unsatisfactory.

The following Table shows the increase in our schools which has taken place annually from the beginning of 1857. The previous six months having raised the numbers from 400 to 696—

It is thus seen that the greatest increase in the schools took place within the first 18 months, up to the end of 1857, and that from that time they rose gradually at the rate of about 100 per annum; the increase taking place almost entirely between the third and fourth Quarters; that is, in the spring, after the rainy season.

The larger addition in the latter part of 1860 and the beginning of 1861, was owing, as I before mentioned, to the arrival of the children from Taranaki.

No. 2. Attendance.—The following Table gives the average attendance of children per cent. from middle of 1857—

The average attendance here gradually rises until the end of 1859. From that time it falls off; marking the progress of the prevailing epidemic, until it reaches its lowest point in the September Quarter of 1860. It then begins to rise, but is again lowered in June, 1861, by the unusual rains which have made this year an exceptional one; and by the leaving of many children for Taranaki in the middle of the quarter, which unduly depressed the averages.

No. 3. Ages.—The ages of the children attending school have always been thought to be important elements in the question of education; and to afford valuable data towards determining its probable effects and benefits in future life. The following Table shows the per centage of children attending school at the different ages; and for the purpose of comparison, the corresponding Table for