The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 66
Education. — State Schools, Private Schools
Education.
State Schools, Private Schools.
The total number of common schools receiving Government aid and under the control of Education Boards was, in December, 1884, 987 (against 943 in 1833), having a total of 2,447 teachers, and with the names of 97,238 pupils on the books; the daily average attendance numbering 75,391. There were also at the principal centres of population superior schools, most of which have been endowed, directly or indirectly, with lands and money out of the public estate. The number of private schools in December, 1884 (from which returns were received), was 265, the number of teachers being 614, and pupils 12,203.
The public schools are free, and the instruction imparted to them is secular, because the cost is defrayed by an annual parliamentary vote. For 1884 the expenditure was £389,564, of which £49,679 was for buildings. The average expenditure for each scholar in attendance was £3 15s. 0¼d., of which 10s. 3d. has been for buildings. Some of the endowed secondary schools, and the three endowed collegiate institutions in Otago, Canterbury, and Auckland, are affiliated to the New Zealand University, which is an examining body, having power to confer degrees, and to grant scholarships, and is maintained by an annual grant from the consolidated revenue.