EIGHTEENTH REPORT OF THE SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC To His Excellency General Sir HENRY WYLIE NORMAN, Knight Grand Cross of - SIR, I have the honour to submit to Your Excellency the Report of the Department of Public Instruction for the year 1893. GENERAL. 1. This Report with its Appendices deals with the educational work carried contents. on under the provisions of "The State Education Act of 1875." It also contains certain particulars respecting State aid to the following:-Secondary education in the form of grants to Grammar schools, scholarships to Grammar schools, exhibitions to Universities, and the Museum; Orphanages; and the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind. Minister. 2. During the first three months of the year the Department was in charge Change of of my predecessor, The Hon. W. O. Hodgkinson. My period of office as Secretary for Public Instruction dates from the 27th of March, 1893. Education 3. Early in August the completion of the new Public Offices enabled me to Removal of transfer the business of the Department from the premises in William street to the omce. more suitable quarters provided on the second floor of the Treasury Buildings. School Buildings Works 4. The death of Mr. J. Ferguson, late Superintendent of School Buildings, Transfer of together with the impending removal of the Department to new offices, again raised Branch to the the question of the propriety of placing the school buildings under the Works Department. Department, and, after due consideration, the change was effected on the 1st of July, 1893. school work. 5. The memorable floods of February, 1893, interfered greatly with the Hindrances to attendance of pupils, and in a few instances, through the flooding of school premises, caused some pecuniary loss to teachers and to the Department. An epidemic of measles during the fourth quarter of the year still further retarded the progress of the pupils. In the districts affected comparatively few families escaped, and in many of the large schools the attendance was but a small fraction of the normal average. In some schools this exceptional and temporary loss of attendance lowered the classification standard for 1894, but in view of the very exceptional circumstances I considered it equitable and advisable to maintain without reduction the classification of those schools for another year. It cannot be doubted that under conditions so unfavourable to the regular attendance of the scholars the teachers worked under great disadvantage during the latter part of the year. 6. I consider that the primary education of the children of this colony is Instruction. proceeding in as satisfactory a manner as circumstances will permit. The teachers generally are competent and industrious; not a few of them are superior men and women keenly interested in their work; and they are guided and stimulated by regular inspection. As a rule the schools are popular with all classes of the community, and the children, when they leave, have a fair acquaintance with the elements of knowledge which they can use to gain fuller knowledge and fit them to perform the duties of citizens. f 1.. per cent. kat er den pf the arms ofarad a ma inches of the emam stieg on a paymempa stitis Expert. The soura Tales and Teoria buttons lame been made in In the former sling the more of SS12 for 1892 was £3,000, and of that reinetion the more proportion of £74.133 was de or vil A and teenne eieren Loze. In Victoria an pdvent 2,456) has been made. Many of the trems of expenditure 6 m sorokea in known in aensland: speh are those for the university, such I school, art gallery, from Mary, mining where, alet corps, trzant 14 ́eachers, The waring effected in these items man have no parallel Our only exta items are the mammur sebeci endowments, scholar6 gram max Ne..cols, exhibitions to universities, the museum, prints to schools and less than £3,000 for technical education. 2 The Bura celebration of Arbor Day took place on the 1st of May. Tending he replacing of the failures of previous years. 1.577 trees were planted túrova selcoi grounds. In addition many shrubs and vines were put in and Noreen wijs formed. From the teachers' reports of the Arbor Day proceedings it sonak buat on the whole the interest manifested was somewhat less than in former Its very likely that losses from foods and anxiety arising from the financial panic had some effect on the attendance of parents in May, 1893, but I trust that the pleasing results of past work now to be seen will stimulate the interest of teachers and school committees in the work of Arbor Day. The diversity of climate makes it difficult to fix a date suitable to every locality, and I intend to appoint alternative days in May and August on which Arbor Day may be celebrated. schools. 13. Four new State schools were opened-Longreach, at the terminus of the New State Central Railway Mount Crosby; and Mount Beppo, on the upper Brisbane River; and Augathella, in the Warrego district. Particulars of the cost of each of these schools will be found in Table G appended to this Report. Additions to 14. Important additions, repairs, and improvements were made at twenty state schools. existing State schools. Of the additions the largest were at Mackay, Hughenden, Bundaberg, St. George, West End, Woolloongabba, Brisbane Central, and German Station. Particulars respecting these works will be found in Table I, appended to this Report. accommodation 15. The amount of accommodation in the State schools of the colony was Increase in increased by 11,726 square feet during the year 1893. Of this increase 3,454 square in state schools, feet was furnished by new schools, and 8,262 square feet by additions to existing schools. Allowing 8 square feet of floor space for cach child, provision was made for an increase of 1,465 pupils. The average attendance for the year in the State schools of the colony shows a decrease of 2,035 pupils. accommodation 16. At the end of the year the total floor space in the State schools was Total amount of 442,297 square feet, exclusive of verandahs; and allowing 8 square feet for each in State schools. child, the accommodation was enough for 55,287 pupils. The average attendance at those schools for the year 1893 was 37,744. schools. 17. Thirty-five new Provisional schools were opened during the year. They New Provisional are distributed amongst the several districts as follows:-In Moreton-Eumundi, Forest Hill, Greenbank, Palen Creek, Pine Ridge, Rocksberg, and Tambourine Mountain; in Darling Downs-Accommodation Creek, Callandoon, Cawdor, Doctor's Creek, Hilltop, Moss View, and Wallumbilla; in Wide Bay and Burnett— Bingera, Blair Athol, Curra, Fairymead, Mungore, Sandhills, and Teebar East; in the Central districts-Ilfracombe, Lake Learmouth, and Woodville; in South Kennedy-Chelona, Normanby Gold Field, The Leap, and Ripple Creek; in the North-Camooweal, Homestead, Macknade, Mareeba, Murray River, Rochford, and True Blue. 18. Three Provisional schools which had been closed for some time were Re-opened. rc-opened-viz., Bustard Head, Severn River, and Tipton. status of schools. 19. Six schools which had been classed as State schools were reduced in Changes in status on account of diminished attendance, and added to the list of Provisional schools. These were-Albany Creek, in East Moreton; Mount Walker, in West Moreton; Cattle Creek and Oakey Creek, in Darling Downs; Kuranda, on the Cairns-Herberton Railway; and Isisford, on the Barcoo. On the other hand, three schools which had been classed as Provisional were raised in status on account of increased attendance. These were-Gatton, in West Moreton; Loganholme, in East Moreton; and Muttaburra, in the Central district. Two other overgrown Provisional schools-Augathella, on the Warrego, and Mount Crosby, near Ipswich-became State schools on the completion of State school buildings. 20. Twenty-seven Provisional schools were closed on account of insufficient Closed. attendance. Twenty of these belonged to the class "Special Provisional," having less than twelve pupils in average attendance, and teachers' salaries proportionately less than in ordinary Provisional schools. The schools closed were:-In East MoretonBigriggan, Caningera, Peachester, Stockleigh, and Tambourine Mountain; in West Moreton-Dundas and Fairview; in Darling Downs-Graceville and West Prairie; in Wide Bay and Burnett-Abingdon, Booie, Coolabunia, Kunioon, Dalysford, Invercoe, Moralgaran, Mount Shamrock, Walla, Inskip Point, and Mary River Heads; in Port Curtis-Boyne River, Calliope River, Dalma, and Kingston; in the Kennedy district-Andromache, Cordelia, and Melrose. State schools applied for. Provisional schools applied for. Extension. Number of schools at the 21. Ten applications for the establishment of new State schools were received and dealt with. At the end of the year tenders had been accepted for the erection of State school buildings at Aldershot, near Maryborough, and at Wallumbilla, near Roma; and tenders were about to be invited for State school buildings at Lake's Creek, near Rockhampton. Action was deferred as less urgent in the case of the other applications. 22. Forty-nine applications for the establishment of new Provisional schools were received and dealt with. The action taken with regard to each of these applications is specified in Table H, appended to this Report. 23. The latest addition to the far western schools under the Department is the Provisional school at Camooweal, 350 miles south-west of Normanton, and near the South Australian border. The most western schools now in operation are Burketown, Camooweal, Cloncurry, Boulia, Windorah, Thargomindah, and Hungerford. SCHOOLS IN OPERATION IN 1893. 24. At the close of the year there were in operation 660 schools-326 State, end of the year. 332 Provisional, and 2 schools at Benevolent and Reformatory establishments. The net increase for the year was 12 schools-2 State and 10 Provisional. During the year. Classification of schools. 25. The total number of schools open during the whole or some part of the year was 691. 26. The tabular statement below shows the classification of the schools open at the end of the year, and compares it with that of the previous year : Half-time schools. State and Tables A, B, C. Enrolment. 27. Four pairs of half-time schools were opened during the year. These were Pikedale Nos. 1 and 2, Kunioon with Booie, Invercoe with Moralgaran, and Lake Learmouth with Woodville. The schools were open on alternate weeks, each pair being taught by one teacher. 28. The schools of the colony are now about equally divided between State and Provisional (par. 24). But there were six times as many pupils enrolled in the State as there were in the Provisional schools (par. 30). 29. Tables A, B, and C appended to this Report give full particulars respecting the schools in operation during the year 1893. ATTENDANCE OF CHILDREN. 30. For 1893 the gross enrolment was 67,296 in State and 11,034 in Provisional schools; total, 78,330. The multiple enrolments were 7,885, and consequently the net enrolment was 70,445, showing a decrease of 50 on that for 1892. Of this net enrolment 47,515, or 675 per cent., were of "statute age;" 9,125, or 12.9 per cent., were under; and 13,805, or 19.6 per cent., were over it. The enrolment |