TARANAKI GOVERNMENT GAZETTE. 11

GOVERNMENT GRANTS.

To assist the Board, the General Government (under a recommendation from the Provincial Government) set aside from the proceeds of sales of confiscated lands within the district the sum of £700; the Provincial Government also voting the sum of £500.

REMARKS.

It is the wish of the parents and the intention of the Board to establish as complete a course of instruction as possible, so that residents in the district can obtain for their children, if necessary, a high class education, without going to the expense of sending them to collegiate schools out of the Province.

SOURCES OF INCOME.

The Board will necessarily be compelled to trust to the liberal spirit of the Provincial Government for aid in carrying out their views, which they believe are calculated to advance the district to a very considerable extent. The only revenue derivable at present being the education rate and school fees, which represent at an estimate £300 per annum.

STATEMENT SHOWING PROPOSED EXPENDITURE FOR THE CURRENT YEAR, WITH AMOUNT OF FUNDS IN HAND AND OBTAINABLE.

On the 31st December, after deducting expenditure authorised by the Board, there remains the sum of £579 10s. 6d. with which to commence the year 1875. The salaries for the various appointments under the Board amount to £350. A teacher has been pledged to Manutahi and Kakaramea at an early date, salary will probably be, say £150; rent of room for school purposes, £10; clearing and fencing paddocks round schools at Patea and Hawera, five acres each, planting with furze and fencing play grounds, say £50 each. These items amount to £610, absorbing the balance left from 1874, and leaving a deficit of £30 9s. 6d.

The Board now propose to provide an assistant teacher at Patea; to increase the salary of the teacher at Hawera; to erect a new school either at Kakaramea or Manutahi, or between the two places; to erect a new school at Ketemarae and Waihi Districts; to provide a teacher for the same; to erect a new school on the Whenuakura Block, and to provide a teacher.

The Board consider it advisable that these schools should be enclosed in about five acres of ground, and that school houses for the teachers should be erected. This will entail the cost of five cottages; in providing these cottages, salaries will necessarily be at a reduced rate.

To meet the outlay required for the above; the only revenue at the command of the Board is the rates and school fees, before estimated at £300; estimated deficiency, £1,000.

CONCLUSION.

In conclusion, the Board confidently trust the Provincial Government will give them every assistance to meet the first very necessary outlay—that of providing suitable schools and cottages; and trust that they will in the future be able to maintain what they have undertaken with the funds derivable from rates, school fees, and the leases of the Educational Reserves, which are the natural sources of educational income.

I have the honor to be,

Sir,

Your obedient servant,

(by order)

W. COWERN,

Secretary and Treasurer.

His Honor the Superintendent,

Province of Taranaki.

Printed under the authority of the Government of the Province of Taranaki, by C. M. BROWN, of Brougham-street, New Plymouth, Printer to the Provincial Government for the time being.