RELIGION — INSTRUCTION
277
Religion.
There is no State Church, and no State aid is (jiven to any fonn of religion. When the settlements of Canterbury and Otago were originally founded, bodies in communion with the Church of England and the Free Church of Scotland respectively obtained endowments which they still retain from the Societies by which the settlements were organised. For purposes of the Church of England the colony is divided into six dioceses — Auckland, Waiapu, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, and Dunedin. The Roman Catholic Church is under the government of an Archbishop residing at Wel- lington, and three suffragan bishops. The list of officiating clergy under the Marriage Act shows the numbers given below. The churches and chapels are given from the census of 1896 : —
Number
1
Number
Number
of
1
Number
of
Denomination
of clergy
churches and
Denomination
of clergy
churches and
(1S98)
chapels, &c.
(1S98)
chapels, &c.
Church of England
290
414
Baptist .
23
34
Presbyterian
198
301
Other Christian
Roman Catholic .
148
212
bodies .
43
148
Methodist bodies .
181
296
Hebrew .
5
5
Congregational .
15
20 i
Confucian
1
According to the census of 1896, 40 "27 per cent, of the population (ex- clusive of Maoris) belonged to the Church of England, 2278 were Presby- terians, 10 '45 percent. Methodists, other Protestant sects represented being Baptists, Independents, Lutherans, Friends, and Unitarians. The total Protestants numbered 545,176, and Roman Catholics and Catholics unde- fined, 98,804, or 14'07 per cent, of the population. There were 1,549 Jews, 3,391 Pagans, and 15,967 who objected to state their religion.
Instruction.
The University. of New Zealand is solely an examining body, and grants degrees by virtue of a royal charter. It receives an annual grant of 3,000?. It awards scholarships to be held by students at affiliated colleges. The number of graduates admitted after examination is now 603. There are three affiliated colleges — the Otago University at Dunedin, with 9 professors ; the Canterbury College at Christchurch, with 8 professors ; and the Auckland University College, with 5 professors ; besides lecturers at each. They are all endowed with lands. Total students (1896) 677, of whom 430 have matriculated.
At the end of 1897 there were in operation 24 incorporated or endowed secondary schools, with 184 teachers and an average attendance of 2,575 pupils. Four endowed schools were not in operation. The income of all the schools for 1897 was about 68,391Z., of which 37,317/. was from enclowments, and 27,652^ from fees, not including boarding fees,
