THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 1879.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXII, Issue 3314, 1 April 1879, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 1879.

The report of the Inspector of Schools of the Westland Educational District for the year ended 31st December, 1878, is well worth perußal. Before going into the details, Mr Smith refers to one cause which has had a serious effect in reducing the average attendance throughout the past < year, and which may be regarded as likely to have such a permanent influence in this direction as to entitle the district to extra aid from the Government on this ground alone — the prevalence of wet weather. The almost constant rain-fall during the greater part of the year materially reduced the average daily attendance, and thus seriously diminished the anticipated income of the Board, and Mr Smith points out that as "the meteorological returns show the rainfall of the West Coast to be about five times as great as the average of all the other stations in New Zealand," the Board would be justified in " urging upon the Government the necessity of modifying, in the case of this district, the present method of calculating the amount receivable for educa- ; tional purposes." At present there is a concession of every day on which the attendance falls below 50 per cent, of the 1 number on the coll ; but the Inspector ; considers this practically useless, "as it ' produces very little difference in the average attendance for the quarter ; and it may become mischievous if it should induce committees or teachers to discourage the presence of children on wet i days, in order that the attendance on I those days may fall below the 50 per - cent., and thus entitle them to exclusion ■ from ' the working average.' " To show 1 how this operates, Mr Smith points out that, in the September quarter, the difference between the "actual average" ' and the " working average " for all the schools in the district was approximately 298, while at three of the largest schools —namely, Hokitika, Greymouth, and Ross — there is no difference whatever, ; although, the attendance frequently fell very nearly, if not quite, 50 per cent. The Inspector therefor suggests that the Government be requested, in the case of ' Westland, to raise the percentage entitling to exclusion from the calculation for the working average, from 50 to 75 per cent. With regard to the working of the compulsory system, Mr Smith admits that it j

has remained a dead letter, although adopted by nearly every school committee in the district, and this he ascribea to the manner in which clause 89 of the Act is worded. It provides that children shall attend school for at least one-half of the period in each year during which the school ia open, so that children may be kept away from school for six months without their parents being liable to prosecution under this Act. He suggests, therefore, as being more likely to effect the purpose contemplated by the Act, that a certain number of attendances per month, or even per quarter, should be insisted on. The real reason, we opine, however, why the compulsory clauses have not been enforced is because the committees do not like to prosecute. It is easy to see by anyone who perambulates the streets of Greymouth, for instance, that there is a considerable number of children of school &ge of both sexes playing or loitering about who ought to be in the State School. Probably a single prosecution, would have the effect of producing a change in this respect. It is surprising, to find how, even in regard- to those who are on the books of the schools, insufficient attendance prevails. In a table, Mr Smith shows that, daring the past year, 182 children attended school in less than 100 days. At Hokitika the number wa3 44 ; at Greymouth, 26 ; at Kumara, 33 ; at Cobden, 16 ; the other schools running from one to seven each. Many of these must represent children who have left the district during the year, or who had entered at the latter end, but still the amount of insufficient attendance is too large. The total number of children examined in twenty-five schools, mentioned in table one, was 2434; and the numbers and percentage of passes were as under: —

The results of the examination of the Greymoufch School are very creditable, and are thus shown : — Average daily attendance. 370. In the seventh standard five were examined, and all passed with an average per centage of marks of 90 ; in the 6th standard 12 were examined, and all passed ; average marks, 83 ; in the fifth standard 42 were examined, and all passed, the average of marks being 78 ; in the fourth standard 32 were examined, and all passed, with an average of 80 marks ; in the third standard 52 were examined, and only two failed, the average of marks being 9t ; in the second standard 65 were examined, and 65 passed ; average of marks, 92. In the firßt standard 103 were examined, and . 101 passed. The per centage of scholars examined who passed was 99 ; and the average of passes (exclusive of infants) in this school, 96. The numberunderthesetwo heads in the Hokitika School were 98 and 93 respectively. The Greymouth School stands at the head of the list, a circumstance which must be as gratifying to the parents as encouraging to the teachers: Referring to this school the Inspectorial: ifow acTcoifs That his previously expressed opinions had been arrived at without sufficient knowledge. He says : — " In my last annual report, in speaking of the Greymouth School, after giving due prominence to the fact of its having been very successful at the Christmas examination, I expressed a doubt as to whether the progress made was really as great as it appeared to be. This misgiving arose from a recollection of the fact that the 4th and sth classes had done badly in two or three subjects at the previous June examination ; and, as there had been no opportunity of testing the pupils who then failed, in the same standards, I considered that 1 was perfectly justified in expressing those doubts. At the last midwinter examination the Greymouth School was first on the list, and did so well that I admitted that the results went far to remove from my mind the doubts I had expressed six months before. More than .this I could not conscientiously say, since the schools were examined then in the same standards that they had passed in tbe previous December. Now, however, another examination has taken place, and the Greymouth School has again placed itself at the head of the list ■ and on this occasion I consider that I am in possession of sufficient evidence to warrant my stating decidedly that the pupils of this school have not suffered in the slightest degree from the action taken by the Head Master in presenting his classes at Christmas, 1877, in a standard higher than he was obliged to do ; but that the progress made by the pupils at Greymouth during the last thiee years has been sound and satisfactory. No doubt the foundation of this success was laid in the judicious classification of the children on the first establishment of the school. To say this now is a simple act of justice, but to have said after the June j examination, having in memory the. com-, parative weakness of two important classes at the previous June examination, would have been jumping to a conclusion from very insufficient premises. And I have no doubt that my remarks on the two occasions referred to, though very unpalatable to those concerned at the time, have not been without some influence in bringing about so satisfactory a conclusioa." With this extract we conclude our first notice of the Inspector's report, but we shall refer to it again at another opportunity.

Standard. VII VI V IV 111 n i Below I No of Passes. 7 • 33 116 193 243 332 362 1148 Per centag c of total number examined. •28 1-35 476 7 93 10 00 13-64 14-87 47-17 Total ... 2434 100-00