be charged with the general superintendence of the business relating to the free common schools of this state.*

SEC. 6955. He shall open at the seat of the state government (at the expense of the state) a suitable office, in which he shall keep all books, reports, documents and other papers pertaining to his department, and where he shall be in attendance when not necessarily absent on business, and have personal supervision of the business affairs of his office, and keep a clear and correct record thereof.

SEC. 6956. He shall furnish suitable questions for the examination of teachers to the county examiner; he shall hold a teachers' institute annually in each judicial district of the state, to be called a normal district institute; he shall arrange the programme exercises for each of such institutes, and preside thereat. Provided, If he should not be present, the teachers who may have assembled may organize and hold such normal district institute. (See recent act of the legislature placed in the digest after sec. 6978.)

SEC. 6957. He shall prepare and transmit to the county examiners, school registers, blank certificates, reports and other printed blanks, together with other suitable blanks, forms and printed instructions, to be forwarded to directors and other school officers, as may be necessary to aid such officers in making their reports and carrying into full effect

*A general power of charge and supervision oi schools includes the power to make all reasonable rules and regulations for the discipline, government and arrangements of schools. 5 Cush. (Mass.), 198; 8 Cush. (Mass.), 160; 12 All. (Mass.), 127; 105 Mass., 476; 63 Ill., 353; 71 Mo., 628; 13 Brad., 520.

As to what is a reasonable rule, see 63 Ill., 353; 48 Vt., 476, 477; 31 Iowa, 565. It is in short, "Any rule of the school or system not subversive of the rights of the children or parents or in conflict with humanity and the precepts of divine law which leads to advance the law in establishing public schools."

†The state superintendent is the only one authorized to furnish questions for these examinations. The examinations held by examiners at the close of a private school of their own, in which they have prepared the teachers to answer certain questions prepared by the examiner for the occasion, are not legal, and a license granted in this manner is void.

the various provisions of the school laws of this state. Act December 7, 1875, secs. 13-16.

SEC. 6958. The superintendent of public instruction shall prepare a form of poll books to be used by the directors of the various school districts of this state at their annual elections as are now, or may hereafter be provided by law, and have the same printed as other blanks for school purposes; and shall transmit the same to the county examiner of each county for distribution to school directors in the same manner as other school blanks are now, or shall hereafter be distributed. Act March 2, 1887.

SEC. 6959. He shall exercise such supervision over the school funds as to ascertain the amount and disposal made of the same, their protection and safety when invested or deposited, and recommend measures for their seecurity and preservation, and for rendering them most productive of revenues; shall enforce the strict application of the school revenues to the legitimate purposes for which they were intended, and shall, when directed by the commissioners of the school fund, cause to be instituted, in the name of the state of Arkansas, suits or actions for the recovery of any portion of the said funds or said revenues that may be squandered, illegally applied or unsafely deposited.

SEC. 6960. He shall, on or before the first day of November in each year, prepare and submit to the governor of this state an annual report, in writing, showing the number of persons between the ages of six and twenty-one years residing in the state on the first day of the preceding July; the number of such persons in each county; the number of each sex; the number of white; the number of colored; the whole number of such persons that attended the free common schools of the state during the year ending the thirtieth day of the last preceding June, and the number in each county that attended during the same period; the number of whites of each sex that attended, and the num

ber of colored of each sex that attended the said schools; the number of common schools in the state; the number of pupils that studied each of the branches taught; the average wages paid teachers of each sex; the relative average wages paid to male and female teachers respectively, according to the different grades of their certificates; the number of school houses erected during the year; the material and cost thereof; the number previously erected, the material of which they were constructed, their condition and value; the number with their grounds inclosed; the counties in which teachers' institutes were held, and the number that attended the institutes in each county.

SEC. 6961. He shall likewise report the amount of permanent school fund belonging to the state at the close of the fiscal school year, and the amount of other property apportioned to school purposes; the nature, kind and amount of such investments made of the same; the safety and permanency of such investments; the amount of revenue accruing from the school funds; the income received from the per capita assessments of each county, and the amount derived from such assessment in all the counties of the state; the income derived from all other sources, together with the amount derived from each; likewise in what sums, for what purposes and in what manner the said school revenue shall have been expended, and what amount of school moneys of various kinds are in the various county treasuries unexpended.

SEC. 6962. He shall include in his report such plans as he may have matured for the improvement of the common school system of this state; for the accumulation, the investment and the more judicious management of the common school fund, and, when he may deem it advisable, shall recommend measures for a more economical and advantageous collection and expenditure of the revenues accruing from the said fund; and whenever it comes to his knowledge that

any of the investments of the school funds are not safe, or that any portion of the said fund is liable to be lost, that it is unproductive of revenue, or that any of the school revenues have been diverted from their proper channel or from the appropriate objects contemplated, he shall report the facts to the governor and to the general assembly, if in session.

SEC. 6963. He shall also append to his report a statistical table, compiled from the materials transmitted to his office by school officers, with proper summaries, averages and totals given.

SEC. 6964. He shall present such a comparison of results, and such an exhibit of his administration, and of the operation of the common free school system, together with such statements of the true condition of the schools of the state, as shall distinctly show the improvements and progress made from year to year in the department of public instruction.

SEC. 6965. The annual reports of the state superintendent to the governor shall be transmitted by the governornor to the general assembly at the opening of the session.

SEC. 6966. He shall have his reports to the governor published as soon as practicable after they have been made, and shall cause them to be distributed among the various school officers of the state, to be kept on file in their respective offices. Provided, He shall not have more than five thousand copies of such reports printed for any one year, the printing of such reports to be let out as other contracts for printing. Act December 7, 1875, secs. 16-23.

SEC. 6967. He shall on the first Monday of August and on the first Monday of February of each year, make a pro rata apportionment to the several counties of the state of the remaining revenues in the state treasury available for distribution for school purposes, on the basis of the number of persons between the ages of six and twenty-one

years, residing in said county, respectively, on the first day of September previous; and he shall publish a statement of the same, and as early as practicable, shall transmit a copy thereof to each county examiner and to each of the several treasurers in the state, and to each county clerk, who shall submit the same to the county court at its next term; and he shall thereupon draw his requisition on the state auditor in favor of the treasurers of the several counties for such amount as the said counties. may be entitled to receive for the support of free common schools. Act March 20, 1891.

SEC. 6968. He shall, from time to time, publish in convenient pamphlet form, and furnish each school officer, the acts of the general assembly relating to common schools, and the decisions of the courts having competent jurisdiction in relation to the school laws; and he shall likewise, at the request of any school officer, render a decision relating to the intent, construction or administration of any portion of theschool laws on which decisions shall not have been published, and he may, when he shall deem it advisable to have the opinion of the attorney general, require said opinion to be given in writing(a).

SEC. 6969. He shall, for the purpose of ascertaining the amounts, safety and preservation of the school funds, have access to the auditor's books and papers, with full power to use and inspect the same.

SEC. 6970. At the expiration of his term of office he shall deliver to his successor possession of his office, together with all books, records, documents, papers and other articles belonging or pertaining to his office.

SEC. 6971. He shall affix the seal of the department of

(a.) It is the sole duty of the superintendent of public instruction to render decisions relating to the intent, construction or administration of any portion of the school laws. The attorney general is the legal adviser of the superintendent: and not of school officers.