EDUCATION: REPORTS OF INSPECTORS OF SCHOOLS. [In continuation of E.-1b., 1884.]

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1885 Session I, E-01b

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1885. NEW ZEALAND.

EDUCATION: REPORTS OF INSPECTORS OF SCHOOLS. [In continuation of E.-1b., 1884.]

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

[It has not been thought necessary to print in all cases the tables, and those portions of the reports that relate only to particular schools.] AUCKLAND. Bee,— . Auckland, March, 1885. In accordance with the provisions of the Education Act, I have the honour to submit this report for the year ended 31st December, 1884. The following table shows the number of primary schools in the education district, and the attendance of pupils :—

The number on the roll in December, 1883, was 17,120, and the number of schools 217. In the number of schools for 1884 there are included 46 half-time schools. Last year the schools were 54. The following table shows the result of the standard examinations for the past year :—

One of the least desirable effects of the system of examination in standards is showing itself more and more every year. This is the tendency of teachers to substitute cramming for education. This is almost always the result of much examining. Efforts are made to resist it, but it increases. That a country wants men and women, not mere examination-passers, is not so much ignored as steadfastly looked away from by many in these latter days. The passing of the Sixth Standard is the knowledge-test of qualification of a candidate for the office of pupil-teacher. This has not been found always satisfactory. Some who have been admitted as pupil-teachers prove not to have the amount of knowledge which, by their passing of the Sixth Standard, they ought to have. This is often brought about by cramming. Some who have been found deficient have excused themselves on the plea that they were crammed for the examination and forgot what they had learned. I—E. 18.

Quartor ending Number of Schools. ;oll-Numbi sr. Avi :rago Atteni .ance. tlarch 31 une 30 September 30 December 31 219 225 223 224 M. 9,295 9,574 9,536 9,492 P. 9,009 9,117 9,078 8,897 Total. 18,304 18,691 18,614 18,389 M. 7,427 7,517 7,331 7,696 E. 7,118 7,011 6,692 6,990 Total. 14,545 14,528 14,023 14,686

Standard. Examined. Passed. Failed. Percentage of Passes. Average Age al Time of Passing. Standard I. Standard II. Standard III. Standard IV. Standard V. Standard VI. 2,860 2,581 2,089 1,095 560 269 2,260 1,982 1,343 823 338 169 600 599 746 272 222 100 79'02 76-79 64-28 75-15 60'35 62-82 9 10412" 13 14 14* Totals 9,454 6,915 2,539 73-14

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I must again call attention to the way reading is taught, or rather heard, in many of the schools. While the pupil reads the teacher reads to himself the same passage. It is evident that under this absurd system pupils may go on mumbling for years without a teacher discovering that they cannot read at all. I believe this to be one of the main causes why so few even fairly distinct readers can be met with. No reading from a pupil should be accepted which the teacher cannot understand without the prompting of a book. This will cause some trouble at first. Perhaps fewer pupils can read aloud on any one day ; but the teacher will soon find himself rewarded for his pains by the proficiency of. his pupils, and the gain to them will be enormous. In many schools classes are still allowed to make the insufferable din when reading simultaneously which has been so often ridiculed and condemned. Here is another hindrance to good reading. The belief in this screaming discord belongs to the same category as the belief that "a healthy amount of noise" is necessary to the good order of a school. We are getting new lights every day, and it is not to be endured that a teacher should persistently shut his eyes to them because they did not swim into our ken some thirty years ago. It cannot be cut too deeply into the minds of teachers that a thorough knowledge of the meaning of what is read is essential to the mental training of their pupils. As regards the teaching of composition, I find there is a tendency to go back to mechanical methods. It cannot be too often repeated that these methods, where materials are found for the pupils, are not only useless but, where alone used, mischievous. I know of schools where something like the following procedure was adopted. A class were questioned on some subject they had read, their answers were set down on the black-board, and from these scattered members they were told to build up the body of a composition exercise. I must say that anything showing a more complete distrust of nature could not well be devised. Surely these boys and girls had been given eyes to see and ears to hear for themselves, and were not left so utterly without mind as to be unable to put down, in some articulate fashion, their thoughts on what they had seen or heard. As this is a most important matter I desire to reproduce here some of the things that have been written concerning it. " The proper methods of teaching composition seem to be little understood. What is called ' reproduction ' appears to be a practice much affected by many teachers ; one very popular manual of composition, at least, is mainly made up of exercises in it. By reproduction is meant that a child shall reproduce in his own words the substance of something read out to him by the teacher; for young children the subject is generally some short narrative. Now, it is evident that no child can do this. Precis-writing, as every one knows who has tried it, cannot be done at all well, even by grown men, without considerable practice. But precis-writing is child's play compared to what (on the face of it) would appear to be expected from children, for the precis-writer has the documents he seeks to condense before him, and may refer to them as often as he likes. But the truth is, a child does not give the substance of what is read to him in his own words. With much weariness and disgust he piles up, somehow, such paragraphs and words as he can remember. The child with the best verbal memory and the least originality does the best. I scarcely think that the operation can be called composition at all. It may be exercise not devoid of usefulness if practised occasionally, but to allow it, and similar methods where materials are supplied to the pupil, to become altogether, or in great part, substitutes for composition properly so called, is in my opinion pernicious, because calculated to dull the faculties that should come into play when what is truly composition is attempted. Any one who has taken the trouble to observe a class of children engaged in reproduction, and the same class when engaged in composition, will see by the very expression of their faces how different is the one process from the other. A child should be trained to use his own materials, to reproduce his own familiar talk, to write of the things he has seen with his own eyes and felt with his own hands. No matter how awkward and clumsy may be the structure he raises, still it is something put together by himself after his own fashion, and with materials of his own collection. " There still lingers too much of a tendency to have recourse to reproduction in some one or other of its various disguises. The art of oral composition comes by nature, much as the art of walking does. In training to written composition we should be guided by nature's teaching. When stilts produce ease in walking, the wooden appliances so frequently pressed on our notice will no doubt produce ease in writing." The remarks on the teaching of grammar in my last year's report are still to no small extent applicable. I would further impress on teachers the necessity of drilling their pupils from time to time in the use of the irregular or strong verbs. This will apply to nearly all the classes ; for these verbs are used or abused by the youngest children in the schools. I regret to say there are some teachers who themselves abuse these verbs, and whose language is otherwise anything but grammatical at times. There are. some, too, who misuse the letter "h " to an intolerable extent. Teachers who are afflicted in these ways should struggle. hard to reform them altogether. When they become conscious of their defects there is a chance of amendment. I would again point out that it is of inestimable value to children to be taught to use their own eyes. The young children should be trained to find out and name the objects in the schoolroom, and further trained to form some opinion on these objects—to consider whether they think them little or big, pretty or ugly, and the like. Object-teaching is still very inadequately understood. A young teacher was found not long since giving a so-called object-lesson from a book. I fear this is not a solitary instance. The animals, and plants, and substances with which the pupils ought to be familiar should alone be the texts of these lessons. The teaching of mechanical drawing has to some extent been introduced into the schools during the past year. Teachers should remember that they are expected to do their best to comply with the requirements of the standard. ■ Satisfactory advancement in singing has been made during the year. Mr. Young has been associated with Mr. Cranwell in the teaching. I regret to say that several assistant teachers,

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though able to teach, hang back from doing so. I am afraid, too, that some endeavour not to qualify in order to escape the trouble of teaching. I certainly think that teachers showing such a spirit are unworthy of promotion. The practice of gymnastics continues to extend. The prejudice against it felt by many at first appears to be dying out. A teacher of a large school has suggested that the last half of each short interval daily could be well applied to putting pupils through the movements without apparatus. I think this an excellent plan, and strongly recommend it. Of course this is an addition to the usual time given to gymnastics during school hours. It is plain that this time may be enough to teach the exercises, but it is not enough to have much effect on the frames of the pupils. The way the pupils in many of the country schools sit at their desks is excruciating. They 101 l about and stretch out their legs ; when they hold up one hand to indicate their ability to answer a question, the palm of the other is brought down with a bang upon the form. The permitting this sort of thing is incident to young teachers. I must again call attention to the ventilation of schools, and to point out that the object should be to have the air in the room as pure as possible without dangerous draughts. (See report for 1883.) The teacher should every day and many times a day note the state of the atmosphere, and arrange the opening of the doors and windows accordingly. He should take care that the rooms are thoroughly aired during all intervals. I revert to this because I find nearly every day that ventilation is not enough attended to, even by teachers from whom better things might be expected. It would be of considerable advantage if country teachers would make themselves acquainted with the best means of restoring black-boards when worn out, and of cleaning desks. It has been found that washing with hot water and soft soap is very effective with the latter when they require cleaning all over. I have again to remind many teachers that by the vigilant eye only can order be kept in a school. In many places teachers do their best to make attractive, not only their schools, but the schoolgrounds and the grounds attached to their houses. I regret to say that in very many cases the state of these grounds is simply disgraceful. There is little excuse for this. Where a dwellinghouse is provided for a teacher it is not too much to expect that he shall keep the ground attached to it in order. It is easy in many neighbourhoods to procure native trees to plant the schoolgrounds, and in many others trees of some kind can be had for nothing, or at a very small cost. A Committee will seldom fail to assist a teacher when they find him animated by a proper spirit in these matters. Much of the general educating effect which the placing of a school in a district should bring about is lost when the school is allowed to become an eyesore instead of an attraction. I have, &c, The Chairman, Education Board, Auckland. B. J. o'Sullivan.

TABANAKI. Sic, — Education Office, New Plymouth, 19th February, 1885. I have the honour to lay before you my first annual report on the schools of this district, for the year ending 31st December, 1884. Early in February, after making all arrangements for the introduction of the pupil-teachers system of instruction under regulations specially framed to meet the necessities of the district, I paid my first visit of inspection to all your schools then in operation. Anxious to obtain a correct idea of the character of the instruction, there being none of the children's examination papers in existence in this office, I examined, with a few exceptions, one or more classes in each school. These examinations showed conclusively that there was no dependence to be placed on the classification of the scholars, and that no effort, however determined or efficient, could attain even fair success at inspection. This condition seems to me to have been brought about chiefly through the neglect of any regular attempt to follow the course of instruction laid down in the syllabus, the absence of thoroughness in the work itself, and a pass examination of too easy a nature. By the resolution of the Board on the 11th April I was empowered to make the necessary arrangements thought desirable for the withdrawal from presentation of children whose attainments were unequal to the task of passing the next higher standard. Fortunately the alteration made in Begulation 2 by the Order in Council of the 19th June disposed of this difficulty, as it gave to the teachers full power to present or withdraw. That the teachers are alive to the fact that your schools are not in a satisfactory state is borne out by the large number of re-examinations in standards already passed; still more so by the high percentage (65 per cent.) of these scholars who failed in more than two subjects. In thirty-two schools the teachers availed themselves of the regulation, four presenting more for re-examination than presentation. I have carefully abstained from any interference with the action of teachers in this matter; at the same time I must say that many have afforded to their scholars the opportunity of passing by presenting them when their chance of success was known as hopeless both to their teachers and myself. Throughout the year over 130 visits were paid to your schools. Excepting Bahotu, recently opened, and Albert Boad, which was closed for a portion of the year, every school has been visited at least three times. The temporary school opened at Warea during the second week of December I was unable to visit owing to the bad weather prevailing at the time. With the intention of assisting teachers to reorganize and reclassify their schools, I have during these visits tested their work ; also given model lessons and advice where required. The attendance (2,113) at the close of the year shows the very small increase of fifty-three over the number (2,060) in attendance at the close of the preceding one. Of the 2,069 scholars whose names are entered on the examination schedules, 978 were presented in standards, 282 presented

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for re-examination in standards already passed, and 809 preparing for the First Standard. The presented and examined number for last year was 909. I am unable to compare the actual attendance at the examinations with former years, as it appears to have been the custom to enter the names only of the scholars who were present and prepared for the examination. However, the attendance for this year was : Examined in standards, 884 ; examined in preparatory, 593 ; reexamined in standards, 248 : making a total of 1,725 present at examination. The absence of so many as 344 children is to be regretted, as the percentage of attendance (83 per cent.) compares somewhat unfavourably with other districts. Examination Eesults.—The following table shows the number of scholars examined, with the number of passes, percentage of passes, and average ages in each standard ; also the number reexamined, with the number obtaining pass-marks, and percentage of same, in standards:—

i . |S J> 1 ■ -si 4* 8,-apJ 1 I" I |« 1° I i! id HS Standard 1 358 284 74 793 8-6 48 38 10 792 Standard II 180 68 112 378 10-1 76 20 56 26-3 Standard 111 199 -68 131 342 11-3 68 15 53 22 Standard IV 105 40 65 38-1 12-8 41 10 31 24.4 Standard V 38 9 23 281 13-5 11 3 8 273 Standard VI 10 3 7 30 137 4 0 4 ...

It will be seen that the number of passes (472) is considerably less than the 609 of last year; but some consideration must be given to the effort required to pass the eighty-six scholars re-examined, who, though previously passed, made the required, marks. A comparison of the percentages in the table made by the scholars will show that, though examined and marked under the same conditions, the quality of the work was much inferior. Indeed, many will require at least another year before teachers can, with any fairness to themselves or hope of success, present them for successful examination. An effort was made to prepare as many as possible for the lower standards, leaving the scholars working in the higher ones to revise the subjects in which they were weak. For this purpose I distributed among the teachers nearly 8,000 Fourth and Fifth Standard examination papers in arithmetic, grammar, and geography, which I had in leisure hours for some years past been preparing for publication. It will be necessary to acquaint you that test questions, printed on cards, were used in the standards above the second. An arithmetic card was given to this standard, and the sums wrought out on the scholars' slates. Two cards were used in the grammar and the geography tests of the Third, with a like number in arithmetic for the Second, the Third, and the Fourth, while one set of each for the remaining subjects and standards did service throughout the district. In every case the spelling and dictation tests were selected from the Beaders in use, and to all standards excepting the First they were dictated by the teachers themselves. That the scholars in this standard did not suffer at my hands is borne out by a much higher percentage of passes. The children's answers were given either on slate or paper. Each was allowed a full use of the slate for drafting work. As far as possible care was taken to prevent any copying. Very rarely was I compelled to reprove for this offence. That the questions could be well answered, and that the pass-marks are fairly within each scholar's reach, are best seen by the passes made and the actual work done by the scholars in schools reported upon as doing good work. I leave to those persons who maybe doubtful in this matter acomparison of the examination papers laid before you. As a teacher of some years' experience, I have had opportunities of dealing from time to time with occasional cases of neglected or inefficient instruction ; but I little thought that any portion of this colony, with its educational system now in operation since 1877, could contribute such to so large an extent, and also be so far behind in the possession of its advantages. Subjects of Iksteuction. —Beading is decidedly the best-taught subject. A want of fluency in many of the lower classes, faulty articulation, and inaccuracy in a few schools, with the absence of taste and expression in the higher classes generally, are the chief points to which teachers should direct their future efforts. More attention to word-teaching in the preparatory class before sentence-reading is entered upon, and frequent patterns given, with correct expression and explanation, will, I am sure, if insisted upon, make the subject less irksome to the children, as well as remedy the defects alluded to. The dictation tests were better answered than the spelling ones. Indeed, the results in both subjects would have shown a high return but for the miserable way in which both had been taught in sixteen schools. The percentage of passes in these was 42 per cent., while the remaining nineteen passed 75 per cent. I regret to bring under your notice the fact that these subjects had been sadly neglected in the schools referred to. lam glad to be able to report marked improvement in the writing of several schools. Especially at Lower Kent Boad, Stratford, and Tikorangi the subject is taught with much success. In the schools named one uniform style is evident. Every copy shows that instruction with careful attention to detail is given. Courtenay Street School follows very close upon these, though many letters in the specimens are imperfectly formed. In the preparatory classes at the Central School tne subject is being well taught. As long as the present system of teaching writing through " copying a headline" is followed little real progress can be made. A constant use of the blackboard, and an intimate acquaintance with the treatment of common errors in form, size, slope, and

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thickness, as advised by Mr. Gladman and others, is what is wanted to make this subject the satisfactory one it ought to be. Attention to the position of the scholar while writing, the manner of holding the pen, and keeping the copy-book clean, are points which teachers must not overlook. In arithmetic the pass results were wrecked by the defective manner in which notation had been taught. The local value of a figure in the work of the First Standard had either never been, or but scantily, touched upon. In three-fourths of the schools examined this was incontrovertibly shown, and I attribute the many failures in the Second and Third Standards to the want of such teaching. Bepeatedly the whole class failed to put down the addition sum or the multiplication one correctly. Of the work done by the higher standards no very creditable account can be given. Generally inaccurate in working, faulty in method, or the question never attempted, were the common causes of failure. Altogether, the teaching of the subject is inefficient, and not practical. Too much time has been wasted on abstract work, and an insufficient number of examples wrought in each rule. Plenty of short easy questions, with abundance of black-board illustration of principles, in each class, will undoubtedly bring facility and accuracy. The grammar instruction in the Third Standard is decidedly improved. Teachers have kept to the four parts of speech required, with, to some extent, very fair success. At any rate the lotterybox style of attempting all has nearly disappeared. I dare say at next inspection a more intelligent comprehension of these and their definitions will be forthcoming. Very little was expected from the higher standards, as the syllabus programme had been ignored, and past effort confined to routine parsing, with no perception of the relation of words in a sentence. No graduated or systematic course of exercises in composition had been given, consequently the few sentences on familiar subjects asked for were poorly answered. In too many cases neither capitals nor stops were used. In the larger schools geography, especially that of New Zealand, was creditably answered, but generally throughout the district the subject is feebly understood, particularly in the Second Standard, where much unskilful treatment or neglect has led to many failures. The outline sketchmaps were, to a great degree, sorry attempts. ■ The pass failures in the higher standards are certainly due in a great measure to the inefficient and omitted instruction of this subject, as well as grammar. I was compelled to abandon my examination in history, as in former years little had been done towards the introduction of the subject, and the results obtained where it was prepared were so indifferent. In most of the schools where female teachers are employed sewing is taught very successfully. Excellent work, even in the preparatory classes, was sent in for the sewing examination. The failures were more the result of inattention to the standard requirements than to imperfect workmanship. Desk-drill is fairly satisfactory. Were class-drill and the extension exercises more generally practised, less noise and better order would ensue when scholars are either entering or leaving their rooms. The usual salute should be insisted upon, instead of the mere wave of the hand into which it has fallen. At four of the schools the scholars were put through several company movements. Beyond singing and the usual exercise-book work no extra subject was undertaken, excepting at Egmont Village, where a scientific subject, extending through a series of lessons, well illustrated by experiments, was taken up. The singing taught by ear, where heard, was fair. At Bell Block the sol-fa system has been introduced recently. Of the exercise-books I cannot report favourably, save in a few schools. Your teachers fail to make good use of what is a really valuable aid. The books are sometimes carelessly corrected, and the quality of the work accepted often very discreditable. A few models from time to time, with proper regard to neatness, would materially help progress. With the improved classification, little difficulty should now be met with in the preparation for next year's examination ; and I am sure, with an enforced attendance fixed at 66 per cent., it will be either the result of gross carelessness or incompetency if teachers fail to pass a reasonable percentage of their scholars. A good deal of the interest taken by School Committees is evident in the many alterations and improvements about the school buildings, as well as by the attendance of members during my visits and examinations. In conclusion, while I have directed your attention to the unfortunate condition of the instruction in your schools, I would now respectfully urge you to continue, as far as your available funds will allow, to improve the position and the efficiency of your teachers. Future success depends entirely upon the staff in your employ. If your schools are placed in the hands of incompetent persons efficient results cannot be expected from them. lam well aware that the wants of the district are many, and that for several years at least every care will be required to meet your annual expenditure. Yet, assuredly, by the lessened expenses which cannot but result from the adopted amalgamation of schools in fixed centres, the Board will find itself in a far better position to aid its small schools, and assist in the course already indicated. I have, &c, The Chairman, Education Board. William Mueeay, Inspector.

WANGANUI. Sic, — Wanganui, March, 1885. I have the honour to submit my first report on primary education in the Wanganui District. I may preface my remarks by saying that I was appointed by your Board to my present position towards the end of the year 1883, but, owing to a severe illness, was unable to commence my duties until the beginning of last March. The loss of the first two months of the year I could not well afford, for there was a large amount of office-work to be done—including the completion of the sta-

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tistics of the standard examinations of 1883, and the framing of the Scholarship Regulations for 1884—before I could enter upon my inspection of the schools in the district. During the first week in July I was engaged in examining fifty-two pupil-teachers and cadets, and, in the following month, the thirty-four candidates for the ten scholarships offered by the Board. On both examinations exhaustive reports were written. New regulations, also, for scholarships (1885), and regulations for pupil-teachers, with syllabus cf instruction, were framed, and, after being approved by the Board, were submitted to the Education Department, and passed almost in their entirety. It will thus readily be seen that the work entailed by the above, coupled with the preparation of several sets of standard examination cards, did not leave me much leisure for visits of inspection. It was, in fact, only during portions of the months of April, May, and June that I was able to give any time to these visits. I will now proceed to the actual work of my report. Schools and Accommodation. —At the close of the school year ended 31st December, seventyfour schools were in active operation, having a roll-number at the end of the quarter of 5,708, and a working average of 4,278, or nearly 75 per cent. The numbers for the corresponding quarter in 1883 were, roll-number 5,527; working average, 4,155; percentage, 75. There has thus been an increase during the year in the roll-number and average attendance of 181 and 123 respectively, while the percentage has remained nearly the same. Of the seventy-four schools, seven are aided schools, conducted in buildings not belonging to the Board, and having an average attendance of 79. During the year new schools were opened at Mangaone, Terrace End, and Otakeho, and aided schools were established at Bird Grove, Kimbolton Eoad, Momahaki, and Maramara Totara. The increase in attendance, therefore, has hardly been commensurate with the increase in the number of schools. In most of the schoolhouses the accommodation is sufficient for present requirements ; but those at Waverley, Normanby, and Hawera are too crowded. Plans, however, have been prepared for additions to these buildings. Early in the year, to relieve the pressure at Palmerston North, a branch school was established in a private hall at the suburb of Terrace End. The average attendance for the last quarter having reached eighty-three, and the hall being in no way suitable for a school, the Board purposes building on a site already obtained. When opportunity offers I think it would be advisable to shift the central school at Palmerston from its present very unsuitable position by the side of the railroad to some more extensive site at the southern end of the town. The present building, from frequent additions, is a marvel of inconvenience,and has little or no playground about it. Some of the schools appear to me to be situated too near to each other —hence the attendances are low, and pupils shift about at every fancied injury; while the salaries are not large enough to attract efficient teachers. In a few cases the salary paid according to the Board's scale is supplemented by the settlers. Most schools are singularly fortunate in having large playgrounds; but good fences are the exception, not the rule, and the playgrounds of several bush schools are still covered with logs. A working bee on the part of the settlers would soon remedy such defects at the cost of one or two days' trouble. The want of gravel is much felt in some districts. Gymnastic apparatus is in several places in a sad state of dilapidation. A few schools still require saddle-sheds. Buildings, Furniture, etc. —All the buildings have recently been painted, and so, as a rule, ■present a neat outside appearance. On entering, however, defects are very noticeable. The majority are old buildings, that have been put up without any attention to the essential requirements of a good schoolhouse. Thus the walls and. ceilings are often very low, and the ventilation bad ; the windows are lower than the heads of the pupils when sitting, are in some rooms too small, in others too large and unwieldly, with one or both sashes unhung, and the frosting of the lower panes gives them a very dirty appearance. A few of the buildings have been added to from time to time in such a manner that some of the rooms are badly lighted and never get any sun. These remarks do not apply to buildings recently erected, as those at Manaia, Ngaire, Manchester, Beaconsfield, and Stanway, whero well-ventilated rooms are to be found, lighted by windows of the proper size and at the correct height, with both sashes hung, and where the walls are painted and have varnished dados. At the same time I cannot disguise the fact that some schools are conducted in wretched buildings. The largest are singularly wanting in any convenience for teachers, not one in the district boasting of a teacher's private room. In the town of Wanganui, the boys' and girls' schools possess lofty rooms; but a good deal of the money put into the roofs might have been more advantageously spent. In the infants' school the large room is poorly lighted, and, in consequence of the insufficient corridor accommodation, hats have to be hung in the class-rooms—a most undesirable practice. Under the Board's present competent architects a better class of buildings than that formerly in vogue may be confidently looked for. I may mention that several teachers have complained to me about their schoolhouses being used for other than school purposes, and of the dirty state in which the rooms have been left. Smoking chimneys are also a constant source of complaint. The desks in some of the schools are in a very dilapidated state, and are of various plans even in the one room. I hope in the worst cases to have new desks supplied by my next visits of inspection. Ido not approve of the long-length desks at present generally in use. If these be placed close together, one child, when leaving his seat, disturbs several others, and a teacher has not access to each child; if placed apart the desks take up too much room, and the children have no support for their backs. Again, no child can both stand and sit with comfort (in a desk the great desideratum) in a desk with a fixed table and also a fixed seat, for the correct position for writing requires the inner edge of the seat to touch an imaginary vertical line from the inner edge of the table. I much object to these desks also on account of the manner in which female pupils are obliged to get in and out of them, and, again, because they do not allow of any useful class-drill. The Board has now decided to adopt the dual desks as used in Holland and some other countries; but, for the reasons mentioned, I think it would be also advisable to get rid of those of the old style at every opportunity. As the relative sizes of class-rooms and desks were not studied before the buildings were erected, in several schools the desks have to be arranged latitudinally instead of longitudinally. Many schools were in the beginning of the year poorly supplied with black-boards,

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Map-easels would be a great advantage, for the black-board should be used at every lesson, and hence its easel is not available for the map when geography is being taught. Most schools are now well found in maps, the new schools especially so. Johnston's two physiological charts might well be supplied. Drawing-blocks and T squares would be of valuable assistance to teachers. Libraries have been established at a few schools, but the books are in general too advanced for the use of the pupils, and in some cases are unsuitable. An effort might be made to establish pupils' and teachers' libraries in the Wanganui town schools. Teachees' Besidences.—There are still nine schools, in addition to the three at Wanganui, without residences—namely, Biverton, Warrengate, Waitotara, Woodville, Parawanui, Mangaone, Ashurst, and Carnarvon. At Warrengate and Parawanui residences are in course of erection, and at Carnarvon the teacher lives in his own house. Nine schools are conducted in buildings combining teachers' private rooms and class-rooms. All the residences, like the school-buildings, have recently been painted, but many are very damp, as they were built on the lowest portion of the school-sites. Leaking gutters, too, are a constant source of complaint. The untidy state of their houses and grounds is very discreditable to some of the young teachers. Teachees. —In the 74 schools in the district 132 teachers are employed—namely, 74 head teachers in charge of schools —53 males and 21 females; 22 assistant teachers—s males and 17 females; and 36 pupil-teachers—B males and 28 females. There are also 15 cadets. Of the head teachers 22 are wholly uncertificated, and 6 have provisional certificates; but 7of the former are in charge of aided schools, and 2, being new arrivals in the colony, await only Inspector's marks. Eleven of these uncertificated teachers did not present themselves for examination in January last; but for all but two there seems to be an excuse. While some of the head teachers are highly classified, I attach far more importance to the practical knowledge of school management possessed by a few. Classification in former times was more easily obtained than it is now, and at best is a very fallacious test of a true teacher's powers. There are several, however, who have no professional training, nor —what I consider of far more importance—any experience in large, well-conducted schools ; so that they are naturally lacking in that technical knowledge which would enable them to classify and instruct their pupils in such a manner as to get through the most school-work in a given time, with the least effort on their own part and the most advantage to their pupils. Some of these teachers are not lacking in earnestness and other essential qualifications of members of their profession; but they are placed at a great disadvantage, because, though perhaps desiring to fit themselves in every way for the work which they have undertaken, they have no means of seeing methods practised outside their own schools, but toil along—it may be in the heart of the bush—month after month in their well-worn grooves, their knowledge of school-work being limited to what is done in their own little buildings. It is, perhaps, this exclusion from intercourse with each other in their work that causes teachers to be so conservative, and to think that nothing can be good that they have not tried. In all businesses and amusements in life it is well for the contestants to see others that are better than themselves. How, then, can this state of things be improved ? Text-books on school-management are all very well, and ought to prove a useful aid, but most teachers have found that theory and practice are two different things. What, therefore, teachers want is to see schools where the best methods are employed, in full working order—to see the machinery at work about which they had before only read. There are, however, no so-called " model schools "in the district; but there are some schools well worthy of a visit, whilst there are, perhaps, none from which a teacher anxious to pick up a hint might not improve himself, if only by observing faults. I should accordingly be in favour of allowing teachers a day occasionally for the purpose of visiting neighbouring or other schools; and, if those in the country received their midwinter holidays at a different time from those in town, the teachers of the former would have an opportunity of seeing the working of the latter. The most suitable of the larger schools in the district, also, might be more fully officered, to enable the head teachers to devote some of their time to the training of their staff. The head teachers in these schools should give model lessons before their assistants and pupil-teachers, who in turn should give lessons before the head teachers, to be followed by criticism and instruction. Thus the Board would be able to obtain a constant supply of teachers, in some measure trained, for the country schools. An Inspector, too, can give much kindly help on his visits of inspection ; hence I should be glad to be able to devote a good deal of my time to this important part of my duty. Again, care should be taken that, as new teachers are brought into the district, they be experienced in the primary work of education. Pupil-teachees.—There are thirty-six pupil-teachers in the employ of the Board, and good work is no doubt done by some, while it is difficult to see how the present system of education could be carried on without them, except at considerable increase of expense. Head teachers would do well to look closely after the training of their pupil-teachers in good methods, and should not leave them to take sole charge of junior classes, as is too often done at present. I have already reported at length on the examination of last July, so that not much need be written about it now. The work sent in by the junior classes showed that the candidates must have gone through their standards in a very slipshod manner ; while in the senior classes those that did badly last year did badly in preceding years. The untidiness and wretched arrangement of the majority of the work, apart from the want of knowledge displayed, were much to be censured. I feel convinced that many apply for pupilteacherships without a thought of the hard work before them if they wish to succeed, and without any consideration as to whether they are suited for the profession or not. Meanwhile the occupation is " genteel," and may lead to something better. It is worthy of mention that some head teachers informed me early in the year that their pupil-teachers could not possibly pass the examination in July, and yet none of the latter were appointed without testimonials from the former. The manner in which these testimonials are scattered broadcast in the teaching profession, from want of a moral courage to refuse them, is very reprehensible. Your Board and its officers have had very good cause to know this at times during the year. .In August new regulations for pupil-teachers were

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framed, and in the syllabus of subjects English, in which candidates at the last examination were very weak, was made a prominent feature. By these regulations all pupil-teachers are to receive at least five hours' instruction each school-week, extending over not less than four days, and pupilteachers of the two junior classes are restricted to four hours' teaching each day. I hope that in future satisfactory results will be obtained; but I have grave doubts of the wisdom of the whole pupil-teacher system as arranged in this colony, if only some other could be found to supply its place. As we have the system, I think that passing the Sixth Standard with ease should be made one of the conditions of first employment, so that the pupil-teacher would then find little difficulty with his future examinations. Cadets.—ln addition to the 138 teachers mentioned, fifteen cadets are employed. Cadets may be termed pupil-teachers on probation, as employed by the London School Board. Pupils, to be eligible for appointment, must have passed the Fifth Standard. These cadets receive instruction for five hours each week, like pupil-teachers, but, unlike them, get no salary, and are required to teach for only three hours each day, being regarded as ordinary pupils of the school for the remaining two hours. On passing the Sixth-Standard or Fourth-Class examination they are eligible for pupilteacherships, and receive appointments as vacancies offer. Formerly, each year as a cadet counted as a full year as a pupil-teacher after promotion to the higher grade, and this arrangement was partly responsible for some of the worst failures at the examination. Now, cadets and pupilteachers alike take whatever position they acquire by examination, not by length of service. Some cadets are at present qualified for Fourth-Class pupil-teachers, but remain as they are because they will not accept office at a distance from home. I may here remark that the practice of appointing pupil-teachers at the schools where they have been educated is by no means advisable if it can possibly be avoided. It is not easy for a boy to keep order in his class, and command the respect of children who a short time previously were his playmates, and to whom he was, and probably still is, known as "Jack" or " Tom." Several head teachers have spoken to me on this matter. The youth of the pupil-teachers and the small amount of their salaries naturally make their parents anxious to keep them at home. Visits op Inspection.—ln all I paid sixty-five visits of inspection. I was obliged to omit seven schools north of Wanganui—Ngaire, Kakaramea, Whenuakura, and the aided schools at Whakamara and Momahaki—for during the week I had set apart for them my presence was unexpectedly required in the southern portion of the district. At my visits the state of the buildings, playgrounds, &c, was inquired into, and also all matters in connection with the management of the schools. Beports of these inspections were sent to the Committees and to your Board. At the majority of schools I taught classes in one or more subjects, and, both verbally and by entries in the log-books, gave teachers any suggestions or instructions that I thought would be of service to them. Of these suggestions advantage was generally taken, and in several instances they bore good fruit at the examination in standards. I should wish to be able to give in future more time to visits of inspection, and so more assistance to teachers, especially to those in charge of small schools, with .all, or nearly all, the standards to teach. Owing, however, to the great extent of the district, the increasing number of schools, and the amount of examination work, that I shall be able to do so is doubtful. I will now make a few remarks upon what I saw at these visits. Appeaeance op Schools. —I was constantly obliged to find fault with the general appearance of the class-rooms. Too often were window-sills deep in dust; tops of cupboards and mantelpieces loaded with waste paper, copy-books, ink-wells, slate-pencils, &c; fireplaces filled with soot-stained fragments of paper; or desks besmeared with ink. Each one of these is perhaps in itself a small fault; still, it tells a tale of general practice, and does its share towards the formation of habits in children. Teachers should use all means in their power to train their pupils in habits of neatness and order, and to educate them into a perception of the beautiful and a desire for refined and tasteful surroundings. The teacher at Warrengate has shown an example in this direction that might well be followed by others. It is very needful to guide a child's early aesthetic associations, not only on account of the permanence of impressions during the first years of his life, but also because the results will be constantly referred back to, consciously or unconsciously, as the first rough standards of judgment. " Whoever carries into his home a feeling of discomfort and aesthetic rebellion against dirt, vulgarity, and untidiness, has learned a lesson which is of considerable value as a foundation for an orderly life." Lancaster's rule—" A place for everything, and everything in its place " —-is especially applicable to primary schools. Charts, maps, and pictures may be well hung, ferns and brackets placed in the rooms, gardens made in the playgrounds, and many other things done, with little trouble and no expense, that tend to make children loyal to, and proud of, their schools, and, as a consequence, promote regular attendance. At a few schools, notaoly Goat Valley, flower-gardens have been laid out and neatly kept. Children are always glad to help their teachers in matters of this kind. I found the desks in some schools very dirty and much cut about. Children should be taught respect for public property, and care in handling things which do not belong to them. It is therefore unadvisable to allow the schoolroom to be used for play out of school-hours, when there is no supervision. This habit of injuring school property is common enough in some higher schools for boys, and it is occasionally advanced that what is allowed in the Home public schools may well be permitted in primary schools in the colony. The argument is absurd. Assuming that it is right to allow wilful defacing of furniture, the hometraining and circumstances of pupils in both classes of schools are different. After casting back my memory to my own public-school days, while seeing something to admire in the then system of " teaching " —I cannot say " education " —and management, I also see much that I should be very sorry to see introduced into our primary schools. For instance, the permission of wanton damage by boys to their own, their class-mates', and the school property, argued an utter ignorance of, and indifference to, the moral side of education. On my examination visits I found a great improvement in these matters of untidiness of which I have just complained, and many classrooms were very tastefully decorated. This decoration on one of the most important days of a

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child's life is no doubt very nice, but rooms should be neat all the year round; and it is significant that some of the buildings that were most lavishly decorated on the examination day were most untidy on my visit of inspection. Ventilation.—The ventilation in several buildings is very bad, owing to the style of their construction. Many teachers, also, do not attend to this vitally important matter; for frequently, when inspecting on very warm days, I found all the windows and doors of rooms closed. No day is so boisterous that some window cannot be opened at least an inch or two. Both upper and lower sashes should be hung. Such is not the case in several buildings, and in a few some sashes cannot even be raised. Booms should be well aired at all intervals, and before assembly. The Board has lately framed a special rule to this effect. The plan of ventilating a room by placing a close-fitting slip of wood under the lower sash of the window might well be adopted in all schools. It is equally applicable in winter and in summer, because all draught is avoided, and it can be applied at the cost of a few pence. Time-tables.—The time-tables of the more experienced teachers were, in general, satisfactory; but many of the junior teachers did not pay sufficient attention to the relative importance of the subjects, and a few overlooked some subjects altogether. Great difficulty is found in drawing up a time-table for a small school with six standards and only one person in charge; but teachers might lessen this difficulty if they would only read " The Standards" and their "Instructions." How carelessly some do so is shown by the fact of their leaving out transcription in Standards V. and VI. Forms, with the various columns for work and analysis of time marked thereon, have been supplied, and ought to be a material help to teachers, as they will be to an Inspector on his visits. I should like to see all time-tables framed, and not, as I have sometimes found them, fastened to the walls by tacks, pins, or occasionally pen-nibs. One complaint with respect to these documents is that teachers do not always work in accordance with them, though they have themselves made them out. They are also suspended by some teachers shortly before the examination. Such a line of conduct appears to me dishonest, as I have no doubt it does to pupils also. Time-tables are the property of the schools, not of the teachers ; hence they should never be removed. Begistebs.—l had to report one flagrant case of deliberate falsification of registers. The delinquent was, I am glad to say, only a few weeks in the service of this Board, and he immediately resigned. In all other cases, so far as I know, the daily attendances were marked accurately, but, in some few instances, not at the proper time—in one school not until two days after the time; while frequently I found the daily registers very untidy, with the columns not added, and dates, rollnumbers, and such like not filled in to the day of my visit. The summary of attendance register, also, was often not posted. Log-books.—The log-books, as a rule, were regularly kept. Some teachers make very exhaustive, and others very meagre, entries, and a few do not adhere to the regulations on the covers of the books, but even go so far as to criticise the conduct of the Board. Quaeteely Betuens.—The quarterly returns in this district are a source of trouble every •three months. The mistakes that are made, even in simple subtraction, addition, and division, are incredible. The Secretary has been obliged to send back for correction the same returns as many as three times, so that it was generally several weeks after the end of the quarter before the Government summary form could, be filled in. It was the last week in January before all the December returns arrived finally at this office, though the schools were closed on the 19th of the latter month, and the convenience of teachers was studied by the payment of their salaries before the end of the year. No less than fifty-four of these December returns were incorrect in one or more particulars, and some were not even signed. The form is always the samej and the instructions are very minute; so that carelessness must be the cause of the mistakes, for it cannot be inability. I would ask teachers calmly to consider how long such carelessness would be tolerated from, say, a bank official or a bookkeeper. Would only mild remonstrances be made time after time, if such persons could not balance their accounts ? I hope I shall not have to write again about the manner in which the various books are kept and the quarterly forms filled in. Before leaving the subject, I may remark on the elaborate returns required so frequently by the department. Surely it is not necessary that four times a year a teacher should make an abstract of the number of pupils " five and under seven," " seven and under ten," " ten and under thirteen," " thirteen and under fifteen," " above fifteen years," or the number of infants ; pupils preparing for Standard 1., Standard 11., Standard 111., Standard IV., Standard V., and Standard VI. Again, lest the compilation of the table of ages should prove too simple, the classification in the " summary register" differs from that in the quarterly returns, for the third column in the former reads "ten and under fifteen." Begulations.—The regulations of the Board are not attended to in several cases. Many teachers, also, seem quite ignorant of the instructions in " The Standards," more especially of those relating to reading and writing. Standaed Examinations.—Passing now to the work in connection with the standard examinations, I have to report that all the schools, except those opened during the last six months, were examined in accordance with the Government Standard Begulations. Owing to the unusual press of office-work, I was unable to start on my tour until after the August meeting of the Board. Sixtyone schools were examined before Christmas ; but, though my time-table showed only two days free from examination work —on one of which I returned to Wanganui from the extreme south, and on the other from the extreme north, of the district—eight schools still remained. With the exception of the two days mentioned, I was examining on every school-day (also on four Saturdays) from the 29th August to the 21st December. When it was found that eight schools must be left till the present year, I selected three that had several changes of teachers, one that was not open for quite twelve months, and the remaining four as proved most convenient. These schools were examined during the last week of February and the first week of March, and the pupils thus received a month to refresh after the holidays. On the examination of each school, small and large alike, I wrote a report for the information of the teachers, commenting on the work in each subject in each 2—E. Ib.

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standard, pointing out defects, suggesting remedies, &c. The reports Were written in duplicate, and forwarded to the head teachers through their Committees, and also to your Board, within from one to five days of the examination, together with a tabular statement of results. The amount of writing thus entailed, coupled with the examination and the fact of there being no off-days, necessitated from twelve to even twenty hours' work on every day of the week for nearly four months. As I cannot hope to again keep up such a strain, and as the one day allotted to some schools, such as Stoney Creek and Karere, and the two days to others, such as Marton, Bulls, and Waverley, did not give me sufficient time to allow pupils to go home as early as I would wish, and also as I purpose inquiring thoroughly into the management of the class subjects during the year, it will be necessary that I should start at least a month earlier than last time on my next examination tour. Fortunately, during the one just completed, notwithstanding the pressure and a great deal of very bad weather, not the slightest hitch occurred. In all sixty-nine schools were examined, or seven more than during the year 1883. On the days appointed for the examination, out of 5,510 children on the school-rolls, 4,727 or 85*7 per cent., were present. Considering that wet weather prevailed for the greater part of the tour, and that some of the tracks were almost impassable, the mud being up to the saddle-girths, this percentage is fairly high. It would, however, be higher, were it not for a few large schools where pupils evidently shirked their examination. As will presently be seen, many of the absentees were children below the First Standard and re-presented pupils. But the attendance altogether was higher by 10 per cent, on the examination-days than on ordinary school-days, and the question here arises, Why cannot such influences be brought to bear throughout the school-year as evidently are about the time of the Inspector's visit ? It is pleasing to find that the examination-day holds no great terrors for children, and bright, eager faces, in rooms ornamented with flowers and ferns, were the rule and not the exception. The late Order in Council with regard to re-presentation gave rise to a great deal of annoyance, and it is worthy of note that of 224 re-presented pupils only 136 put in an appearance on the day of examination. The work of many of these pupils in the lower standards in which they were examined was too bad to admit of a pass if it was required. At several of the schools I was interviewed by parents who complained of their children being put back in their work. Of the large schools in the district, Feilding, Palmerston, Waverley, and Patea took no advantage of the Order, as well as several smaller schools ; while Mosstown re-presented no less than 39 per cent., Aramoho 24 per cent., Manaia 20 per cent., Karere 16 per cent., and Wanganui Girls' and Mount View 15 per cent, of the children taught in standards. In all forty-one schools re-presented pupils. Of the 5,510 children on the rolls at the time of my visits, 3,243, or 58*8 per cent., were presented for examination in standards. Of the remaining 2,267, the majority, of course—l,9BB, or 36 per cent, of the roll-number—were below Standard 1., 25 had passed Standard VI., and 254 were re-presented in standards already passed. Of those presented, 2,989, or 92*1 per cent., attended ; 1,953, or 653 per cent., passed the requirements, and 1,936 failed to do so. A few schools, again, were responsible for a large proportion of the 254 pupils absent, Wanganui Girls' School claiming no less than 32. All were present at Mosstown, Warrengate, Biverton, South Makirikiri, Crofton, Mount View, Beaconsfield, Manchester, Ashurst, Moutoa, Kohi, Whenuakura, Upokongaro, Oroua Bridge, Turakina Valley, and Greatford; while at several schools only one was absent. The number of children below Standard I. appears very large, and yet many pupils far too young—some below six and a half years—were presented. The explanation, perhaps, lies in the fact that many of the children in the country schools, especially in those which have been recently established, are under seven years of age. I append to this report a table (Table A)* which gives every information with regard to the examination in standards in each school, and which was compiled from the schedules sent to the Committees. The following table (Table B) gives much the same information, but in a condensed form, while Table. C shows, with regard to each standard, the number of schools examined, the average age of pupils, the number of pupils presented, examined, passed, and failed, and the percentage of passes on the number presented and on the number examined : — Table B.

W M N CZJ rtf Number on Rolls ,„ ,a ih ,c m,O .2 J! on Days of Not presented in Standards. -g, °|^j°3^°9 Examination. . g g>| | -f| | 'Wfc € « g S § * g . . S3|gS| S3 S |g Below Re- Passed. S | || | "g ||.&gII | | ° §| M. F. Totl. standard I. presented. Standard J-tl. g 1 3 f*4 S f*4 I S3 § VI. Ph H <J Ph [si Ph Ph Ph Ph a C— CO © CO "*"H "O t-"CO. 04--"*HW«©'***"l'o3.-^l«»H t~ CO r-t CO lO C") "^*^"»^ll^'^cSii-i*ocb co so •«5 oi cm en c^ Oi oq <*» o_ § £? 55 Jo cf cq" io" r-T c*f co" C<f i-H r-T ■+-

* Not reprinted, t The twenty-five passed Sixth Standard pupils aro omitted in making this calculation.

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Table C.

Present on days of examination. M.—2,463. P.—2,264. T0ta1—4,727. Absent „ „ M—4l4. P.— 369. Total—7B3. The absentees are accounted for as follows : Standard 1., 54; Standard 11., 60; Standard 111., 53; Standard IV., 41; Standard V., 33; Standard VI., 13. The table of ages is somewhat deceptive, for it is materially raised by the few old and backward children that are generally to be found in new school districts. I frequently examined children in the First and Second Standards, and occasionally in the Third, under seven and eight years of age. It would be an advantage if the column for ages in the Government schedules required the calculations to be made to the month of the examination, and not to " July of the current year." In Table C it will be noticed that I have calculated two percentages of passes, one being on the number presented, and the other on the number examined. The former is deserving of the more attention, for I have good reasons for saying that the majority of absentees shirked their examination through a knowledge of their inability to pass it. In classifying the schools I find the following: All pupils (24) failed, 1 school; under 10 per cent, of passes, 2 schools; 10 to 20 per cent., 3 schools; 30 to 40 per cent., 6 schools ; 40 to 50 per cent., 4 schools; 50 to 60 per cent., 16 schools ; 60 to 70 per cent., 15 schools ; 70 to 80 per cent., 8 schools ; 80 to 90 per cent., 7 schools ; 90, but not 100 per cent., 6 schools; 100 per cent., 1 aided school with 9 pupils. I give these percentages, in accordance with custom, for what they are worth ; but I would here guard the Board against judging of the efficiency of teachers and their schools by the ratio of their passes at 'standard examinations. Of course a school with a very high percentage of passes is in a more efficient state than a school with a very low one; but it by no means follows that the efficiency of all schools is in proportion to their percentage of passes. To have this so it would be necessary that all passes in standards should be of equal merit, and, perhaps, that all schools should have approximate roll-numbers. Thus, ten successful boys in Standard 111. in one school might obtain 70 passes, ten in another school 60, ten in yet another school—if two failures are allowed—so. All boys pass their standards, yet surely there is no comparison in the work, though each class shows 100 per cent, of standard passes. With regard to the efficiency of the teacher many things have to be considered besides percentages—amongst others, how long he has been in the school, in what state he received it, the length of time the school has been established, the regularity of his pupils—though, cateris paribus, regularity generally depends on the worth of the teacher—and the number of failures at the examination previous to the one in hand. As a matter of fact some of the best schools I examined —schools whose pupils passed well in most subjects and gave the clearest evidence of intelligent teaching—had from 70 to 85 per cent, of passes. I regret to find that the " demon percentage " is rampant in this district, and that most teachers seem to think of little else. They make everything subservient to cramming for a supposed line of examination, and forget that true intellectual training will bring the most success in the end. Quality op Passes in Standaeds. —From whatever light I look upon the examination I must come to the conclusion that the result is bad, and that primary education is far from being in a satisfactory state throughout the district. Of the 1,953 passes not more than one-half were strongpasses. This number would have been far less had I not taken a lenient view, both of the work of the pupils, and also of Regulation 8 with regard to passing in standards. Thus I frequently passed children with failures in two subjects. Again, it was no part of my duty to allow First and Second Standard pupils two attempts at their writing and arithmetic, or to explain the meaning of the terms in a multiplication sum to Third Standard pupils, to enable them to work such sum. Yet these and other concessions I granted, and I endeavoured by every means in my power to find out what pupils really did know. As I have taught the standards from their adoption my cards were strictly within the syllabus. Of these cards I prepared several sets, and I intended to use more difficult ones at the large schools than at the small country schools. This idea I was obliged to abandon, for the latter schools were often the best, except at Hawera, Manaia, Aramoho, and Wanganui, and the cards which were most in favour I most frequently used. In Standard I. too early presentation was responsible for a number of failures. Why several almost wholly unprepared children under seven years of age were presented I am at a loss to imagine, except on the explanation which was sometimes given me — that outside pressure was brought to bear on the teachers. Writing and arithmetic were in general weak, few of the passes being really good. In this standard teachers ought to feel quite confident of the ability of their pupils to go beyond the meagre requirements

bo u <D I*-' 'ercei Passi itage o: Number of Schools examined in Standards. pn 'umber isented. exi "umber imined. "umbe: lassed. Number failed. 0 CD I* S 8 " ft :s on ~ (0 M. F. M. F. Ttl. M. F. ! Ttl. M. F. Ttl. M. F. Ttl. I I | I I I I L883 58 56 56 56 43 27 1884 '69 67 67 60 55 38 Standard I. Standard II. Standard III. Standard IV. Standard V. Standard VI. 8 9 11 12 13 14 6 9 1 4 3 0 384 417 379 261 141 66 398 408 319 254 141 75 782 825 698 515 282 141 354 385 340 242 128 63 374 380 305 232 121 65 728 765 645 474 249 128 220 275 211 153 72 51 277 274 186 115 72 47 497! 549 397 268| 144 98j 134 ; 110 129 89 56 12 97 106 119 117 49 18 231 216 248 206 105 30 63*5 66*5 56*8 52*0 51*0 69*5 68*2 71*7 61*5 56*5 57*8 76*5 i i 1648 1595 3243 1512 1477 2989 982 971 1953 530 506 1036 60*2 65'3

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and pass with ease, otherwise the work of the next standard will be found very difficult. In the Second Standard I generally found, on the whole, the best results, except when the children were very young, as was not unfrequently the case. In some schools, however, geography was neglected, and in several writing and transcription on slates, especially the latter, mere scribbling being often indulged in. In Standard 111. two-thirds of the passes were very weak. History, arithmetic, spelling, and composition were generally bad. It would appear as if the last subject was altogether neglected in some schools. The slate-work in geography and history was, as a rule, disgracefully done. If bad spelling, writing, and faulty arrangement on slates were not allowed throughout the school-year, they would not be found on examination-day. In Standard IV., arithmetic, geography, composition, and history were the worst-prepared subjects. Few could make out correctly a simple bill of parcels or write a readable letter. Many of the passes were weak. In the Fifth and Sixth Standards failure in grammar, composition, and arithmetic was very common. Geography in the Sixth Standard was generally well known. It will be seen that the percentage of passes is highest in the Sixth Standard, but, except at a few schools—notably, Wanganui Boys', Wanganui Girls', Hawera, Aramoho, Manaia, and Upper Tutaenui, all but the last of which received the most difficult cards —the passes were bad. Indeed, the percentage would be diminished nearly one-half if I had not passed pupils with failures in two subjects when their work in the remaining subjects was very fair. In future I will lay great stress on the importance of composition in the higher three standards; and failure of whatever kind in arithmetic and grammar and composition, or serious failure in one of these subjects, will constitute failure for a standard. To what, then, is this poor result due ? Over-classification is undoubtedly responsible for several failures in the higher standards, and has arisen partly from the practice of passing those that obtained 50 per cent, of the obtainable marks. This practice Ido not countenance at all. A Fifth Standard pupil might utterly fail in, say, arithmetic and grammar and composition, and yet obtain over 50 or even over 60 per cent, of the total marks; yet surely he is not fit to pass into the Sixth Standard. Also, too early presentation in. the First Standard, to which I have already referred, has left its mark. Again, no doubt the results of several schools would have been better were it not for the deficiencies of the teachers themselves, natural under the circumstances, and referred to before under the heading of " Teachers." If more method were observed in the general management of the schools, and more attention given to the sequence of the lessons in the various subjects, failure at examinations would be fewer. He who talks to his pupils of the rivers of Asia to-day and the mountains of Africa to-morrow cannot expect to make many lasting impressions. But the bugbear of the district, and perhaps I might say of the system, is cram, as shown in all subjects, all standards, and the majority of schools ; and, as my cards were drawn up with a view to discourage this horrible practice, the consequent results were in many cases disastrous, and would have been more so without the frequent explanation given. Pupils are forced like so many hothouse plants. Books—mere analyses of the subjects upon which they treat—are put into their hands, when the black-board and chalk, map, or chart ought to be their only books, so to speak. They are encouraged to commit everything to memory without in the least understanding what they are about, or at best they are only told some explanation. Strange as it may appear, a want of acquaintance with the syllabus on the part of several teachers was responsible for many failures in the standards. Beading.—This important subject does not, I am afraid, receive from a large number of teachers the attention that it deserves. I obtained the best reading, as a rule, from the Second and Third Standards, and the worst from the First and Fourth, while that of the Fifth and Sixth was often very mediocre. In the First Standard I examined many pupils that could not read a line, and as in general they were very young I do not know why they were presented—unless, indeed, it was because 'of the outside pressure before mentioned, or because of the idea some teachers evidently have that all subjects, especially in the lower standards, are subordinate to arithmetic. At one school, after vainly endeavouring to get some ten children to read and spell, the pupilteacher in charge of the class informed me that she had not thought reading was of much importance, and that I should find the arithmetic good. [This is a notable instance of the folly of head teachers neglecting the organization of their schools and the overlooking of the work of their subordinates.] Some junior classes read the words very distinctly, but one by one, in a monotonous manner, without any expression, evidently as they were taught. The little book called "The Standards" is very plain upon this point: "The reading is to be intelligent. A monotonous utterance of the words in the order in which they appear on the printed page is not reading, &c." Other junior classes, again, read with expression, but too fast, and consequently inaccurately. In the higher standards a large number of pupils found a difficulty in reading the words of the text, and understood little about the passages. There is no doubt in my mind that the Fifth and Sixth Boyal Beaders are very unsuitable books. They contain few extracts affording scope for cultivated reading, and little or no dialogue, while they teem with pedantic words. Certainly they supply a' great deal of useful information ; but something more is wanting in a good text-book. The reading in the senior classes of the Wanganui town schools was poor, considering the advantages they have ; that at Hawera, Upper Tutaenui, and Bulls was generally very :.:;ood. At Halcombe, although the majority of the pupils in the First and Second Standards were Germans, they read excellently, a large proportion obtaining full marks ; while at Wanganui the juniors read with taste. The most prominent defects noticeable in the reading of the schools were indistinct utterance, slurring of allied sounds, omission of final " g " (runnin(g)) and " d," dropping the voice at commas, substituting the past participle of a verb for the past tense, making the verb and its subject disagree in number, and omission or misplacing of the aspirate. Most of these defects can be cured by mechanical work; but intelligent reading necessitates a comprehension of the meaning of the passage read. Undoubtedly, then, the lesson ought first to be prepared and explained. The pupils should be given a good model; praise should be bestowed on those that best reproduce the teacher's style; and the black-board should be freely used for corrections, which should be made after the pupil has

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read his passage through. Above all it should be remembered that hearing reading is not teaching it. Frequently I have seen teachers correcting sums in one class, while "hearing" reading in another; forgetting that they must be all eyes and ears for the slightest error, and forgetting also that pupils are not likely to give their whole attention to their work when their teacher is not doing so. Correct speaking, too, should be insisted upon. I have noticed such expressions as "me and 'im " and " I done it " let pass without reproof. The aspirate failing is extraordinarily prevalent, especially amongst the girls. Again, sufficient attention is not paid to what is technically known as " comprehension." The end of one paragraph, too, is generally looked upon by the juniors as a signal to jump to the next with a convulsive gasp, and the rhetorical pauses at the logical divisions of the sentences are entirely disregarded. Simultaneous reading will be found a great help in obtaining distinct utterance and correct intonation, but it should be simultaneous reading— that is, every one must read in correct time and tone. There should be little difficulty in-teaching reading to small classes where each pupil can get individual attention ; large classes should be broken up into drafts, but care should be taken that these drafts are not put in charge of unskilled teachers, as is too often done. Indeed, the evidently very prevalent idea that any one can take the reading lesson is responsible for a good deal of the poor work in the subject. The practice of consecutive reading is common to a large number of schools, and should no longer be continued, as it is conducive to inattention. Each child should feel that he or she may be called upon at any moment to read. Reading paragraph-about also should not be allowed. The position of the pupils is neglected, consequently I have found big boys and girls reading into their chests, with bent backs, hands playing in their laps, and books lying on their desks. Pupils should hold their books well up on the palms of the left hands, forming book-rests by propping their left elbows on their left hips. Their right arms should be placed behind their backs. This'will have the effect of expanding their chests, throwing up their heads, and keeping their necks straight. Spelling and Dictation. —I am sorry to say the generally-exploded habit of learning spelling by committing to memory long lists of words is still in vogue in this district. With the exception of some very bad schools the oral spelling was fair, provided only the words at the bottom of the reading lessons were asked. There was, however, abundant evidence of rote-work, for, no matter what part of a verb or noun was demanded, that in the book was invariably given, and if the pupil was at all unfamiliar with the word he could make no attempt to approach its sound. Dictation was generally bad in the Third Standard, fair in the Fourth and Fifth, and good in the Sixth. The spelling on the grammar, composition, history, and geography papers was often very bad, even in tne case of those-that wrote good dictation. Transcription should be made the principal means of teaching spelling. In the dictation lesson about half the time should be devoted to effectual correction, when all mistakes should be carefully pointed out on the black-board. Those having no mistakes should transcribe till the time allotted for the subject, has expired. Unfamiliar words should be divided into syllables, and junior pupils might be asked to write sentences using these words. It was strange to notice the extraordinary attempts that were sometimes made in oral examination to spell the simplest vowel-sounds in an unfamiliar word. I may here mention that the practice in transcription and dictation of cramming in the last letters of a word at the end of a line and of dividing monosyllables should be discontinued. Pupils also should be trained where to divide words of tw To or more syllables. Weiting.—Clean, neatly-written copy-books were rather the exception; but the transcription required from the senior standards was fairly well done, if I except the fact that only in a very few schools would the writing bear criticism. I passed writing of any style, provided it was neat and fair of its kind, for hitherto teachers apparently have not thought it of any importance that the writing should be exactly like that of the book used. I cannot do this in future; and, as the Board has now issued a list of class-books, and Vere Foster's copy-books are the only ones allowed, I shall expect the writing to be of the style laid down in them, and a faithful copy of the headlines. In transcription some latitude will be allowed to the Sixth Standard. Both the quality and the style of the writing throughout the district were very varied. At Hawera and Okaiawa in all classes, and at Palmerston in some, the writing was excellent, and would bear criticism ; at several schools—especially at Stoney Creek, Jackeytown, Otaki, Carnarvon, Sanson, Upper Tutaenui, and Karere —it was very neat in the senior classes, but at several more it was very bad. At Wanganui the work of the infants and boys promises well, and the senior girls write neatly, but the juniors very poorly, owing to the kind of copy-book in use, which is mainly comprised of large hand. It is not going too far to say that the writing of the Third Standard in some schools was better than that of the Sixth in others. On my inspection visits I often found pupils of the same class writing in books of various styles, some of which were not mentioned in the Government list. Again, it was nothing unusual to see classes writing in far too advanced numbers (I found First and Second Standards writing in Nos. 4 and 6), and unsuitable numbers, with large hand, were often used. " The Standards " is very clear in condemning the teaching of large hand to little children. Undoubtedly, then, carelessness in the selection of books is partly responsible for the bad work; but it is also a fact that many teachers do not insist on good writing in the lower standards. Thus, .one teacher excused bad writing in his First Standard because it could be learned in the Second; another because many adults could not write better. What is at the root of the bad writing, however, is that the subject is not taught, but a copy-book is put before pupils, and they are allowed to follow their own bents. lam of opinion that the writing lesson should frequently be made an object-lesson (every day in the junior classes), and each element of the letters noticed —in fact, that a system of analysis, classification, and synthesis, such as is recommended by Mulhauser, should be pursued. Thus, by analysis the teacher would decompose the letters into their elementary parts, such as the straight line, the curve, and the loop ; by classification he would arrange the letters so that they might be presented to the children in the order of their simplicity ; by synthesis he would train the children to recompose into letters and words the elements which the previous analysis had decomposed. When this method of teaching is practised in the junior classes, no trouble should be

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found with the writing in the senior. It is not sufficient that the writing should be neat: it must show that the headline has been faithfully copied with respect to distances of letters and words, slope, relative lengths and widths, crossing of loops, and point of juncture of parts. Failure in any of these should be educed from the children, and exposed by a liberal use of the black-board and chalk. To carry out the system to perfection, every child should be copying the same headline. The upper half of the copy-book should be written first from beginning to end, and each copy dated; then the lower half should be begun, so that improvement may be gauged ; and on the fourth line the pupil should write his name and the date. To encourage children to look at the headlines, and not at what they have just written, it may be found advantageous to ask them to begin on the bottom line and write upwards. At most no more than a line should be written without supervision by the teacher. The habit of scribbling on slates is another assistance to bad writing. On my first visit to the schools I found that few slates were ruled, and even First Standard pupils were asked to make letters without any lines to guide them. The result may be. imagined. The slates of the First and Second Standards should be ruled with double lines (care should be taken that these lines are parallel), and those of the remaining standards with single and marginal lines. In three months almost perfect writing was obtained at Feilding in the Second Standard when these lines were used. Many teachers seem to be unaware that transcription is required from the Second Standard; and consequently at the examination the work sent in was mere scribbling, done in a few minutes, without any attention to the style of the writing or' to punctuation marks. The habit of asking First and Second Standard pupils to write out poetry should be discontinued. Some teachers, with apparent pride, presented me with verses written by First Standard pupils who were unable to make the letters correctly. Need I say that the lines were full of misspelled words, capitals for small letters, and vice versa. And this, forsooth, was teaching writing! Some very young pupils that were unable to make the letters in any shape or form were presented for the First Standard. In transcription the paragraph should be noticed, and all exercise-books should be ruled with marginal lines. In many schools no attention seems to be paid to the position of the body or to the proper way of holding the pen. A little drill every day in such matters should precede the writing lesson to the junior standards. Abithmetic. —Arithmetic was a very weak subject in a large number of schools. In the First Standard, as a rule, the work was not nearly equal to the requirements, much less beyond them, as it should have been if a good Second Standard is desired this year. In only some half-dozen schools could pupils write figures in words, take down numbers from the black-board, or addition sums of three lines written in a row with the sign between the lines. Yet some of these same pupils could, I was told, add five and six lines when dictated. The figures generally were very bad. In the Second Standard I received some excellent work, especially at the Wanganui Boys', Wanganui Girls', Hawera, and Ashurst Schools. At the first-named the majority proved all their sums, and their short multiplication by two sets of factors and by long multiplication. This shows what can be done. At a few places pupils could not attempt the work, while fully three-fourths of all the Second Standard pupils failed in notation, being unable to put down the addition sum which was printed in words. In Standard 111., again, many were ignorant of notation, long multiplication was generally incorrectly worked, and the term " Find the product" was not understood. Subtraction of money was very weak, and pupils' ideas of money were crude. Standard IV. was the worst-prepared of all the classes. Practice was not known, and it was very annoying to see how few could work a simple bill, and receipt it in proper form. Receipted bills of parcels should be neatly made out and hung on the walls of all buildings. In' Standards V. and VI. little outside mechanical work was done at the majority of schools, and many broke down even in this, especially in interest and fractions. The arithmetic in both these standards at Hawera, Manaia, and Upper Tutaenui, and in the higher standard at Wanganui and Aramoho, was very good, and materially raised the two percentages for the district. lam afraid that small country schools will never, with only two years' preparation, be able to cope successfully with the arithmetic required in the two highest standards. Thus, although seven sums were set for the Sixth, and the correct working of only three carried passing marks, three-fourths of the children failed to obtain them. This amount, too, would have been still less if I had not in most cases used the cards'which I found were in highest favour. But the bad results in arithmetic are partly due, I think, to defective teaching. The subject is treated in a purely mechanical, and not in an intellectual, manner. Pupils are taught rules, not principles: they are told- what to do, instead of being led to deduce it. I would therefore urge teachers to train their pupils, even from the First Standard, to reason out problems, demonstrating the successive steps on their slates. The slates should be divided, the writing appearing on one half and the figures on the other. The general practice of " guessing out " problems in haphazard fashion on slates, when the pupil does not know how or why he obtained his answer, does more harm than good. The unitary method should be largely employed, and it would be well to discard Barnard Smith's text-book. The subject should be made as practical as possible; hence the making-out of receipted bills, calculations of the cost of flooring, painting, and papering rooms, and suchlike work, and the finding of areas, should form a large portion of the arithmetic of the senior standards. And much of this might be anticipated in the junior classes. There is no reason why even a First Standard boy who knows that 5x12=60 should not be capable of understanding that a rectilinear figure on the black-board having five squares in one direction and twelve in another contains sixty squares altogether, or — when the objects are shown him —that there are sixty pence in five shillings, sixty inches in five feet,. sixty fingers on twelve hands. And here I may say that, as a child's earliest notions of numbers are concrete, his earliest exercises in counting should take the form of counting actual objects. The practice of teaching arithmetic to pupils in drafts on the floor should be discontinued, for it tends to promote careless and untidy work. In very few schools was mental arithmetic carefully and systematically taught, while in some it was not attempted at all. The inability of even Sixth Standard pupils to solve mentally the very simplest questions was surprising. A slight acquaintance with the subject would have saved many blunders in the Fourth Standard,

15

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Geammae and Composition.—Grammar, like arithmetic, was very weak, especially in the higher standards. Pupils—above all, those of the Fourth Standard—showed little familiarity with inflections, and ignorance of analysis was often responsible for failures in parsing. Thus, participial phrases were almost invariably taken as principal sentences, and the infinite parts of the verb as finite. In the Sixth Standard pupils seldom recognized the clause, or in the Fifth the participial enlargement. In Standard IV. words were classified according to their general function, not according to their function in the sentence under treatment, with the usual result. In Standard 111. the pronoun seemed the great trouble. I should like to see more attention paid to analysis than at present. All educational authorities are unanimous in their opinion that the teaching of English grammar should begin with the sentence. " Moreover, if the parts of speech are to be properly taught, the analysis of sentences should come forward at the very beginning."— Bain. " And hence the way to teach English grammar is to begin with the sentence, because that is something known, and to proceed analytically." — Fitch. " What is wanted is to get as quickly as possible a notion of the structure of the sentence and of the logical relations of its parts."— Fearon. Composition was generally very poor throughout the district. In the Third Standard, where the subject is first demanded, it would appear to be almost entirely neglected. A few words were strung together, often without any verbs, capital letters were either absent or in the wrong places, and there was no punctuation. In the higher standards I was frequently confronted with such horrible expressions as "I write these few lines," "There is a good few," "There is lots; " and pupils filled up their exercise with informing me that they had several subjects, and selected a certain one, and that they did not know much about it, but would tell me more next time. Letters were seldom begun, ended, or addressed correctly. Copies of official, social, and commercial letters should be hung up in the school-rooms, and children occasionally asked to bring a letter on note-paper in an addressed envelope. Pupils should be trained to put down in writing their own thoughts on familiar objects. It was nothing unusual to find children living by the side of the Wanganui, Bangitikei, or Manawatu Bivers unable to write anything about one of them. Beproduction of ißsop's Fables, stories in the readingbooks, and suchlike is not composition, and is very prevalent in the district. I am of opinion that composition, or synthesis, and analysis should be taught together, and might be begun even in the Second Standard, where the pupil might be asked to write simple statements about nouns on the black-board ; and the fact that these statements consisted of two parts, the thing written of and what was written about it, would be educed. In the next standard these simple sentences would be connected, and so the compound sentence formed, while the subject and object would be enlarged, and the definition of the adjective obtained. In the succeeding standards the noun in apposition, the participial phrase, the nominative, absolute, and the other various enlargements and extensions would make their appearance, and in fine the substitution of clauses for simple subjects and objects, adjectival phrases, &c, would be treated. When this system is pursued the pupil, having some knowledge of his material, can build a readable composition exercise ; otherwise, it appears to me, •his best efforts will show only a succession of simple sentences, generally commencing with the pronouns " it" and " they." The habit of writing nouns in the plural with "s " was an almost universal error both in grammar and composition, while the apostrophe was generally omitted in the possessive case. Geogeaphy.—The work in geography bore remarkable evidence of undigested cram, especially in the Fourth and Fifth Standards, which the papers did not suit. Thus, the features of one ocean were given for those of another, the Asiatic countries washed by the Indian Ocean for those washed by the Pacific, and suchlike. In the Second Standard the geography in some schools was excellent ; but in a few schools pupils did not appear to have touched it, and in very many definitions were gabbled by rote, and children that could define an island could not mention one on the globe —not even the North Island of New Zealand. I have already written of the slate-work in the Third Standard ; but here I also examined orally, and had I not passed those that answered fairly, apart from their written work, few indeed would have been successful. In the Sixth Standard acquaintance with the position of places of commercial importance was generally very good. Mapping was often poor, and I cannot call to mind more than half a dozen schools where anything was known of the mathematical and physical portion of the work. Even to spell the names of zones was beyond most Fourth Standards. Teachers, I think, pin their faith too much on textbooks. Thus I was frequently asked, " What books would you recommend for teaching geography in Standards 11., 111., and IV. ?" None at all for the ordinary geographical lessons, but reading lessons might be given in Nelson's books to create an intellectual taste for the subject. Children should get their first ideas of geography from their own neighbourhood, and the whole should be pictorial and descriptive. The teacher should freely use his wall-maps and the black-board, and the pupils their atlases. Outline-maps should be drawn on the black-board, and the subject-matter filled in during- the progress of the lesson. Maps done by pupils should be always drawn to scale, and after the lines of latitude and longitude have been marked. Too much should not be attempted in one lesson, as is often the case with this subject, and the work of each day should be connected. Nelson's excellent Geographical Readers have now been recommended for use in the schools. As, however, they do not consist merely of an analysis of the work of the standards, they will not, I am afraid, be popular with many teachers. Histoey.—As a rule the results in history were very poor, except in the Sixth Standard and occasionally in the Fifth, from which I sometimes received fair answering. I took a very lenient view of the work in the Third Standard, as it extends over the whole range of English history, and is, I find, beyond the grasp of the majority of children. There is, however, no excuse for pupils in many schools being unable to write out the periods and spell the names of them correctly. Some change in the history requirements for this standard is urgently needed. At present they only tend to encourage superficial, untidy work, the evil effects of which will be afterwards felt. In the Fourth Standard, though I was again very lenient, failures were abundant, many of which

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seemed to be caused by carelessness and laziness, or inability on the part of the pupils to express their thoughts and arrange their work on paper. Some were content with writing half a dozen lines, while others filled a page with some story—Becket's murder, for instance—couched in the exact words of the text-book. At this stage something more intelligent might be forthcoming. No subject, perhaps, is more difficult to teach in a primary school than history, consequently there is no subject which demands of the teacher more careful preparation beforehand. Object and Natueal Histoey Lessons.—Object and natural history lessons are given in most of the schools. This year teachers will be expected to keep a syllabus showing the work done, and I purpose to thoroughly inquire into the instruction, given. I did not do so at the late examinations, partly from want of time, but mainly because few teachers had kept records of their work. Object-lessons can, if properly conducted, be made of great educative value to children, because they appeal largely to the senses, and offer excellent training to the perceptive faculty. Every school should have its cabinet of specimens for object-lessons. This might be put up by the Committee or the Board at a small cost, and should contain examples of raw and manufactured materials, both animal and vegetable, common minerals, metals, &c. The objects may be mostly collected by the teachers and the children, with a few purchases here and there. This plan has been adopted with success at Warrengate. Science.—ln elementary science a few enthusiastic teachers have done some good work, and it is worthy of remark -that two schools which showed the best results in science were two of the most advanced in the district in the essential subjects. Singing.—Singing is taught in most of the schools where female teachers are employed, and in a few with only one male teacher. The singing in the infant schools at Wanganui and Hawera,' where it is made of valuable assistance to discipline, was excellent. Deawing.—Drawing is attempted in comparatively few schools besides those in large centres. At Matarawa some advanced work was shown. Needlewoek.—At many of the large schools, and also at some of the smaller where a female teacher is in charge, needlework is taught in a very efficient manner. There is, however, a very general complaint of the apparently little interest taken by parents in this important subject. The supply of material is often left to the mistress's ingenuity, and the teaching power is in-consequence frittered away on desultory, instead of being economised on graduated and collective, instruction. From lack of material at some places—notably Normanby—the work did not approach the requirements of the standards. As there are many schools with male teachers only, where no needlework is at present taught, I would suggest the advisability in such cases of appointing visiting sewingmistresses. Perhaps the wives of some teachers would act in such capacity. Becitation.—ln all schools poetry was prepared for examination, but in the majority the defects in reading already referred to were to be found in the recitation. Bepeating verses at a gallop, so to speak, slurring of words, dropping the voice at the end of the line, and neglect of punctuation, were common errors. The recitation of poetry in such a manner does a great deal of harm. Comprehension, too, was neglected. I call to mind a class in which not one could tell the meaning of " symmetry " and " pall," occurring in the first five lines of the piece prepared. Several told me that the former was " a place for burying the dead." An attempt to recite or read with feeling was a great source of amusement in some schools, and this plainly shows that no effort had been made to attain such a desirable end. At a few schools, however, the recitation was excellent, and especially so at Upper Tutaenui and Hawera. Deill, Discipline, etc. —Drill is made compulsory by the Board's regulations; but at too many schools it receives attention only in the playground, and none of the effects are to be found in the school-room. Thus I have seen pupils on examination-day, when the time for assembly arrived, put through their drill in a very creditable manner; they were, however, then dismissed, the bell was rung, and they entered school in disorder. Too much attention cannot be paid to the manner in which children enter, leave, and walk through their class-rooms. Talking and lounging should on no account be allowed, and teachers should insist upon smart and simultaneous movements, which are always found in well-disciplined classes, and which are essential to the management of numbers and the economising of time and teaching-power. Mr. Fitch says : " There are right and beautiful ways, and there are clumsy and confused ways, of sitting down at a desk, of moving from one place to another, of handling and opening books, of cleaning slates, of giving out pens and paper, of entering and leaving school. Petty as each of these acts is separately, they are important collectively, and the best teachers habitually reduce all such movements to drill, and require them to be done simultaneously, and with finished and mechanical exactness." Bad behaviour will generally be found to be the result either of insufficiency of work or of uninteresting work; hence the teacher should endeavour to keep his pupils actively employed at all times, and to make the work as interesting as possible. The unavoidable practice in small schools of teaching the infants in the same.room as the standard classes must be very prejudicial to good discipline. There are two very dirty habits which I should like to see stopped. One, with respect to cleaning slates, has disappeared from many schools since my visits of inspection ; the other is very prevalent—l refer to the method of turning the leaves of books. The manners of the pupils were very varied in different schools—excellent in some, very bad in others—according to the attention paid to them and the character and worth of the teacher. Many of the junior teachers would do well to attend to this all-important matter on behalf both of themselves and their pupils. " Manners make the man." Teachers also should be careful about their own position when they are engaged with their classes. When the black-board is used in oral teaching it should be placed on the extreme left of the class; but, when children are copying from it, on the extreme right. In the former case the teacher will thus have all his pupils in view, even when he turns toward the black-board; in the latter children have no excuse for getting out of the writing position and looking at their neighbours' slate's or books. -- Conclusion.—ln this, my annual report, I have not made a separate statement with regard to

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each school; for I think that the practice of so doing may be productive of a great deal of harm, especially when it is the unpleasant duty of the Inspector to find fault with anything in connection with the schools. I have, as a rule, given only general results, and I have refrained from mentioning by name backward and badly-managed schools. Unsatisfactory results and any irregularities must of course be reported, but the reports should be of a confidential nature, and not be made public property at the risk of lowering the teacher in the eyes of his pupils. If any teacher is unfit for his position, he should be removed at any cost; but as long as he retains office his authority should be upheld. Immediately after the examination of each school I wrote an exhaustive report thereon, in which all shortcomings were noticed. These reports were written in duplicate, at the cost of much time, and forwarded to the Committees and to the Board. To them, then, I would refer the Board for any information with regard to individual schools. The practice of selecting favourable portions of the reports to the exclusion of what was unfavourable, and publishing them in the newspaper circulating in the district, as was done in some schools, is much to be censured. Ido not think that the " remarks" in such reports, of whatever nature they might be, should be published. It was interesting to notice how mildly some successful teachers bore their honours as compared with others who must have taken such pains to blazon them abroad. I can call to mind one school in the case of which, in less than twelve hours after my report was written, I saw the favourable portions in three newspapers—a performance very creditable indeed to the newspapers, but not so to those immediately affected by the report. Teachers, above all professional men, would do well to remember that " Good wine needs no bush." Owing to the precocity of colonial children, I doubt, too, the wisdom of publishing the names of those successful in passing their standards. " Why was not my child's name in the papers?"—not, be it remarked, " Why did not my child pass?"—is a question I have heard asked. And here I may mention that the work of schools ought not to be interrupted upon the entrance of visitors, for the purpose of trotting out and flaunting certain attainments of the pupils. By the earnestness of its every-day work should a school be judged; and I know of no excuse for suspending a time-table. I have alluded occasionally to outside pressure. Several teachers have informed me that parents have interfered with them in the classification of their pupils. Weakly yielding to such illegitimate pressure, some of these teachers, against their own judgment, have promoted children, with the natural result—failure at the examination. It is astonishing how many there still are who believe that the progress of their children is satisfactory when they are frequently reading in new books. Again, I find that teachers often shrink from punishing children for unpunctuality, bad conduct, &c, because they know that their action will be resented by the parents of the offenders. By these means not only is the reputation of a school damaged, but also the character of the children. If a teacher is to successfully cultivate the moral and intellectual faculties of those under his care, it is necessary that he should have, not only absolute control in his school, but also the sympathy and support of the parents of his charges. He it is who must be the best judge of matters relative to classification and promotion ; and if, in maintaining that discipline in his school which he knows is essential to its progress, he err on the side of severity, the remedy is not far to 'seek. And now I must apologise for the length of this report. Under the circumstances, I thought it best to treat of all matters in any way connected with the schools, and because, as I take it, an Inspector's report should contain something more than a mass of confusing and misleading statistics. As there are many inexperienced teachers in the service of the Board, I also have written some suggestions with regard to the class-management of the subjects. My thanks are due to both teachers and settlers in the country districts for the hospitality and kindness shown to me, a stranger. I have, &c, W. H. Veeekee-Bindon, M.A., The Chairman, Education Board, Wanganui. Inspector of Schools.

WELLINGTON. Sic, — Wellington, 25th February, 1885. I have the honour to present my eleventh annual report on the working condition of the primary schools in the Wellington District, being the report for the calendar year 1884. Attendance.—During the year 1884 I examined all the schools in operation in the Wellington District, fifty-five in number ; and I also paid a visit of inspection only to all but four, three of them being temporarily closed at the time set apart for visiting them. The total number of children on the books at the examination was 7,299, showing an increase of 249 on last year's returns. Of this number 4,636 are returned as being over eight years of age; and the total number of those entered on the schedules for standard examination, from whom a pass could be looked for, was 3,918. The difference of these two numbers—7lB—represents the number unpresentable in standard work. After making due allowance for general increase, this number is larger than it was last year (634), a result which I am disappointed to find, inasmuch as it represents numerically a class of uncaring and uncared-for children of good age, whose early education is being neglected, and, whilst it includes absentees from examinations, it consists in a great measure of children attending school so irregularly that teachers cannot be held responsible for their backward condition. The actual attendance at the examinations is even more satisfactory than it was last year, the numbers for 1883 and 1884 being respectively 6,226 and 6,640. It is interesting to notice how well the children of some schools attend. In twenty-six schools every child was present, and in this list is included three of the larger schools. And in a school with over three hundred standard candidates, only one was absent; and nine was the highest number of expected passes absent in any one school. The total number of standard candidates absent from whom a pass could have been expected was 3—E. Ib.

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Seventy-eight out of about four thousand. There were, however, 659 altogether absent out of the 7,299 on the books ; but these were mostly absentees in infant schools, others being children whose attendance was ordinarily so poor that it was more or less hopeless for them to attempt the examination. In connection with the attendance one fact was very noticeable, that many of the comparatively few who had been classed in the standard last passed, absented themselves from reexamination in the same standard. Standaed Statistics. —Of the 3,919 candidates for standard examination of whom a pass could reasonably be expected, 3,440 actually satisfied the examination. The number of passes last year was 2,774. There is therefore this year a substantial increase of 628 standard passes, which are more particularly shown in the following table : —• . 1883. 1884. Standard I. ... ... ... ... 847 ... 973 Standard 11. ... ... ... ... 637 ... 835 Standard 111. ... ... ... ... 481 ... 618 Standard IV. ... ... ... ... 399 ... 537 Standard V. ... ... ... ... 227 ... 345 Standard VI. ... ... ... ... 183 ... 132 Total ... ... ... 2,774 3,440 The improvement in results will be still more apparent if the percentages of passes on the number presented for both this year and last are compared. 1883. 1884. Standard I. ... ... ... ... 89 ... 97 Standard 11. ... ... ... ... 83 ... 89 Standard 111. ... ... ... ... 60 ... 74 Standard IV. ... ... ... ... 66 ... 91 Standard V. ... ... ... ... 63 ... 85 Standard VI. ... ... ... ... 86 ... 80 Total ... ... ... 75 ... 88 In my last report I stated that the full programme of the standards was now fully reached, and I confidently looked forward to better average work. lam now pleased to find this hope is in a fair measure realized. I look upon 90 per cent, in any educational result as a very high average, except in Standard 1., in which a teacher need only present undoubtedly strong candidates. Yet there is opportunity afforded a teacher of making high percentage results, as the percentage is not Struck on the number sent up for examination, but on the number of passes looked for by the examiner, who, after the examination is made, excludes from the list presented any special cases of children who failed, being of weak intellect or of very tender age, and all who have not attended 250 half-days during the year. In a district where such concessions are not made, very high results Would be more difficult to obtain. In a few schools advantage has been taken of a recent Order in Council, which permits a master to class children three months before an examination in the standard last passed. About fifty children in all have been so classed this year ; and these do not enter into my returns of expected or actual passes. They are included in the 718 children already referred to. The license which this Order in Council gives to a teacher should be jealously guarded, or it may lead to much abuse of privilege. Should any great use be made of it, the value of the percentage of passes made must be discounted. A striking feature in the numerical returns of the year is the diminished presentment in Standard VI. Whereas last year 214 came up for examination in that standard, and 183 passed, this year only 167 came up, of whom 132 passed. But the great increase in the standards immediately below it should give good promise of more advanced work next year. It will be seen that the general average results of the district are mainly dependent on the work of the larger schools : for, excluding the four city infant schools from consideration of the standard work, there are fifty-one schools, in which 3,918 were presented in standards ; of this number nineteen larger schools presented 3,288, the remaining comparatively very small number of 630 candidates being sent up by thirty-two Smaller schools. The following is the average age at which children are presented in each standard :— Yrs. Mos. Standard I. ... ... ... ... 8 10 Standard 11. ... ... ... ... 9 11 Standard 111. ... ... ... ... 11 2 Standard IV. ... ... ... ... 12 5 Standard V. ... ... ... ... 13 2 Standard VI. ... ... ... ... 14 5 Ai> Inteeim Repoet.—During the past year I furnished the Board with a detailed ad interim report of each school soon after the examination was made; and, as a copy of this report was sent to the local school authorities, it will not be necessary for me to do more in this place than to summarize the results, and to give a judgment of the work as a whole. The ad interim report gave the attendance, the presentment, and the passes made in each standard ; it supplied information as to the quality of the work in each separate subject of each class; and it furnished particulars of the working condition of the school and the extent and quality of the instruction in class subjects. For this and other detailed information on the working of any particular school or schools, I beg, therefore, to refer the Board to the reports already sent in. Standaed Woek BevieWed.—The percentage of passes has increased from 81*6 in 1882 to 87*8 in 1884. The year 1883 was an exceptional one, and the percentage of passes declined. Of the quality and extent of the standard work I can generally speak favourably, and in the following

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branches there is decided improvement: mental and ready arithmetic, composition, history and geography, and in the neatness, order, and style of the paper-work. Due attention has been given by most of the teachers to the suggestions made in my last report, and in a circular letter issued to them. Historical and geographical reading-books are now in common use ; and to their introduction, and to the use of hand-made maps, I attribute much of the improvement in geography and history. In some schools the classes show a very extensive knowledge of these subjects, and a viva-voce examination becomes very animated, the most difficult questions seldom going unanswered. The results in reading, writing, spelling, and arithmetic are the most important, because they constitute the most useful subjects of primary education, and absorb a large portion of the teacher's time. Looking at the results in these subjects from an attainable and not from an ideal standpoint, I think the work done is, for the most part, of a satisfactory character. And, further, lam pleased to say that during the past year I have had proportionately larger results to chronicle, showing work of more improved quality, than any which I have recorded in previous years. There have not only been no cases of serious failure with badly-taught classes in large schools, but, on the other hand, several large classes in the Third and Fourth Standards brought up most commendable work in all sections. There are a few cases of schools which have suffered considerably by a frequent change of teachers, and one or two in which the staff requires strengthening; but the teachers at the head of most of the larger schools, and those in charge of many of the smaller ones, are experienced and reliable. In the standard examinations this year I have adopted the suggestion made to the Inspectors in England, that all passes should be marked strong or weak. I find it useful in determining the quality of the class-work, and in distinguishing at the time of the examination the good scholar from the weaker one. It will, I think, lead to some emulation in the classes to obtain the " strong " mark. The work varies very much in the different schools, every teacher putting his own impress upon his work. It would be quite competent for me to picture a strong contrast in the teaching and influence of any two teachers doing the same class-work under what is assumed to be precisely the same system. And the results of this class-teaching vary very considerably and in many respects. It must always be understood that a pass merely satisfies the examiner as to the minimum of excellence required. I will illustrate my remarks by giving particulars of two cases of results in large classes as presented. Both are taken from good schools. The first case is that of a very large Third Standard class in a city school. Here 138 names appeared on the schedule. Six of these had previously passed the standard, and were therefore classed low. Two of the six were absent. Of the other 132, three were absent, but only two of them were expected passes. On examination three failed in reading, fifty-one in spelling, four in writing, sixty-one in arithmetic, ten in grammar, twenty-four in geography, and five in history. Altogether forty-seven candidates failed in two or more subjects; and, as a matter of fact, twenty-one of them failed in three or more subjects. The failures are then reviewed. It is found that two children were under nine years of age, and that six others had made less than 250 half-day attendances. There are therefore thrown out of consideration five absentees, six irregular attendants, two of tender age, and four classed low (who passed again), leaving 121 expected passes and thirty-nine inexcusable failures. Of the eighty-two passes, one-half were strong passes and the other half weak, a weak pass meaning failure in one subject or weakness in two. In this class, except the inaccuracy m arithmetic and spelling, the general character of the work was fair. The second case is that of a large Fourth Standard class in a district town school. Here sixty-nine names appear on the schedule. None are absent and none are classed low. The class is examined, when all pass in reading, three fail in spelling, all pass in writing, three fail in arithmetic, two in grammar, one in geography, and six in history. All but one pass the standard. The case of failure is reconsidered, and the candidate is found totally deficient in faculty for language, having failed in the same standard and on the same ground last year. Of the sixty-eight passes made, fifty-one were strong and seventeen weak. In this class the general character of the work was excellent. Class Subjects.—Science, drawing, singing, and drill are optional subjects; and there is really nothing to induce a teacher to take up these subjects but a sense of duty. In many cases a teacher is not capable of giving instruction in some of them, and in others no great effort is made to do it. The result is that the work is only well done in a few schools, where the teachers are competent and where some sacrifices of time are made. This better work is mainly, but by no means entirely, confined to the nineteen larger schools in the district. Of course, the instruction in class subjects must necessarily be limited in small schools taught by one teacher. In the larger schools, on the contrary, I think the teaching of one and all these subjects should be made imperative, and sufficient aid afforded to make the instruction thorough. Two years ago I advocated the same thing. The following is an analysis of the work now taken up in the nineteen larger schools: — , Number of Schools in which the Instruction is , Good. Fair. Weak. Unattempted. Elementary science 1 ... 8 ... 7 ... 3 Freehand drawing 5 ... 12 ... 1 ... 1 Singing from notes 6 ... 9 ... 1 ... 3 Military drill 12 ... 3 ... ... ... 4 All the four subjects are taught in twelve of these schools, three of them in five other schools, and in two schools only one subject (drawing) is attempted. Drawing is now being taught throughout all the classes of most of these larger schools. In science I think a programme of instruction should be issued from time to time, and the experimental instruction in the syllabus should be under the direction of a science-master, Failing any such action on the part of the State, I

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recommend that the course be pursued in this district, and an annual examination made in science similar to that lately inaugurated in drawing. In drawing, the step taken of holding an annual examination every June promises good results. Last June eighty candidates obtained certificates, and I think it will be found that this number will be largely increased next year. I am thoroughly in accord with the recommendation lately made by the English Commissioners on Technical Education, that drawing should be associated with writing as a standard subject. This would insure its being taught in every class of our schools, large and small; and in this district it would not be difficult to commence doing so in all standards at once. I think also the teaching of singing in the larger schools should be under the direction of a professor of music. The teaching of drill and drawing may largely be left to the ordinary staff. But to the instruction in military drill for boys should be added extension motions, with the use of Indian clubs for both girls and boys. Infant-teaching.—The four infant schools in the City of Wellington are giving instruction to 1,221 children between five and eight years of age. Their general management and conduct is good, and school-life is made pleasant by pretty songs, sometimes rendered in parts, and by varied manual exercises. The same satisfactory character and quality of teaching is met with in most of the infantrooms of the larger country schools. It is in the infant school that the natural aptitude of a teacher is called most into play, and it is here that good teaching is productive of most lasting effects. Every true teacher will look well to the work of the infant department by seeing that the work appeals to the observation and intelligence, that it is strictly accurate and founded on philosophical principles, and that the child's life is bright, healthful, and varied. There is one phase of infantteaching in which I think much is left undone ; and it is with the view of making the work of our infant classes more varied that I have recommended the removal from them of standard examinations. More instruction should be given which possesses in a high degree the character of being both amusing and instructive. In fact I would sacrifice much of the instructive element to gain the amusing. The ingenuity of teachers should be taxed to see how they can best solve the problem. There is much child-like story which can be read to them. Lessons in form, colour, building in cubes, description of the incidents of a picture, constructing outline objects with sticks, or geometrical figures with triangles of cardboard or wood, patterns in paper, modelling in clay, and many such variety of teaching might be resorted to with pleasure and profit. I trust the School Committees will give what assistance they can in time and money to help the schools in this direction. Good appliances are much wanting. Highest Standaed Besults. —In most of the twenty-nine schools which this year sent up candidates for the Sixth Standard, the class was smaller than it was last year ; whilst in all other standards there is a large increase. I find many children leave school before or after preparing for the Fourth Standard ; and I estimate the number of children remaining for the Fifth Standard at threefourths of those who pass the Fourth, and the number remaining for the Sixth at two-thirds of those who pass the Fifth. I should be sorry to find any action taken which would tend to remove children from school as long as they are willing to remain, provided this does not exceed one year after passing the Sixth Standard. The difficulty is to keep them long enough and regularly enough at school to get a fair education ; and it is already shown that a large proportion of them leave school before passing a standard higher than the Third or Fourth. The following is an analysis of Sixth Standard work of the year: Eighteen large schools presented 146 candidates, of whom 114 passed, 38 being strong passes and 76 weak ones. Also 11 smaller schools sent up 21 candidates, of-whom 18 passed, 6 being strong passes and 12 weak ones. There were, therefore, in all, 44 strong passes, or just one-third of the total number of passes ; and, of them, 32 (25 boys and 7 girls) were under fifteen years of age in December last. This number, with possibly half a dozen added of those who remained at school another year after passing Standard VI., would constitute, in my opinion, the whole number available for a scholarship contest. In the Sixth Standard work I found the reading, writing, and spelling decidedly good. Arithmetic presented, as usual, the most difficulty; but many of the candidates gave up creditable papers with neat and fairly accurate work. I am pleased to notice much improvement in the arrangement of the side work. The answers in geography and history were also more or less satisfactory. The section which gave the least satisfaction was the English grammar as apart from composition, and this has been the case for the past two years. Composition is improved in quantity and quality. It is a question as to how far it is advisable to go into the technicalities of grammar in the teaching of primary schools, where no other language than English is taught, and where the home influence is a drag upon the work. At the same time it appears reasonable to expect pupils in the highest class of our schools to explain clearly the meaning of an ordinary passage of prose or poetry, to correct bad errors in speaking, to know something of word building and derivation, to construct sentences illustrating the use of words and inflections, and to know and intelligently apply the ordinary rules of syntax. In this work much weakness continues to exist. Speaking generally of standard work, I am still of opinion that an improvement would be effected by rearranging the work in seven standards, easing in a measure the work of the Third and Fourth, and leaving to the Seventh the higher knowledge of English. The high average age at which the children now pass the standards is, I think, an evidence of this. With regard to the conduct of the higher work in the city schools some amalgamation of classes would be economical, more especially in the Mount Cook schools. Masteeton High School.—This is the first year of the constitution of the Masterton State School as a district high school. One class has been opened for Latin, another for algebra and Euclid, and a third for French. The French class is taught by a French-born teacher resident in the neighbourhood, algebra and Euclid are taught by the head master, and Latin by the first assistant. The attendance has varied a little, but the number of high school pupils is small in all the classes. All but one of them had passed Standard VI. before entering the classes in special

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subjects. I examined the three classes viva voce at one visit, and by written papers at a subsequent visit. The whole results were very satisfactory, fair ground being covered and the teaching sound. The paper-work was beautifully neat. The following list shows the percentages of marks obtained in each subject:— Age—yrs. mos. Latin. Algebra and Euclid. French. A. ... 15 0 ... 50 ... 40 ... 65 B. ... 13 2 ... 36 ... 53 ... * C. ... 14 6 ... 83 ... 81 ... 88 D. ... 14 6 ... 57 ... 77 ... 72 E. ... 15 6 ... 45 ... 96 ... 47 F. ... 14 6 ... 84 ... * ... 61 G. ... 15 3 ... 90 ... 79 ... 81 H. ... 13 9 ... 64 ... * ... 63 I. ... 13 0 ... * ... 73 ... * I am pleased to find the school as a whole maintains its high reputation as one of the besttaught and best-managed schools in the district. The Training College.—l inspected and partly examined the work of the Training College on Monday and Tuesday, the Ist and 2nd September. Seventeen students were present, most of them being in the second year of training, and in work preparing for the Class D examination. Being presented with a complete syllabus of all the work of the year so far taken up, I examined part of the work done in English subjects, and called upon the principal to rapidly sketch a portion of the ground covered by him in school management and in history, subjects to which Mr. Howard does full justice. I was also present at class lectures given in their ordinary course by their respective professors in science, French, music, and drawing. I was pleased with much which came under my notice during the two full days spent with the students, many of whom displayed good intelligence in their work, and all of whom were thoroughly earnest workers. The science taught includes chemistry and botany; but the class in chemistry had been reconstituted, and that in botany newly opened by a master recently appointed. French is well and energetically taught by an efficient teacher; but an impression prevails that the instruction aims too much at mastering the more difficult technicalities of the grammar and of the idiom of the language, and not so much at the ready and extended use of it. The instruction in music is evidently thorough and suitable, being largely adapted to the future requirements of teachers. Very good class-teaching is given by the principal; and the English reading taught by him possesses superior merit. His great aim, without doubt, is to meet the Government certificate examinations. It is a question to my mind whether students gain much useful experience by the common practice of drafting them in relays of two or three at a time into the practising school, where they are left for a week or two. In theory it looks well; but I think the children of the practising school suffer by this 'prentice work, and it is impossible for the principal to be engaged in class-teaching and at the same time supervising in the practising school. I think the best practical work for a student is to give model lessons to a class drafted into the Training College, after seeing other lessons given by an expert. And then, on occasion, the practising school, as such, may be used by all the students engaged at one time, when they can be properly supervised by the principal and the head of the practising school in concert. Conclusion. —In concluding the most favourable report I have yet sent in, I think a word of recognition is due to the many teachers of every rank who have this year, and possibly for many years, discharged their duties faithfully and successfully. lam persuaded that they as a body have been diligent, and that any individual weakness is nearly altogether attributable to want of circumspection or to errors of judgment. In a large service more or less of such deficiency may be expected from time to time, and this it is my duty to detect, and, if possible, amend. The position of the teacher in charge of a school is an honourable one, although from some points of view by no means an enviable one. Many teachers give frequent expression to the latter feeling, and complain of the difficult conditions of their surroundings and of their work. I think, however, that any teacher, by honest work rendered from a sense of duty, by forbearance under irritation, by his own good sense and fair administration of justice among his pupils, by his own example of life and intrinsic worth as a man, and by setting a modest value on his work, will not fail to win for himself, first and foremost, a sustaining consciousness of his usefulness, and, secondly, the good-will and respect of those whose good word he values; and these, I take it, if I know the true teacher well, are among the sweetest flowers that cheer his path. I have, &c, The Chairman, Wellington Education Board. Bobeet Lee, Inspector.

HAWKE'S BAY. Sip.,— Napier, 26th January, 1885. I have the honour to submit herewith my seventh annual report upon the condition and general progress of education in the schools of the Hawke's Bay Education District for the year ended 31st December, 1884. The district under my inspection includes that portion of tho east coast of the North Island known as the Counties of Cook, Wairoa, Hawke's Bay, and Waipawa. It contains a population, exclusive of Maoris, of about twenty-five thousand, and its school population I estimate at six thousand. The number of schools in active operation within this area is thirty-seven, seven of them being in Cook County, two in Wairoa, ten in Hawke's Bay, and eighteen in Waipawa. The distance between the most northern and southern schools is about 240 miles, and between the * Subject not taken up.

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extreme eastern and western seventy miles; and although several of the outlying schools are somewhat difficult of access, I have been able, in addition to my other official duties, to visit every school in the district twice, and in some instances thrice or even more, during the year. Two new schools have been opened since the date of my last report—viz., Kumeroa in the Seventy-mile Bush, situated a few miles to the east of Woodville, and Te Arai, in the Poverty Bay District; and the school at Blackburn has been temporarily closed. Before the end of the year applications had been received for the erection of schools at Maraetaha and at Tologa Bay, both of them in the Cook County ; but as the Government had no money available for building purposes when the applications were made, I am informed that Mr. Bandall Johnston, a gentleman residing in Poverty Bay, has decided to build a schoolhouse at Maraetaha at his own expense, and the residents of Tologa Bay have applied for permission to open the Native school, which is now closed, as a district school under the Board, so that there is every prospect of two more schools being opened at an early date. The number of pupils returned as belonging to the schools on the 31st December was 4,110 (inclusive of 114 Maoris and half-castes), of whom 989 were between five and seven years of age, 1,290 between seven and ten years, 1,140 between ten and thirteen years, 337 between thirteen and fifteen years, and 48 exceeded the school age limit as recognized in the Education Act. These children are taught by 28 male and 9 female head-teachers, 7 male and 17 female assistants, and 14 male and 30 female pupil-teachers, or an average of one teacher to every 40 pupils attending school. The accommodation provided in the Board schools is estimated at 33,480 square feet. Allowing 10 square feet as the amount necessary for each pupil in ordinary attendance—an allowance that is certainly not too large —the actual area required for the number of pupils on the school roll is 41,100 square feet. It thus appears that there is a deficiency of accommodation amounting to 7,620 square feet, without taking into account the fact that the school places available are not evenly distributed throughout the several districts, and that there .are many children who are at present unable to attend school owing to the want of accommodation. Out of the thirtyseven school districts nineteen of them are fairly well provided for, and the accommodation is sufficient for several years to come. The remaining eighteen districts, as will be seen from the accompanying table, require school places for no fewer than 1,406 children to provide even for present needs.

In several of the schools the accommodation is so scant that the younger children have to sit upon the schoolroom floor, and the teaching has to be carried on under conditions which make success almost impossible. I have so many times directed attention to this question of school supply, but hitherto without avail, that it seems almost a hopeless task to point out what are the real deficiencies and wants of my district. Inspection under such circumstances becomes little better than a sham, for it is impossible to expect that children can be efficiently trained and educated by teachers, however earnest and skilful they may be, as long as elbow-room, and, in some instances, even standing room, are at a premium. Beferring to this question in my last year's report, I stated— " That at Matawhero the building is so overcrowded as to cause serious sickness among the pupils, and at Woodville, Hastings, and Clive the buildings are too small for present needs." Since these words were written, the school attendance throughout the district has increased about 15 per cent., and the average attendance nearly 17 per cent., but no increase whatever has taken place in the accommodation. Under such circumstances as these it must be evident that some of the schools are sadly overcrowded. I fear that the spirit of emulation, which has proved an important factor in the doings of School Committees for some time past, has been deadened if not crushed altogether by the apparent indifference that has been shown to their

No. Districts. No. of Children attending School, 31st Dec. No. of Children of School Age in District not attending School. Total Accommodation needed. Total Accommodation provided. Estimated Deficiency of Accommodation. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Ormond Patutahi Waerenga-a-hika Matawhero ... Te Arai Fort Ahuriri ... Napier Meanee Olive Hastings Waipawa Makaretu Takapau Waipukurau ... Ormondville ... Makatoku Danevirke Woodville 76 44 40 145 54 193 774 75 192 262 202 47 51 90 110 50 65 169 10 20 12 30 6 20 120 5 25 100 20 12 14 60 30 10 15 50 86 64 52 175 60 213 894 80 217 362 222 59 65 150 140 60 80 219 40 100 150 640 60 145 160 150 30 46 64 52 75 60 63 254 20 72 202 72 29 65 90 65 24 44 109 60 75 36 36 110 2,639 559 3,198 1,792 1,406

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pressing and frequent applications for further accommodation. Once again I would urge upon the Board that, if the children now attending the schools are to be even fairly taught without incurring the serious risk of permanently injuring their health, it will be necessary to proceed with a number of additions and new buildings without delay. Standaed Examinations.—The school examinations continue to show a satisfactory increase in the number of pupils who are being prepared for examination in standards. The names of 3,993 children were entered on the examination lists as belonging to the schools at the time of my examination, and the large proportion of 3,778, or nearly 95 per cent, of the whole number, were present at the different schools. Of the number belonging to the schools 2,499, or nearly 63 per cent., were deemed capable of being presented in one or other of the standards ; 60 per cent, were so examined, and 476 per cent, passed the requirements. The new regulations issued by the department in June last, allowing teachers to reclassify their pupils and to place them in a standard they have already passed, provided that the reclassification be made "at any time not being less than three months before the examination " of the school, has not, I am pleased to state, been abused, as far as I am aware, by a single teacher in my district. Thirty-four children only were re-presented for examination in the standards they had already passed, representing seventeen schools ; the causes assigned, with a single exception, being either " irregular attendance," " prolonged sickness," or " too young for the standards." I confess, however, that the issue of the June regulations caused me to have some misgivings, as in the race for percentages, which now form such an important though perhaps not a satisfactory feature of the standard system, I feared that advantage would be taken of the regulations by the less scrupulous among the teachers, and that those who could be trusted with discretionary powers would be forced to adopt " examination tactics" for the purpose of self-preser-vation. The plan which the Board has adopted in the distribution of bonuses based on the percentage of passes for the whole school, and counting as failures those who are re-presented, has naturally minimised this danger, because teachers will only re-present children for examination when the chance of their passing on to a higher standard has altogether disappeared. It is worthy of notice that Napier, the largest school in the district, did not present a single pupil for re-exami-nation, and Gisborne, the second school in size, only re-presented one. The following table gives the number of children re-presented, presented, examined, and passed in each standard for the past year : —

The proportion of passes for the whole district is slightly lower than last year. The largest number of failures occurred in Standards IV., V., and VI., the two former being exceptionally low. Out of every 100 pupils examined in standard subjects 78 passed in reading, 84 in writing, 69 in arithmetic, 23 in grammar, Bin geography, and 6 in English history. I do not think that the results of my examinations show much improvement in the general character of the standard work when compared with those of former years, but this is not because teachers have been less diligent in their work. The large inflow of new children into the schools and the insufficiency of accommodation are quite sufficient to account for a slight falling off in general efficiency. Standard eequieements difficult in Countey Schools.—ln most of the country schools teachers find it difficult to prepare their pupils for examination in the full requirements of the standards. At Norsewood and Makatoku, the one a Scandinavian and the other a German settlement, history is not taught as a standard subject; and in places like Kumeroa, Heretaunga, Porangahau, Danevirke, Te Arai, and Te Onga Onga, little work is ever attempted higher than Standard IV. With respect to the compulsory subjects many faults were observable in reading, writing, and arithmetic in a number of the schools, but these have been fully dealt with in my detailed reports upon the condition of the schools, as forwarded to each School Committee. In the lower standards the results were better as a whole than in previous years, but in the upper standards there was a decided falling off in efficiency. Above Standard 111. reading and writing do not appear to receive sufficient attention, and grave faults in these subjects, traceable to defective teaching and supervision, were observable in several of the larger schools. Geography and grammar are now much better taught than formerly, the methods adopted being intelligent, and the results in most cases very fair. But there are still several teachers who believe that geography and grammar are made up simply of definitions, and there is at least one other who considers that the best way to teach grammar is by means of a catechism of questions and answers! History is mostly neglected

< <D •5 Nr Pupil: tedir imber of Number presented in new Standards. Nun passed Stam iber Standards. s re-pi l Stan lassed. resenidard Numb jr Examined. in new lard. Percentage of Passes of those Examined. M. F. [Total M. F. Total. M. F. Total. M. F. Total. Standard I. Standard II. Standard III. Standard IV. Standard V. Standard VI. 8*8 10*4 11*3 12*4 13*1 14*1 3 1 10 5 6 5 3 8 7 15 3 465 313 264 164 94 24 435 280 222 134 83 21 900 593 486 298 177 45 449 298 249 157 82 24 420 276 209 127 76 20 869 574 458 284 158 44 396, 236; 200 94 49: 17 360 215 175 98 49 I 14 756 451 375 192 98 31 8778*6 81*8 67*6 62* 70*5 "i "i ! 15 19 34 1,324 1,175, i 2,499 1,259 1,128 2,387 992, |91l|l,903 80Infants too young f< »r St .ndards 779 695, 1,494 726 665' 1,391 ! 2,103 1.870 1 3,993 1,985 1,7933,778

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until Standard V. is reached, when it takes its place as of equal rank to the other standard subjects. When well taught, as it is at Napier, Gisborne, Matawhero, Petane, Kaikora, and Hampden, the subject appears to be much appreciated by the pupils. Standard V. is the Pons Asinorum of the syllabus, as far as the children in my district are concerned, although the requirements for a pass in Standard IV. are very severe, unless history and geography are examined as " class subjects." Geography in Standard 11., geography and history in Standard 111., and the history in Standard IV. have always been examined by me as "class subjects," unless a desire has been expressed by a teacher for individual examination, but this has seldom happened. Several of the schools are in a very efficient state, and more than two-thirds of the whole number may be classed between fair and good. School Committees can do much in the way of promoting the efficiency of the schools, and on them rests the responsibility of seeing that no child in this district is brought under bad or indifferent influences. Infant Teaching.—ln some schools good work is being done in training the little ones who are too young for presentation in the standards. I have insisted upon the preparation of a definite amount of- work in the junior classes, and the results in infant departments such as Napier, Gisborne, Hastings, and Norsewood are satisfactory. In the other large schools where infant classes are at work very little systematic teaching is being done, and teachers capable of managing and training the younger children are very much needed. Where there is no separate class-room for the instruction of infants, and the teaching has to be carried on in the room where the standard children are taught, it is desirable that some change be made in the present arrangements. I had occasion several years ago to point out that infant children in country schools often proved a hindrance to the more advanced pupils, and I then suggested that none under seven years of age should be required to attend school, but that the capitation be increased in such schools to £5 for standard children. Possibly the German system relating to infants would be preferable to this, it being required in country schools in Germany that infants shall only attend school for twelve hours weekly. The minimum time in this country under section 84 of the Education Act is twenty hours weekly, and no difference is required in the length of the school day between the infants of five years of age and the children of Standards V. and VI., although the physical capacities for study among such children are widely different. School Day and Home Tasks.—At present the length of the school day varies very much in a number of the school districts. At Te Onga Onga the school is open for four hours daily, at Napier and most of the other schools four hours and a half, and at Gisborne, Matawhero, and a few others, five hours and a half. In Canterbury and Otago the school day is five hours, and under the London School Board all the schools, except those for children below seven years of age, are opened for five hours and a half each school day. I think it would be well if a regulation were adopted here requiring all schools to be opened not less than five hours daily for the children above Standard 11., and further ordering that home lessons in any standard shall be so arranged as not to require more than two hours for their preparation. It may be well to make children feel that success in life depends upon diligent and steadfast work, but in so doing it is not necessary to over-weight them with a lot of home work, which would be better done during a somewhat lengthened school day under the guidance of skilful teachers. School Discipline and Deill.—Pew of the schools are really weak in general discipline, but school drill requires more attention from teachers than it now receives. There is also much room for improvement in the way children enter and leave the schoolroom. Where pupil-teachers are employed there is often great laxity in this respect, arising from the fact that so few of the principal teachers know how to use to the best advantage the services of their subordinates. Gymnastics and military drill are seldom taught except in the large schools like Napier, Gisborne, and Waipawa, and the importance of class-drill, as a moral agent, is too often overlooked in the smaller country schools. Gisborne is the only school where calisthenics is systematically and, I may say, admirably taught to the girls by the head mistress, who employs with judgment and tact the cleverest among her senior pupils to give calisthenic exercises to the girls in the lower department of the school. Sewing-.—This subject continues to be taught in most of the schools with diligence and much skill, and the results as reported by the examiners reflect credit upon the mistresses engaged in this work. Altogether 801 specimens of sewing were examined under regulation 10 of the standards, being an increase of 260 specimens during the year. Captain Eussell's sewing prizes were awarded by the examiners to Nancy Eenouf, of tho Napier District School, and Maude Farmer and Mary Baker, of the Gisborne School. The sewing frame, as used in the schools under the London School Board, and the useful handbooks and diagrams on sewing and cutting-out, which are supplied to each school gratis, show how easy it is to provide at small cost simple appliances suitable for giving elementary technic instruction to young children. Scholaeships.—For the first time the scholarships offered for competition by the Board have been awarded upon the results of the Sixth Standard examination that was held simultaneously in all districts where there were pupils for presentation in the two highest standards. Keeping the results of the most advanced pupils from being made known for a few weeks after the ordinary school examinations may possibly have drawbacks, but the simultaneous examination enables a far juster estimate to be formed of the quality of the work done in the different schools. The papers of the candidates were very various in quality, some being excellent in matter and arrangement, others in matter only, but too many fell below a fair standard of efficiency. In Standard V. 38 per cent. of the pupils failed to score pass marks, and in Standard VI. the failures reached nearly 30 per cent. My recommendations with regard to scholarships have already been made known. Moral Tone. —The moral tone of the schools is on the whole satisfactory. I find that out of 51 children who have been committed to industrial schools in the Hawke's Bay District, during the past five years, under what are known as the Neglected and Criminal Children's Act of 1867, and the Industrial Schools Act of 1882, 30 were Eoman Catholics, 18 belonged to the English Church, and 3to the Presbyterian; and only 3, as far as lam aware, were sent to an industrial

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school or to gaol from causes within their own power to control. Unwise and intemperate remarks are too often made as to the immorality of the teachers and children 'attending the public schools, but if conduct is the exponent of immoral persons, as it certainly is of all forms of teaching, the facts given above sufficiently show that moral teaching in the public schools, in this district at least, is neither overlooked nor disregarded as an important factor in the education of children. Pupil-Teachers.—The annual examination of the pupil-teachers shows that most of them are being well prepared in the subjects they are required to learn. At the last examination 11 males and 23 females were examined, and, with few exceptions, the papers sent in were good. Several suggestions have of late been made to me upon the desirableness of modifying somewhat the requirements of the pupil-teachers' syllabus. For my own part, I would gladly recommend a modification in the direction of making the examinations biennial instead of annual, and of giving greater freedom in the selection of subjects, but this would hardly be advisable so long as the examination for teachers' certificates remains unaltered, the pupil-teachers' course being specially arranged with a view to enabling teachers on the completion of their four years' service to pass the examination for a certificate in Glass E. Ovee-Pressuee.—A good deal has been heard of late about what is plausibly termed "overpressure." An Inspector who chooses to observe has ample means at his disposal for testing whether or not such a thing exists among children. For my part, lam inclined to think that the term " over-pressure" is a misnomer, and that the mental breakdown of children arises not from over-work, but simply from the non-adaptiveness of the class subjects to the mental tastes and tendencies of children. Differentiation and adaptation in the education of children are as requisite as differentiation and adaptation in eating among people, and little would be heard of over-pressure, so it seems to me, were standard schemes of instruction arranged on the principle that the syllabus of subjects must be made to bend to the natural tastes and aptitudes of children instead of the children being made to bend to a stereotyped syllabus, as is the case at present. The fact is persistently overlooked that the mental tastes of children are mostly dissimilar, and yet they are forced to prepare themselves for examination in subjects not adapted to them, and the result is that mental sickness and abhorrence of certain subjects are common phases of youthful school life, but they only become known as over-pressure. For my own part, I do not think that the present standard course is more than might fairly be mastered by children possessing ordinary intelligence who attend school regularly, and whose mental tastes are adapted to the special form of knowledge to be acquired; but were the selection of standard subjects other than reading and writing left to the choice of teachers and local Committees, I venture to think that little would be heard of over-pressure, and the education would certainly be better suited to meet the local and special requirements of districts than is now the case. Evening Advanced and Technic Classes.—Evening technic classes are not yet established as a part of the public school system, but I hope the time is not far distant when they will be. Between school life and manhood there is a great gap to be filled, and something will have to be _done to fill it if all the benefits of the education system are to be fully realized by the countiy. There are many youths now growing into manhood who would be glad to continue their studies if opportunities were offered them for doing so. The establishment of evening advanced classes, having a technic bearing where possible, would be greatly appreciated at such places as Gisborne, Wairoa, Napier, Hastings, Waipawa, Norsewood, and Woodville. A small subsidy or a small capitation payment on results similar to the plan adopted by the Science and Art Department in England, if granted by the Board, would be the means of bringing such classes into existence at very little cost. I believe that under the Education Beserves Act of 1877 the necessary funds could be obtained from the Secondary School Commissioners out of the revenues derived from the lease of the secondary education reserves, and this without interfering in the least with the incomes of high schools, which are derived chiefly from special endowments. My own opinion is that no money could be better spent than in promoting the establishment of evening advanced instruction and technic classes, and I venture to hope that the Board will consider this important question during the coming year. I have, &c, The Chairman, Education Board, Napier. H. Hill, 8.A., Inspector of Schools.

NELSON. Sic, — Nelson, 31st December, 1884. I have the honour to submit to you my report on the public schools of this district for 1884. Seventy-four schools have been examined, the number of scholars on the roll at the time being 4,696, as compared with 4,392 last year; 4,275 children were present on examination day, as against 3,774 in 1883. It is gratifying to be able to report that, in spite of the prevalence of unusually wet weather during the past half-year, the number of absentees from examination was reduced by nearly a third, a very small proportion of these, moreover, being candidates for standards. A new" regulation issued by the Education Department, insisting on greater strictness in the presentation of pupils than has apparently been hitherto enforced in some other districts, has not affected Nelson, where, during the last two years, all scholars who had passed the First Standard have been required to take up a higher standard year by year. With a few exceptions, which are noted in my special estimate of the state of each school, the results of this year's examination speak well for the efficiency of the teaching throughout the district. The percentage of passes (83), and the proportion of passes to the number on the roll (44), are exactly the same as they were last year. With the view of making the test by figures and percentages—at best an imperfect one —as complete as possible I have added a third column under this head, showing the proportion that the passes obtained in each school bear to the number on the roll, excluding all children under eight years old, comparatively few of whom now take up, and 4—E. Ib.

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none of whom are expected to take up, standard work. This column will bring into comparison preparatory schools which were formerly shut out. I have stated, in a recent report on the schools in a neighbouring district—and the statement will bear repetition —that so high a percentage as 83 is -but little in excess of what might reasonably be expected under certain conditions. A familiarity with the working of the standard system, the fruit of some years' practical experience; an approximate knowledge of the minimum required to secure a pass; and the plan of excluding from the records of failure all who have made less than 260 half-day attendances since the previous examination ; these constitute conditions that should make the passing of four out of five of the scholars who attempt standard work almost a matter of course. If, year after year, a much larger proportion than this should fail to satisfy the minimum requirements of the regulations, it is pretty clear that, in these cases, except where some special drawback, such as widespread and long-continued sickness, can be alleged in extenuation, one of three things must be true : either the standards exact more than can be compassed by children of average ability within the year, or the Inspector's interpretation of the regulations is too strict, or the teacher does not understand his business. It must be clearly understood that repeated failure only is meant. Instances are not wanting of the best teachers in our service having what is known by them as "a bad year," when, it may be, the brightest and most regular scholars have left, or have been drafted off. But, with a thoroughly competent teacher, such a break-down rarely occurs- twice running. Moreover, care is always taken in the detailed estimate of each school, which is intended not solely for the information of the Board and School Committees, but also, to a certain extent, for the protection of the teacher, to make ample allowance for any school to which, for any reason, the table of passes and failures, taken alone, would do scant justice. A striking confirmation of my statement that, as the standards are interpreted in this district, the failures ought not, as a rule, to exceed one in five, is to be found in the fact that, year after year, no small proportion of our schools actually succeed in keeping the list of failures even below 10 per cent. And this is done, not only in some of the large town schools, which, it may be said, are specially favoured by the division of labour and the presumed superior quickness of the scholars, but in the remoter country schools, where everything appears adverse to success. It is hard, for instance, to see what special advantages, apart from the excellence of the teaching, are enjoyed by the children at Tadmore, 96 per cent, of whom, for two years running, succeeded in passing ; and at Waimea West, where the obstacles from irregularity of attendance have been very serious, every scholar presented in standards has passed for two successive years. If an instance of a town school is wanted, why should it be almost a matter of course that at Westport boys' school from 97 to 99 per cent, should succeed in passing? These instances are far from exhausting the list of successful schools, but they will suffice to show that the difficulties of passing cannot be inherent in the nature of the work demanded. A cheering feature in this year's work is the largely-increased number of scholars who have succeeded with the two highest standards, and the diminution in the number of failures. Two hundred and forty-tw ro candidates have this year passed the Fifth Standard, as against 169 last year. The number of those who succeeded with the Sixth Standard has risen from ninety-eight to 133. The fact that every year a large proportion of candidates break down when they come to tho Fourth Standard requires some notice. It must be admitted that, even under the most lenient construction of the requirements of this standard, it forms the longest step in the ladder. Still, a glance at the record of passes will show that not a few of our teachers do contrive to get their pupils over this stumbling-block unscathed. This is done partly by taking great care not to enter their scholars for the lowest standard at too early an age, and by steadily resisting the ill-judged importunities of parents to push their scholars on. The normal age for passing the Fourth Standard is a little over twelve, but I find that no fewer than 264 of the 414 candidates for this standard are under twelve yoars, that ninety-seven are under eleven, and thirty-six under ten. To present children of only average capacity under such conditions is to invite failure. When it is found that an unduly large proportion of scholars who have attained their twelfth year, and who have attended with reasonable regularity, break down, the complaints of the almost impossibility of getting the average scholar through the Fourth Standard will deserve and receive greater attention. The style of examination has on this occasion been altered in one respect. Less slate- and paper-work has been required from the lower classes, and freer use has been made of oral questioning, especially in such subjects as history and geography. The results have been such as to encourage a continuance of this method. If the necessity of a system of exact measurement of work, such as is aimed at in the standards, be taken for granted, it seems to follow that nothing should be left undone that will enable-teachers to know precisely what is expected from them. The discrepancies in the several education districts are not, I have reason to believe, actually very wide, but what is of supreme importance for a teacher to know is how the Inspector of his own district interprets the regulations from year to year. To meet this difficulty it has been my custom for some time to send to every head teacher, shortly after the examinations aro over, several sets of the examination cards recently used. This has proved of service to teachers new to the work, and has assisted those who are more experienced in the rehearsals that they usually make before the official examination. I subjoin what has always appeared to me by far the most important part of an Inspector's report—his detailed estimate of the state of each school. The rest is too apt to degenerate into a mere essay on education, of which the world has already more than enough. This year not only have the reports on the several schools, as they were examined, been laid before the Board monthly, but, by the Board's direction, copies of such reports as each School Committee was interested in have been sent to them, with a request that the teachers concerned might have an opportunity of reading what had been written about their schools. Ample time and

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opportunity have thus been afforded for the correction of any mistake as to matters of fact or for the withdrawal of anything that could be shown to have reflected unfairly on any teacher. One Committee only has availed itself of this opportunity. Although it would be rash to take it for granted that silence invariably implies entire assent, it may fairly be assumed that both Committees and teachers are, on the whole, satisfied with the representations made and the estimates given in what follows. It has been found necessary to rearrange the time for examining the town schools, some of which were formerly taken in October, and the rest in December. This alteration has considerably shortened the interval since the previous examination, ten months only having been allowed for preparation in the case of most of these schools. In drawing up my estimate of the state of each school, however, I have endeavoured to make due allowance for this fact, although I have not seen my way to construe more leniently the requirements of the standards, to attempt which would lead to endless complications. A pass in a town school, therefore, in 1884 means just what it did in 1883. y. $: J{ % % %: % % I am conscious that throughout this report I have made free use of what to many must appear to be the jargon of the standards. I can only deplore the existence of a defect that seems unavoidable. It is true that, by going a long way about, I could have made myself understood, but, on the wdiole, the slang of the school is perhaps preferable to a series of periphrases. The system of examination by standards —which is of quite recent origin, and is due, I believe, together with the system of " payment by results," to the not uniformly well-directed ingenuity of the statesman who was then known as Mr. Bobert Lowe—has brought into currency a set of words coined to meet the exigencies of the case. When the present fashion of standards passes away, as will probably happen in a few years, it will be a matter of small consequence that reports like this, which will then have served its time, should be almost unintelligible. I have, &c, The Chairman, Education Board, Nelson. W. C. Hodgson, Inspector.

MABLBOBOUGH. Sic,— Blenheim, 19th March, 1885. I have the honour to lay before you my annual report on the public schools of the District of Marlborough for 1884. Twenty-six schools have been examined, 1,303 scholars being present on examination day. The number on the roll, 1,530, has increased by only forty since the previous examination. This circumstance will facilitate comparison between the results obtained at my former examination and that just completed. With a few striking exceptions, which will be specially noted, there is a slight but unmistakeable falling-off in this year's work. I have not been brought to this conclusion merely by applying the crude and insufficient test of percentage of passes. A diminution of 4 per cent, still leaves a rate which compares favourably with the results obtained in other districts. But whatever other measure be applied, the comparison of the past year's work with that of its predecessor is, to a certain extent, unfavourable. The number of passes in some of the upper standards has fallen off—in the Fourth Standard by nearly one-half. Many of the passes were also very barely won, the candidate doing just the minimum of work that would justify an examiner in granting a pass. The record of failures has also increased in every subject. Those in arithmetic and spelling especially are more numerous than they ought to be. On the other hand, both the handwriting and the neatness and arrangement of the paper-work continue to improve steadily, and the letters written by the older scholars are better expressed and more to the point than they were formerly. The loss of several excellent teachers during the year may account, to some extent, for the falling-off in several schools, though the places of those who have left seem, on the whole, to have been well filled up. When it is considered, however, that only thirty out of more than fifteen hundred scholars have this year advanced so far as to be able to pass the Sixth Standard, the danger of over-educating the mass of the people, about which so much has been foolishly said and written, seems very remote. Nor does the risk of over-crowding those occupations which demand some literary ability, or even much clerkly dexterity, appear very imminent. It will, happily, not be necessary for me to allude—except in one instance, and that briefly— to what is amiss in the construction of the present standards. A reform of some kind is clearly at hand. Public opinion and the Education Department are now apparently at one on this point. But there are some other matters that need reforming in Marlborough, if its schools are to do all the good of which they are really capable. The first of these is the system, or rather absence of system, of providing the scholars with reading- and copy-books. This important matter is at present left entirely to the operation of what is conveniently termed " the natural law of supply and demand," the total breakdown of which in furnishing the children of New Zealand with anything like a decent education brought about the present system of public education. The teacher, it seems, buys such' books as he sees fit, if he can get them, from the local bookseller, who in turn supplies them in such quantities, at such prices, and of such kinds as he also sees fit; the result is that the scholars, as a rule, are miserably equipped with the necessary implements for their work. The copy-books used, even in the same school, are often of two or three quite different styles, and are not seldom too far advanced and otherwise unsuitable for those who use them. The reading-books are dear, too little varied, and so scarce that two or three scholars are often to be seen poring over the same tattered volume. In suggesting a remedy I shall avail myself of the experience gained in a neighbouring district. Whatever objections may be urged against the employment of a non-resident Inspector—and I fully recognize the force of some of them—it ought to count for something on the other side to have the benefit of a wider knowledge of the subject than could well be gained in a very small district, to say nothing of the presumption in favour of an

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adviser who is free from local prejudices and interests, and who is not overwhelmingly solicitous about the consequences to himself personally of any advice that he may offer. In Nelson the supplying of the Education Board with books and other school material has for some years been carried out by public tender. The outcome has been that during this period all the school material required has been delivered at the Board's office at about three-fourths of the English publishing price, and is issued to the several School Committees, on their requisition, at the same cost. Not only is the money-saving to the community very considerable, but an ample supply of carefully-selected and suitable books is always in stock, and the children are not left to the vagaries of possibly inexperienced or crochetty teachers in the choice of their reading matter. Although I am far from being an advocate for strict uniformity in school management, I think that there are some points in which a general conformity is desirable. Contrary to what might naturally have been expected, the town schools begin work much later than those in the country. I find that children who have two or three miles to trudge to school—frequently over bad roads— find no difficulty in presenting themselves at school at nine in the morning, while it seems a hard matter to get the town children together by half-past nine, although a large proportion of them live within ten minutes' walk of their school. But if, as is generally held nowadays, the value of the education given in our primary schools consists at least as much in the habits formed there as in the amount of literary instruction obtained, the opening of school at a late hour must have a mischievous effect upon the children. - A school should aim, as far as possible, at being a trainingground for the after-life by which it is immediately succeeded, and unless the habit of early rising and beginning the day's work betimes is formed in tender years, the change of habits that will inevitably be required when the school-days are over will prove exceedingly irksome to those who have for many years been mistrained in this respect. In all handicrafts, and in almost every other occupation, work begins long before half-past nine. The most reasonable school hours appear to be those which trench least upon the after-time of both teachers and taught—say between nine and twelve o'clock in the morning and between one and three in the afternoon. These hours are in vogue in scores of schools elsewhere, and in not a few in Marlborough, and I have not heard of any real inconvenience that has arisen from their adoption. This is a matter that might easily be amicably adjusted by consultation between the Board and the School Committees. I have gradually come to the conclusion that the weakest and most unsatisfactory part of our school work is that between a child's entering school and its passing the First Standard, a period varying between three and four years. During this time a well-taught child of average capacity ought to have mastered the ordinary difficulties of reading a simple narrative, should be able to write legibly in a copy-book, and to work easy sums in the four first rules of arithmetic. As much as this, as a fact, has been actually accomplished in a few good schools. But, unfortunately, the majority of teachers are satisfied if their scholars attain the bare minimum laid down in the meagre programme of the First Standard. And the meagreness of the minimum has much to answer for in this respect. In small schools especially, where all the work devolves upon a single teacher, he is under a strong temptation to bestow most of his pains on that section of his school where he can reap the harvest of passes which public opinion has somehow come to regard as the sole and sufficient test of all his labours. In larger schools other causes are at work, equally sure to retard the progress of the younger scholars. It is no disparagement to assistants and pupil-teachers, especially at the outset of their career, to say that the quality of their teaching is far inferior to that of the head teachers. No one expects from the raw apprentice the same kind of work that is demanded from the skilled and experienced craftsman. I must guard myself against being supposed to wish head teachers to force their scholars through the First Standard at too early an age. So long as the present requirements remain unaltered, if an average child passes the First Standard between its eighth and ninth years there is no reason to complain. Indeed, in several of the larger districts, such as Auckland and Otago, the average age exceeds nine years. I simply recommend teachers to spare no pains to carry their scholars much beyond the bare requirements of the regulations, and so to prepare their younger scholars that on passing the First Standard they may be half-way on towards tho work of the Second. There are few schools in which the utmost is made of the time of the young children who form so important a fraction of the school-rolls.. They are kept far too long droning before sheet lessons, instead of having books put into their hands a few months after entering school. And when, at last, they are intrusted with reading-books, these are not changed nearly often enough, in order to save sixpence, or possibly a little trouble; so that, instead of reading by sight, not a few of the younger scholars actually read mainly from memory, knowing pretty well by heart the contents of their well-thumbed little primers. Fresh books ought to be issued to the lower classes every six months, if the art of reading fluently is to be acquired within any reasonable time. In many cases teachers are guilty of the absurdity of not allowing their pupils to write in copybooks until they have passed the First Standard, for no better reason, apparently, than that the regulations exact only slate-writing at this stage. Hours are also wasted in pottering over writing figures on slates, or in repeating in chorus a few lines of the very indifferent verse that is manufactured for the use of young children. I must once more refer to the preposterous custom, now becoming increasingly prevalent, of publishing, with a flourish of trumpets, the results obtained in a school directly after the examination. This is usually, but not invariably, done by the teachers themselves, and naturally, only where schools are supposed to have done exceptionally well, and is objectionable for several reasons. It frequently presents a partial and distorted view of the case; ii is a temptation to futile and premature discussion ;it discounts whatever interest may be attached to tho annual report; and it is disrespectful to the Education Board, which, by every rule of official etiquette, is entitled to the earliest information as to the state of the schools under its control. Finding all remonstrance

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useless, I shall, however reluctantly, take such steps as will effectually put it out of the power of any one to repeat the offence of which I complain. I have, &c, The Chairman, Education Board, Marlborough. W. C. Hodgson, Inspector.

NOBTH CANTEBBUBY. Sir,— Christchurch, 31st March, 1885. I have the honour to submit the following general report for the year 1884 : — The number of schools in this district was at the beginning of the year 143 —namely, 139 schools and four aided schools. Of the eighty-one schools on my list at the close of the year all, with the exception of those at Methven, Little Port Cooper, Port Levy, and Ashburton (side), were fully examined in standards. The examination of the Methven school was postponed at the request of the Committee and teachers, and I was unable, owing to illness, to visit those at Little Port Cooper and Port Levy. The Ashburton side-school was opened at the close of the year, and, as the majority of the children attending it had been examined a few weeks previously at the main school, I did not see that there was any necessity for visiting it. I also examined four denominational schools during the year. I wish here to point out that, if the managers of such schools wish them to be examined in future, they must make their arrangements so that the examinations will take place at some other time than during the last quarter of the year. A few of the schools in the outlying districts were not visited a second time, but to the great majority I paid at least one visit of inspection, and some were visited three or four times. The total number of pupils in all the schools in this district at the time of examination was 18,018, or an increase of 453 as compared with last year. Of these, 15,679 —87 per cent, of the number enrolled—were examined. Table No. 1 shows the enrolments and attendances for the years 1882, 1883, and 1884 :— Table No. 1. Enrolment. Elation. Percentage. 1882 ... ... ... 16,781 ... 13,848 ... 82 1883 ... ... . . 17,565 ... 15,019 ... 85 1884 ... ... ... 18,018 ... 15,679 ... 87 The percentage of roll-number present at examination is somewhat better than in the previous year. In a few cases the small attendance was due to the fact that the days appointed for the examinations were very wet and stormy. Several children were absent because their teachers told them that " they had no chance of passing." Non-attendance and irregularity still continue to be the staple complaints with some teachers. Begularity of attendance varies considerably in different districts. Centres of population, where the children are not so directly useful to their parents, show the largest proportion of non-attend-ing to attending scholars ; but the opposite is the case when regularity instead of enrolment is made the test. In country schools it is not at all unusual to find the names of all children of school age on the roll; but anyone acquainted with the necessities of farm life will see that these children are more likely to be absent than those attending our large town schools. I am now pretty well acquainted with that portion of the district under my immediate charge, and I am convinced that there are large numbers of children who, owing to their exceptionally irregular attendance or non-attendance, are receiving little or no benefit from the present system of education. There are, I am very pleased to state, a few schools in which the teachers, by energetic management and the exercise of more than ordinary tact, succeed, under favourable circumstances, in securing the reasonably regular attendance of nearly all the available scholars. Speaking generally, it may be stated that the regularity of attendance in quite two-thirds of the schools is not what it should be. Some parents are so apathetic and indifferent that the remonstrances of both Committees and teachers seem not to have the slightest effect on them. Committees appear to be very much disinclined to bring the compulsory clauses of the Act into force. But this is, in my opinion, the only effective remedy for the evil. The present large and yearly increasing cost of maintaining the present schools and supplying new ones should yield a more satisfactory return than at present. The punctuality of the pupils is on the whole fairly satisfactory, though in some schools late attendances are far too general. In townships I have frequently noticed children dawdling along long after the bell had rung. It seemed to be a matter of perfect indifference to them whether they were late or not. In two schools even on examination-days the children kept dropping in from 9.30 a.m to 11 a.m. It is almost always the case that, where unpunctuality prevails to any great extent, the discipline and management are lax. The registers are generally neatly and correctly kept. In very few instances have I noticed serious errors, and I have only been compelled in two cases to report teachers to the Board for wilful negligence. Some teachers seem to think that the correct keeping of their registers is but a trifling matter, but I would point out to such that the Education Department evidently do not think so, as I have received more than one circular urging me to see that all records are fully and accurately kept. The instructions given on the backs of the daily registers are full and explicit, and teachers would do well to follow them. In seventeen schools I noticed that neither the name of the school nor of the teacher appeared anywhere on the registers, although there are places set apart for both. In a few cases the columns for the age and standards last passed were not filled in, and no dates were given. One teacher gravely informed me that as the registers were printed in England and intended for schools there he did not see the necessity of filling in several of the columns.

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As far as I am aware, the accommodation provided by the schools in the district is, in a general way, satisfactorily proportionate to the average attendance of the pupils. Some few school buildings were greatly overcrowded on the days of examination, and with difficulty, I was informed, meet the requirements of even an ordinary full attendance ; while others, owing either to a fallingoff in the population or the opening of new schools in their neighbourhood, afford space in excess of the number enrolled. New schools have, I believe, been applied for in at least three places in my portion of the district. I have noticed, and I think referred to in a former report, that parents display a praiseworthy energy in agitating for the establishment of schools, but when buildings and teachers are provided at a great expense, they very seldom consider it at all necessary to send their children with anything like regularity. I may here remark that it is very difficult to decide on the best sites for schools in. some country districts, owing to the frequent and unexpected changes of the population. I would respectfully suggest that, when a new school is applied for, something should as soon as possible be done in a tentative way, in order to find out how many children are likely to attend, and what amount of accommodation is really required. The teachers' residences in the district are, as a rule, roomy and comfortable. The surroundings of the houses, however, differ greatly. In some instances neat and well-kept flower and vegetable gardens are to be seen, but in too many cases not the slightest attempt is made to cultivate the ground set apart for the teacher's use. With respect to some school sites, lam quite aware that it is a very difficult matter to establish and maintain a garden, but I know of at least one school where all the difficulties have been overcome. The schoolrooms and premises are, with not very many exceptions, somewhat better looked after than was formerly the case, and more care is shown in the preservation of the furniture and educational appliances. With regard to the cleanliness of the rooms, I may mention that an improvement has taken place. They are generally swept and dusted regularly, but some difficulty, exists in a few places in having the floors scrubbed occasionally. In a good proportion of the larger schools visited by me the time-tables were generally well drawn up, the classification did not appear to be open to objection, and the scholars were kept fully and usefully occupied. In three schools too many classes were engaged in noisy work at the same time in the same room. There is still a great tendency towards giving young and inexperienced pupil-teachers the sole charge of large preparatory classes, and leaving the experienced and certificated teachers altogether with the classes preparing for the higher standards. It is only too evident that better teaching is required in some of our infant schools. It is not at all uncommon to find children who have spent four and even five years in such schools apparently unprepared to be presented in Standard I. If teachers could only be persuaded to devote a fair share of their time and attention to the younger children, I am sure that they will be amply rewarded by the easy and rapid progress of such children through the standards. There are, in my opinion, too many pupil-teachers employed in infant schools. The adult staff should certainly be in the same proportion to the average attendance as in the other departments of the school. In some few small rural schools a very faulty system of classification appears to exist, owing to the extent to which classes preparing for the same standard are subdivided. This was particularly the case as regards "reading. In two schools I found three different reading-books in a small class preparing for Standard 11. The teachers invariably admit the evils arising from such subdivisions, but state that they are compelled to adopt this plan in consequence either of the importunity of the parents or the diversity in the ages and attendance of the children. The discipline and order in nearly two-thirds of the schools inspected and examined during the year were such as to satisfy the most exacting critic. Sensible and judicious government appeared to be the rule. It is quite an unusual occurrence to hear of undue harshness on the part of teachers. Some few schools are just as badly disciplined as they are badly taught; in others the pupils are so inattentive and disorderly that anything like satisfactory progress is out of the question. In seven schools I detected individual cases of copying, but I have every reason to believe that the fault is not general in any school. Some teachers, even where no satisfactory alternative prevails, have entirely ignored the instructions issued with regard to school-drill and class movements. It is extremely rare to find a school where the children are not neat and tidy in appearance ; and I have found this to be the case not only on the days appointed for the examinations, but at any time that I happened to visit the school casually. Table No. 11. shows the number presented in each standard, the number passed, the average age at which the scholars passed, the percentage of passes, and the number of schools at which scholars were successful in the different standards :— Table No. 11.

Number presented. Number passed. Average age. Percentage of passes. Number of Schools at which Scholars were successful. standard VI. ... standard V. ■Standard IV. ... Standard III. ... ■Standard II. standard I. 237 587 1,378 2,147 2,301 2,482 183 398 956 1,606 1,977 2,317 Yrs. Ms. 14 3 13 4 12 7 11 4 10 0 8 7 77 68 69 75 86 93 43 70 103 120 133 133 Tot lis 9,132 7,437 81

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When this table is compared with that of last year, an upward tendency is apparent in the classification and consequently in the attainments of the scholars. There is a considerable increase in the number of pupils presented in the four higher standards, and, except in the fifth, the percentages of passes are about the same. As regards efficiency, fully 64 per cent, of the schools examined by me may be regarded as doing reasonably satisfactory work. In some schools the comparatively low percentages were due to causes for the most part beyond the control of the teachers, such as inconstant attendance, sickness, closing of schools for repairs, &c. Owing to the frequent changes of teachers in some places, it was quite hopeless to expect anything but the most meagre results. To those who from time to time express their opinion that the masses are being over educated, I would point out that, at the present rate of progress, they have not much to fear. Although it may seem a paradox, yet the multiplicity of subjects required by the present syllabus is an effectual barrier against over-education. In the larger town schools, where there is a teacher to every twenty-five pupils preparing for standards, I do not see that the difficulties against successful preparation under the present regulations are insuperable, provided only that the attendance is regular and constant. In such schools, too, teachers are generally to be found who have special qualifications for giving instruction in the extra subjects—one excels in elementary science, another in music, and another in drawing. But the case ii altogether different when teachers have to instruct three or four classes preparing for their respective standards. In such schools, and in those where only one teacher is employed, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to carry out the present system in its entirety. During the past year only I*ol per cent, of those enrolled passed Standard VI., 2*2 Standard V., and B*s above Standard IV. Taking into consideration those children preparing for standards who were absent during the examinations, those who were withheld from examination in a standard higher than that previously passed, and those who failed to pass, I think it may be safely stated that the attainments of 82 per cent, of those enrolled fall below the requirements of the Fourth Standard. However, on the whole, I think the year's work will compare not unfavourably with that of any previous year. A great deal might be written on the character of the methods used to impart the principles of the subjects required by the syllabus, but, without going into unnecessary details, it is sufficient here to state that the instruction given in our schools, with comparatively few exceptions, has somewhat improved in intelligence and completeness. Seasonably suitable methods are in use in most schools, but they are too often applied mechanically. Some teachers still continue to lecture to and talk at their classes, making little or no attempt to cultivate the thinking and reasoning faculties of the children. Lessons are too frequently overloaded with, to the children, unmeaning technicalities ; so it often happens that the results obtained at the annual examinations are very disheartening. The mere mechanical work is in general well done, but questions requiring thought are left unanswered or guessed at. Many teachers think far too much about percentages and far too little about the real training and education of the children committed to their care. The mere percentage of passes is but a poor test of the efficiency of a school. There are other things which go to make a well-educated boy or girl besides the getting three sums right out of five, parsing and analysing correctly a complex sentence, &c. Energetic and thorough teaching, occasional testing of the work done, and greater earnestness on the part of the pupils are required in not a few places to bring about a more satisfactory state of things than at present exists. Beading.—This, undoubtedly the most important subject taught in elementary schools, does not appear to receive that amount of attention which its importance demands. There is too often a lack of ability on the part of the children to explain the meaning of the words and passages read. If a child leaves school before he has learned to read fluently and intelligently, he is almost certain, if left to himself, to make no attempt at further improvement. Spelling receives a considerable amount of attention in all schools, and the results are, as a rule, creditable. Punctuation is the weakest point in the dictation exercises. Good writing and neatly-written and carefully-supervised copy-books were shown in a very fair proportion of the schools. I also saw some very creditable specimens of writing on slates. It is a mistake that teachers in charge of schools do not generally adopt a suitable and uniform system of teaching writing in the lower classes. Aeithmetic. —As far as I have had opportunities of judging, this is not in a more satisfactory condition than it was last year. Sums are usually put down on the black-board in the very form in which they are to bo worked. lam convinced that arithmetic could be better taught than it is, and that more favourable results would be gained, if children were taught, even in the lower classes, to apply their knowledge of rules to practical problems. In several schools it is very creditable to see the neatness and accuracy with which the sums are worked at the examination. Geammae.—This was very fairly taught in the Fifth and Sixth Standards of quite 60 per cent, of schools I examined. The answering in the Third and Fourth Standards was not good. In teaching this subject it would be well for more attention to be paid to its application and less to its technicalities. Composition.—Badly taught in far too many instances. I am afraid that large numbers of children are leaving school each year who will in the future find it a very difficult matter to carry on the most ordinary business and friendly correspondence. Geogeaphy.-—The requirements of the different standards were in general well fulfilled. A little more attention might with advantage be given to physical geography. The maps drawn by the scholars were generally good, and in many cases excellent. Histoey.—This receives a fair share of attention. Singing and Deawing.—These are omitted in various schools, whose teachers have no knowledge of the subjects. Except in five schools, provision was made for the giving of object-lessons. In a great many schools where object-lessons are regularly given, it does not appear to me that they are taught on

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any well-considered plan —one day an animal, the next a mineral, and so on. Frequently there is not tho slightest attempt at preparation beforehand by the teacher. There is no change worthy of notice in the teaching of science and needlework. Many schools were examined on days other than those set apart for sewing, and this was made an excuse for the absence of specimens of the work done. In many schools the home-lessons are set with care and intelligence; in a few they are far too long, and more or less unsuitable. It is not at all unusual to see exercise-books either wholly or partially uncorrected. In some country schools very great difficulty is experienced by teachers in .getting children to do home-exercises. This arises from the fact that in many cases the children have, both before and after school hours, to assist in the farm work. So long as the present standards remain in force, it will be impossible to produce satisfactory results in the higher standards without the assistance of home-lessons and exercises. Ido not see that there is much, if any, necessity for such lessons and exercises in the classes below Standard 111. There has been a great deal written and spoken about over-pressure during the past few months. I have now had nearly sixteen years' experience of schools in New Zealand, and I must say that I have seen very little of it. During the past eight years I have occasionally noticed children who were physically incapable of bearing the strain of ordinary school-work, but in almost every case I found that the teachers were aware of the fact, and did not expect them to keep pace with their class-fellows. My knowledge of average colonial boys and girls leads me to believe that they are very unlikely to become the victims of over-pressure. The teachers, as a body, are zealous, painstaking, and well qualified for the positions which they hold. Many of those with low certificates are studious and anxious to rise in the service. With six exceptions, the pupil-teachers examined during the year have gained promotion. This is very satisfactory, and speaks well for the energy and ability of the teachers and the earnestness and industry of the pupils. I wish, before concluding this report, to make a few remarks about the present system of assigning marks for efficiency to teachers who have recently gained certificates, or who have come from Home or from any of the other colonies. At present the custom is, shortly after the publication of the results of the annual examination of teachers, to forward lists of those who have passed to the Inspectors of the different districts, with a request that they will, at their earliest convenience, assign marks to all those of the successful candidates who are known to them. This, of course, means that the Inspector is to see them teach a class as soon as possible. Now, any one well acquainted with school management knows that efficiency includes many things besides mere skill in giving a lesson. It is therefore neither reasonable nor judicious to expect an Inspector to assign marks for efficiency to young teachers, or teachers from other places, before they have been at work for at least a year. I speak feelingly on this matter, because I freely admit that I have never been quite satisfied when called upon to assign marks to a teacher after a few hours' acquaintance with his or her method of managing and teaching a class. I have, &c, The Chairman, Education Board, Christchurch. W. L. Edge, Inspector.

SOUTH CANTEBBUBY. SIE, — Timaru, Bth January, 1885. I have the honour to present my report on the schools of the South Canterbury District for the last five months of the year 1884. At the end of the year forty-five schools were in operation, of which four were opened for the first time during the year ; the remaining forty-one were examined in detail for standard passes. In these schools there were on the rolls at the date of my examination 3,939 children (2,021 boys and 1,918 girls), of which number 1,400, or 35*5 per cent., were below the classes preparing directly for examination in standards, and twenty-one had already passed the Sixth Standard. The infants were examined briefly in classes to ascertain the general quality of the instruction they had received. Those children who had already passed Standard VI. were examined with Standard VI., and their proficiency reported on, but no account of them is taken in the included or accompanying tables, except in estimating the proportion of the roll-number presented in standards. Of the remaining 2,518 enrolled in standard classes, 2,258 were examined for promotion, and twenty-eight, under a recent regulation, in a standard already passed. There were 1,670 children advanced to a higher standard during the year, showing a percentage of 73*95 on the number presented for promotion, a percentage of 73 on the whole number presented, a percentage of 66-32 on the number enrolled in standard classes, and a percentage of 42-39 on the total enrolment of tho schools examined. Since the regulation enabling teachers to present children, under certain conditions, in a standard already passed was issued during the year, the second percentage here given, 73, is that which, for the purpose of comparison, must be placed alongside the 73*2 per cent, shown in the report for the year 1883. A comparison of standard-passes is undoubtedly of some value; but there appears to be too great a tendency to overrate it in forming an estimate of the instruction given in our schools, even where it is borne in mind that the pass-subjects are not the only subjects taught under the regulations. The matter has been so frequently referred to in the reports of Inspectors and elsewhere that it is quite unnecessary for me to discuss the question fully. It seems to me, however, that sufficient attention has not been given to two very important sources of differing results, especially in the comparison of different education districts —namely, (a) the age at which children are presented for examination in the First Standard, and (b) the proportion of the roll-number presented in all standards. No rule exists in this district with regard to tho age at which children must be presented for a standard examination, and the teachers are at liberty to use their own

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discretion in the matter. Their practice has in consequence not been quite uniform, but in general the confidence placed in them has not been abused. The adoption of any fixed rule is of doubtful expediency unless either the limit of age and attendances or of acquirement be placed pretty high. It is of great importance, in my view, that children should be thoroughly well grounded in the infant department, and enter upon their standard career only when they are fit to pass with the greatest of ease. If some rule be deemed expedient, lam disposed to suggest that all children of eight years and six months who have made a total number of 500 half-day attendances ought to be presented in the First Standard. Last year the mean average age of Standard I. in our schools was B*2 years—an age exceeded in seven of the ten education districts for which the information is given in the annual report of the Minister of Education. For 1884 the average age is somewhat higher, being B's, or -2 below the mean of last year's returns from all districts. Again, taking the roll-numbers of all schools in New Zealand at the end of December, I find that 502 per cent, were presented in standards in 1883, of whom 74-4 per cent, passed. In South Canterbury 52 per cent, were presented, and for this year the percentage is 562. The number of promotions in South Canterbury, taken in connection with these two elements of age and proportion of roll-number, compares favourably with the results in other districts. Table A shows the numbers enrolled, examined, and promoted in standards, with percentages of promotions for the year 1884. Table B compares the results obtained in South Canterbury with those obtained for 1883 in the neighbouring districts, and in the whole of New Zealand; and illustrates the importance to be attached in instituting comparisons to average ages, and the proportion of the roll-number presented in standards. Table A. N.B.—ln this table no account is taken in tho column for enrolment and presentation of twenty-one pupils who had already passed Standard VI.

Table B. N.B. —The percentages of promotions for South Canterbury in 1884 differ from those shown in Table A, since they are here estimated on the sum of columns (4) and (5) of that table, instead of column (4) alone.

For the purpose of ascertaining how far failures may be due to bad attendance, I have shown throughout my reports the number of children who had made 250 attendances since the previous examination, and the percentage of passes obtained by them. The result has scarcely answered my expectations, and shows that the failures aro not to any great extent due to gross neglect in attendance. Parents, however, should understand, especially in the country districts, that even what may appear to them a trifling irregularity may seriously embarrass the teacher in the development of his scheme of progressive lessons. 5—E. Ib.

W -43 jh to a T-\ CD >-j d O d ' vT t0 d CO <1 O CO <o-ai Presen Exami: d 8 o a p fi H O .ted for nation. ■■d r^ S to 3 *s 3 ft SI? H ts "2 CD ■TH "h (J t3 2 s a "> 8 K M CD . CM -Q-*t-°^.a CD _, C5 to g <s d o - £ 3 a c H —1 Ph OHO a a 0 51 ° o n P-cSP-i . 3T* °ft-27 cd . .a J°ijcJ j. « S O "i'h "; "D ,° S ,° to * * '* Ph °^1< 2 ,3 g > K O ""- CD ■£ SoPh d CD CM g .H Pn-§.3 S <-3 «*.8 s a g a ft ,g **d CD -*= O a o £2. o a o ■4-1 "-"' °.a CD W 3*1*1 _g o s « CD O CD Ph <d H m Q O*^ A* CD O -4^ w d (1) f-i t» O 0J CD a CD O o a o F4 o I (1) (2) (3) Yr. Mo. 8 6 9 6 11 0 12 3 12 11 13 5 9 11 w (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) Standard I. Standard II. Standard III. Standard IV. Standard V. Standard VI. ill standards 603 622 588 390 220 95 2,518 551 561 515 351 197 83 2,258 0 7 5 7 4 5 28 478 422 355 210 141 64 1,670 79*27 67*84 60-37 53-84 64-09 67-39 66-32 86-75 75-22 68-93 59-82 71-57 77-1 73-95 387 413 393 263 165 76 1,697 356 332 293 166 122 56 1,325 91*9 80*3 74*5 63*1 739 73*6 78 41 41 40 40 29 18

Districts. ootOo || 2° ss-aw * a a d Percentage is of Promotions on Number prese: Ages, in Years ai II. III. rted in oac' id Decimal! 7. i Standard, and the Average VI. Sh <$ d © c3 &0 | <* ?"*" ffl to n: "D Ph bo O CD EH O Per cent. Aver. Age. Peicent. Aver. Age. Per cent. Aver. Age. Per cent. Aver. Ago. Percent. Aver. Age. Per cent. Aver. Age. 1884. '. Canterbury... 1883. '. Canterbury... 1. Canterbury... >tago .11 districts 56-2 52 44-5 53-2 50-2 86-7 90-7 95 92 86-5 8'5 8'2 9-6 9-3 8-7 74-2 79-9 84 77 78-2 9-5 9-5 10 1Q-2 9-7 68-2 61 74 60 64*8 11 11 11*7 11*5 11*2 58*6 55 69 62 64*7 12*2 11*6 12*6 12*6 12*3 70 63-6' 76 J 58 I 66-7; |l2-9 12-6 J13-6 113*3 13*2 72*7 80'9 77 82 79-4 13-4 13*0 14*2 14*1 14*0 73 73*2 82 72 74*4 11*2 11 11-9 11-8 11-5

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Only a trifling advantage has been taken in the district of the recent change in the general regulations by which children may be presented for examination in a standard already passed, on the conditions that (a) they shall be placed in the lower class not less than three months before the date of examination, and (b) they shall not be reckoned as passing again in the same standard. Only twenty-eight children have been so presented. In these cases I have not insisted on the former of the two conditions mentioned, on the ground that the date of publication of the altered regulation scarcely allowed sufficient time. The children were in general brought down from the higher classes immediately before examination, and their names are included in my returns on the rolls of those classes. All children so examined have been treated in my separate reports as failures for the higher standard, and this practice supplies the main reason why teachers have not sought to avail themselves to a greater extent of the discretionary po%ver vested in them by the regulation in question. It may be sufficient in future to count the proportion so presented in estimating the total percentage of promotions in the school. Standabds.—lt is usual to institute a comparison with the results obtained in the several standards during the previous year. I cannot regard the conclusions to be derived from such a comparison as of any great value, for a bad year in any standard or throughout a school naturally implies favourable conditions for next year's examination. Standard I. and the infant division are very fairly taught in our larger schools where the staff allows the employment of a teacher, more or less skilled, for the junior classes, and regular systems of instruction are pursued; but I have had frequently to direct attention to defects, in the case of smaller schools, when the teacher has either been overburdened with the number of classes or has not been fully alive to the necessity of making the best possible provision for future success. In Standard 11. the geography was the most frequent cause of failure, being often under-estimated; and the history of Standard 111. was the despair of most of the teachers. The results in Standard IV. bear out to some extent the com-monly-accepted view that the step from Standard 111. is rather great for a large proportion of pupils ; but, in comparing this standard with Standards V. and VI., full weight must be given to the fact that it is represented in all the schools, with the exception of the Timaru (Side) School, in which the Second Standard is made the highest class, and the results in consequence test the skill of even our most experienced teachers. The good work shown in many instances in the highest standards, when the school has been in the hands of a highly competent teacher, proves that the course of instruction is calculated not only to develop mechanical accuracy, but to cultivate to a high degree the intelligence of the children. Subjects.—ln dealing with the subjects of instruction, I must point out that, my visits to the schools being mainly for the purpose of examination, my knowledge is for the most part confined to results, and scarcely extends to the methods by which those results are produced. Reading.—With reading is very properly associated a knowledge of the meanings of the words or expressions employed. I regret to say that I have rarely been able to obtain satisfactory answers when the pupils were required to explain a few striking words or expressions in the reading lesson. Exact definition is certainly a thing of great difficulty, and it would be unreasonable to expect perfect accuracy, yet I am under the impression that much more might be done by our teachers in the direction indicated. I am far from recommending that the exercise should consist of learning by rote the meanings of a few selected words given at the top of each reading lesson —the meanings must be taught in connection with the text. lam afraid the whole subject does not receive from many of our teachers the attention which its importance merits. There are, however, some of our schools, especially the larger ones, in which the reading is of very high quality. The books in use are well adapted to the purposes for which they are required ; but I have here to repeat a warning, constantly given during my visits, that in the lowest standards and among the infants the children, in the course of the year's work, become too familiar with the wording, and consequently repeat the sentences by rote. I regard this as a bad fault, a partial remedy for which may be found in the use of two sets of reading books. I wish also to impress upon our teachers that I cannot consider reading of a high quality unless it be natural; word-grouping should receive more attention in the lower classes, and the high-toned monotonous repetition of separate words entirely disappear. Spelling.—ln examining this subject I have rarely gone beyond the words in the readinglessons, my reason being that, as from the point of view of a primary school spelling is mainly arbitrary, it would not be fair to test knowledge by giving words with which the children had not had some opportunity of becoming familiar in the teacher's presence. In the earlier stages, however, teachers must not by any means confine themselves to the same limits ; but must seek for as many illustrations as possible of a particular mode of representing a given sound. Our less experienced teachers should also bear in mind that spelling is taught through the eye, and that methods of testing knowledge convenient for the examiner may be quite unsuited to the teacher's functions. The results in spelling have too often disappointed me, even where there was abundant evidence of earnest and efficient work in other subjects and the teacher could not but be regarded as well skilled in the practice of his profession. Wbiting.—Writing on the whole is very fairly taught. In some cases it is taught exclusively from the black-board, but in general Philip's or Vere Foster's copy-books are in use, and sometimes Darnell's. In using copy-books satisfactory results are produced in any style, if sufficient supervision be exercised, but with those issued by Mr. Vere Foster the want of attention seems to produce the worst results, the writing degenerating into an irregular scribble. In the Second Standard teachers following the order of Philip's exercises frequently disregard the intention of the Syllabus of Instruction, and beginning with " text hand," present that alone at examination or in company with a little " half text." In a very few cases I find the opposite fault, which I consider a more serious one, the children being allowed to proceed to small hand in the lower standards before they have learnt to form the letters properly. A teacher with such a tendency should bear in mind the advice of Locke that he should have the characters a "pretty deal bigger" than the pupil should ordinarily write, " for every one comes by degrees to write a less hand than he at first was taught, but never a bigger."

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Aeithmetic.—The chief faults I have to find with the arithmetic are— (a) that teachers are too often satisfied with the simpler illustrations of rules, especially money rules, and do not practice their pupils sufficiently in exercises of such complexity as are likely to occur in actual life; (b) that problems, designed to test the intelligence and require a little ingenuity, are rarely attempted; and (c) that sufficient attention is not given to mental arithmetic. The last subject is one of great importance ; and even if the examination does not comprise an exercise designed expressly to test it, teachers will find their efforts amply repaid in the readiness with which little calculations are made in answering the papers set. Geammae, Geogeaphy, and Histoey.—ln the three remaining standard subjects, grammar, geography, and history, the quality of the teacher's intelligence is most clearly evidenced. There is no sufficient reason why it should be so with geography, which ought to show good results more generally throughout our schools. The subject is to some extent a mechanical one of great simplicity and practical importance, and might easily be made extremely interesting to the majority of children. Greater mental activity is certainly required in the mathematical and physical branches, and on this account these are of more educative value, but the results in them are rarely gratifying. The ordinary conventional parsing forms the main bulk of the answering in grammar. The examiner expects to find it in the absence of anything better, and he is generally satisfied if the form in which it is presented affords evidence of careful training; but there is great room for improvement not only in composition but in the valuable exercise of logical analysis, which in my view ought to be begun early and find a more prominent place in our school course. For practice in composition, historical subjects, object-lessons, and lessons in science ought to be fully utilized. The answering in Standard VI. on prefixes, affixes, and common roots, falls far short of my expectations. In several of our schools I have been greatly pleased with the fulness and accuracy of the historical knowledge exhibited, except in Standard 111. ; in a few I have noted a knowledge on the part of Standards V. and VI. covering a wider field, but of little higher quality than that required for Standard IV. Extra Subjects.—l regret that I have been unable in the course of my examinations to give greater attention to these subjects, especially to object-lessons and science. I find in nearly all schools the ability to repeat a few pieces of poetry, and in a few instances the instruction develops into very creditable elocution in the higher standards. The other subjects come in the following order in the frequency with which they are taught: Singing, object-lessons, drawing, drill, science, and domestic economy. In some small schools, where the teacher was unassisted, I found the instruction confined to the pass subjects, with the exception of a little poetry, and in such cases I have been unwilling to criticise the omission severely. lam of opinion, however, that every school should be bound to take, exclusive of needlework, a minimum number of extra subjects, which need not occupy a great deal of time ; and that scientific instruction should be made much more general. Four sets of scientific apparatus have been issued to the largest schools, but they have not been utilized to the fullest extent. Without any apparatus, except such as any teacher may find ready to his hand, a very fair amount of scientific instruction may be given. It must be remembered that the educative value of both object-lessons and lessons in science is not in proportion to the amount of information conveyed, which must of necessity be very limited, but to the habits and powers of observation and induction which they develop. Needlework is without any exception faithfully taught with more or less success. Creditable specimens are generally shown, and in some schools the quality of the work is admirable; but the lines of the standard requirements are not accurately followed. Hemming and felling in the lower standards, and stitching in the higher, are commonly exhibited, but I rarely see button-holing, darning, and patching. Furniture, etc. —The schools in general are well provided with furniture, which some teachers take a great pride in keeping in excellent order. The supply of maps is good, but frequent complaints are made to me in the smaller schools that there is no globe. For the use of young children illustrations of Natural History are urgently required, and I hope the Board will in a short time be in a position to supply the want and also to furnish diagrams illustrative of scientific subjects. Buildings.—Many of the buildings are in great need of repairs, and nearly all of them require painting both inside and out. Begistees.—As far as I have been able to judge, the registers of daily attendance are regularly and faithfully kept; but the registers of admission, progress, and withdrawal, which are next in importance, have been frequently neglected or irregularly entered. No uniform practice is adopted by schoolmasters in purging the rolls, and I am not prepared to suggest any hard-and-fast rule applicable to all cases ; but they should constantly bear in mind the desirability of removing useless names, in view of the importance of accurate conclusions on the ratio of average attendance to roll-number. The regulation requiring from a new pupil a certificate of his former standing is not a success ; but whether the fault lies with the schoolmaster, the parent, or the child, it is impossible for me to say. I would urge schoolmasters to continue, for various reasons, diligence in ascertaining and recording the exact ages of their children, and respectfully request the parents to give every assistance in this respect. Besides the ordinary standard-examination of the forty-one schools included in my report, I conducted special examinations of two of them and inspected three of the remaining four schools opened for the first time during the year. Hakaterainea, opened just before the December quarter, was unvisited. In conclusion, I take this opportunity of thanking the members of the School Committees for their uniform courtesy to me during my visits. I wish also to state my belief in behalf of the schoolmasters themselves that the Board possesses in them a body of earnest and honourable men, some of whom would do credit to any service. I have, &c, W. J. Andeeson, M.A., L.L.D., Inspector. The Chairman, Board of Education.

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WESTLAND. Sic,— Hokitika, Ist February, 1885. I have the honour to present my annual report on the elementary schools in the Counties of Westland and Grey for the year 1884. The circumstances which caused the administration of educational affairs in these counties to be undertaken by the department are too well known to need recapitulation in this report. It may not, however, be out of place to notice some of the effects which the temporary disorganization of the district has produced. The unpleasant surprise that fell upon the teachers at the end of the year 1883, in the announcement that no funds were available for the payment of their salaries for November, was shortly followed by the equally unsatisfactory announcement that for the year 1884 the Government, in order to keep the expenditure within the legitimate income, would be compelled to pay only half the amounts allowed by the late Board as bonuses for teachers and pupil-teachers. The annual payments to Local Committees were also reduced by one-half—a serious matter for those who had already incurred liabilities which they were unable to provide for, or who had entered into contracts for cleaning and warming the schools which could not in some cases be terminated in the same summary manner. These unfortunate, but, under the circumstances, unavoidable, reductions, coming closely upon the sudden and unaccountable disappearance of one-twelfth of the teachers' incomes for the previous year, most certainly caused a feeling of depression and uneasiness to prevail amongst teachers and Committees, and perhaps, as regards the former, may in some cases have unconsciously reacted upon the efficiency of their work. There is no doubt that a pretty general and entirely justifiable feeling of disappointment and irritation prevailed throughout the district, and great allowance must in justice be made in those cases where any falling-off in the efficiency of the schools appears to be indicated by the results of tho examination. All those who have been engaged for any length of time in the work of teaching public schools must admit that, under the most favourable circumstances, it is a profession beset by many and great difficulties, as well as by innumerable petty trials and vexations. It has, however, some compensating advantages, not the least of which are the certainty and punctuality of the stipulated payments ; and that all the teachers should have had their confidence in the stability of these arrangements so rudely shaken without relaxing in the slightest degree their exertions or, which would have much the same effect, without losing to some extent heart and interest in their work, is scarcely to be expected from human nature. On the whole, I believe that the teachers, as well as the Committees, have passed the trying ordeal in a manner highly creditable to themselves, and without any serious injury to the cause of education. Although the percentage of passes this year is somewhat lower than in 1883, it will be seen that the falling-off has not been general throughout the district. Some schools have increased their percentages, and others have maintained them at about the same point, whilst only a few show any considerable inferiority. Of these last, the depression is accounted for in several cases by the prevalence of sickness, and the consequent irregularity of attendance, aggravated, in at least two instances, by the complete closing of the schools for many weeks, as at Brunnerton, which was closed for eight weeks at one time on account of an outbreak of diphtheria. On the other hand, in one or two cases the large percentage of passes obtained this year must be set down to the fact that a number of children failed last year at these schools, and have consequently remained two years in the same standard. Irregularity of attendance, the greatest hindrance to progress with which the teacher has to contend, affects the results more seriously when it prevails at the latter end of the year than when it is distributed throughout the whole term, although in the former case the actual average attendance may be considerably greater than in the latter. One school in the district had an admirable attendance from the beginning of the year till towards the last quarter, when an outbreak of diphtheria occurred, and the attendance dwindled down to less than half the roll-number. Owing, however, to the good attendance during the' earlier part of the year, the average for the whole year was by no means low, although the great falling-off just before the examination operated most unfavourably upon the results. This, of course, is quite unavoidable, but should be taken into account in estimating the efficiency of the year's work. After speaking of irregularity of attendance, it is refreshing to be able to refer even to a solitary, though remarkable, instance of the opposite kind. One boy attending tho Dunganville school is the holder of five first-class certificates for regular attendance, not having been absent from school for a single half day during five consecutive years. The lad's name is Edward Garland, and I suppose his record can be equalled by very few scholars in New Zealand. The Order in Council of June, 1884, while it compelled tho presentation of all children, irrespective of the regularity or irregularity of their attendance, appears to have been intended to give teachers more freedom of reclassification, as by it they are allowed to reclassify within three months of the examination. This privilege, however, was of little avail in Westland, as the examination commenced within two months of the receipt of the order by the teachers. At first sight the effect of the new regulation in this district appears to have been to increase the number of scholars absenting themselves from the examination, as this year 251 were absent as against 79 last year ; but, on the other hand, 315 scholars wore refused admittance to the examination last year on account of irregularity of attendance, and the number examined this year is greater than it was last year by 219, although the roll-number has only increased by 16. At one school (Woodstock) out of 52 entered on the standard schedules, 24, or nearly one-half, were absent, and nearly all these had attended less than 250 half days during the year. At another (Boss) out of 150 liable for examination, 44, or nearly one-third, were absent, including 30 who were retained in the same standards. The roll-number on the day of examination was 1,778 in Westland and 1,267 in Grey ; and the percentage of passes on the roli-number was 43-36 in Westland and 4388 in Grey, or about 6 per sent, above the average for New Zealand last year. The number of children below Standard I.

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in Westland was 573, or 32*2 per cent, of the roll-number, and Grey 415, or 32*7 per cent.; consequently in both districts nearly 68 per cent, of all the scholars were presented for examination in standards. The average for the whole colony in 1883 was only 50 per cent. On comparing the results with the general return for New Zealand in the Minister's last annual report (Table J), it will bo seen that Westland and Grey stand considerably above the average in all the standards, with the exception of the Sixth, in which Westland is about equal to, and Grey 22|- per cent, below, the average for the colony ; but this inferiority is not general in the district. Several schools considerably exceeded the colonial average, notably the Hokitika school, which passed 96 per cent, and Kumara 89 per cent., while two small schools passed all that were presented. On the whole, therefore, and looking at the table of results only, the schools in these two counties may fairly be said to hold a respectable position amongst New Zealand elementary schools, at least so far as regards the subjects comprised in Begulation 7. Elementary Science. —I have not, of late, encouraged the teaching of elementary science in any of the smaller schools in this district, being convinced that the ordinary subjects of Begulation 7 present abundantly sufficient work for the majority of teachers to overtake in the time, when the whole, or the greater part of it, has to be done by one person. This year only four schools took up the subject, as against six last year. Vocal music is systematically taught at two schools only—namely, Kumara and Hokitika, and the tonic sol-fa system is employed at both. Several other schools exercise the younger children in singing by ear. Four or five schools have drawing as a portion of the routine, but a great want of suitable copies is complained of, and some solid models would be very acceptable to those who are desirous of keeping up this branch of instruction. The unsettled condition of educational matters has hindered the school work in the two counties, chiefly by the partial stoppage of the supply of books and school necessaries, the stock of which being exhausted could not be replenished. This refers more particularly to reading-books and copy-books. In addition to the work already referred to, a considerable amount of instruction of a very valuable kind has been given to those scholars who had passed the Sixth Standard, but remained still in the schools. These numbered thirty-three in all, and those who were examined showed by the superior quality of their work that the additional time they had spent at school had been very profitably employed. All the children unfit for presentation in Standard I. were examined in class, and, whilst I must admit that they have somewhat fallen off from the high state of efficiency which characterized the infant departments of our principal schools five or six years ago, when the staffs were much stronger than at present, yet the junior divisions of our larger schools are still under satisfactory training and instruction. At some of the smaller schools the children remain over long in this department, but that is by no means an unmixed evil, since their greater age on entering upon the standard racecourse enables them to carry weight with greater ease to themselves and satisfaction to their teachers. An unusual press of business at the present time, consequent upon the subdivision of the district and my appointment as Secretary and Inspector to the new Westland District, will prevent me from entering very fully into the details of educational progress this year. I cannot, however, forbear saying that there is an evident falling-off in some schools in the character of the handwriting, and I shall be compelled to adopt a more stringent method of marking this subject to prevent further deterioration. The difficulty, before alluded to, of obtaining sufficient supplies of the required numbers of the copy-books may partly account for the inferiority noticed ; but there is reason to believe that in some schools the importance of this branch of the work of an elementary course has scarcely been sufficiently recognized. English composition, practically the most useful branch of elementary education, has received considerable and careful attention, and, although still far from being, as it ought to be and might be, the most efficiently taught subject of the syllabus, it shows sign? of gradual and steady improvement ; and by giving a larger proportion of marks to this portion of the grammar paper I hope to still further encourage the careful treatment of this most important section of the programme. I have also given more prominence to mental arithmetic during the last two years, not confining myself to questions under certain rules, by the use of which it is likely to degenerate into a mere mechanical operation, but putting questions that come under no particular rule, and the solution of which requires considerable mental effort and concentration. I am sorry that I cannot give so good an account of the order and discipline throughout the district this year as I have been able to do in the past. In some schools, and those not the smallest, there has crept in a laxity in this respect which is much to be deplored, and which was the cause of considerable trouble and annoyance on examination-day. The general tone of such schools is necessarily lowered, and if proof were wanting it might be found in the fact that it was my disagreeable duty to dismiss several scholars from the examination for unfair conduct or for talking to one another while engaged with their work. Perhaps this falling-off in discipline may be partly traced to the circumstances referred to in the earlier portion of this report, or it may be another but milder manifestation of the " epidemic of rebellion," by which a neighbouring district is said to have been visited during the past year. Three small schools in Westland have not been visited this year : that at Arawata, on account of the uncertainty of the means of communication ; the Waitangi school, which was closed when I visited it to hold the examination, the teacher being ill at the time ; Bangiriri, which had been closed some considerable time, owing to the resignation of the former teacher, was reopened while the examinations were in progress, and I did not consider it either necessary or desirable to examine it under -the circumstances.

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Before closing this report, I am desirous of bearing testimony to the admirable behaviour of the Committees under the trying circumstances referred to in my first paragraph. Notwithstanding that they found themselves suddenly deprived of one-half of a by no means liberal allowance they unanimously resolved to make the best of their unfortunate position, and continued to perform their functions with the same assiduity as before, although there were not wanting some agitators who counselled the wholesale resignation of the Committees with a view to force the Government to a greater, though illegal, liberality. Though, in most cases, sadly hampered, the Committees have succeeded in keeping the educational machinery in motion without the intervention of a Board, and that too, in many instances, without incurring liabilities which their legitimate income (aided by local assistance) is inadequate to discharge. There were fourteen pupil-teachers in the two counties liable for examination this year. One of these could not attend the examination on account of illness. Thirteen were examined as usual at the schools in which they are engaged; of these seven passed with credit, four passed, and two failed. I hope the time is not far distant when pupil-teachers will be brought under one general system, and their examination conducted in the same manner as the ordinary teachers' examinations. This hope has been frequently expressed in reports from this and other districts, and the opinion that a change is desirable seems to have lately gained considerable ground. I have, &c, The Hon. the Minister of Education. John Smith, Inspector.

OTAGO. 1. Me. Peteie's Bepoet. Sir,— Dunedin, 31st March 1885. I beg to submit the following report for the year 1884 : — During the year I paid visits of inspection to seventy schools, and examined sixty-five, including some of the largest schools in the district, at eleven of which one of the other Inspectors assisted me. I also examined about half the work done in extra subjects at the four district high schools, on which a special report is submitted. All the schools in operation throughout the year were examined, with the exception of the Boxburgh school, which was closed by the Committee a day or two before the date of examination in consequence of the prevalence of measles, and all except one were visited for inspection. There were entered on the examination schedules for examination in the standards the names of 11,698 pupils; of these, 735 were absent on the day of examination—being nearly 6-J- per cent. The percentage of pupils absent was thus almost double what it was last year. The increase of absences was caused principally by the prevalence of measles in several parts of the district at the time when the examination of the schools fell due, and it would have been greater had not the usual order of examination been departed from to allow the attendance at the schools affected to recover. Tables 1., 11., 111., and IV. (printed in the report of the Board) show with all necessary detail and clearness the result of the year's educational work. Of the 10,963 pupils examined, 8,394, or 77 per cent.,-passed the standard for which they were entered. This percentage of passes in standards shows a highly satisfactory advance on that of the years 1882 and 1883, in which it was 73 and 72 respectively. The credit of the decided improvement in the results is due entirely to the efficient services of the teachers, who have, as a rule, shown praiseworthy fidelity and great earnestness and attention in the discharge of their duties. I hope the improved efficiency, of which the increased percentage gives evidence, will not prove temporary, but will be maintained in succeeding years, and form a basis for still higher achievements. The standard in which there has been the highest percentage of failures has this year been the Fourth. In it the percentage of passes has fallen .from 62 for 1883 to 51 for 1884. This is, I believe, the poorest result in the work of this standard that has been recorded since the initiation of tho present system. While the percentage of passes in this standard is so low, that of passes in subjects is much more satisfactory—viz., 74, which is but little below that for the last two years. A reference to Table IV. will show that the failures in Standard IV. are almost wholly due to the inferior results in grammar and arithmetic, in both of which there has been a marked decline as compared with previous years. In Standard V., on the other hand, the percentage of passes in the standard has risen from 58 for 1883 to 71 in 1884. In Standard 111. also it has advanced from 77 for 1883 to 85 for 1884. In the other standards there has been no specially noteworthy change in the results. From Table 11. it will be seen that the percentage of passes in each of tho standard subjects shows a more or less decided advance, except in grammar. I need only refer to the contents of Table IV., which gives a highly instructive comparative view of the results for the last three years in each subject of each standard. An examination of this table will show that the improvement in the results for the year has been uniform and general, and the effect of increased efficiency of instruction in every class except Standard IV., and in nearly every subject. The percentage of passes in subjects for the year is 82, being 5 per cent, above the percentage of passes in standards. This percentage shows an increase of lon that of 1883. Looking at the results of the year's work as a whole, I think they are of a very gratifying character. The percentage of passes in standards that had been declining for several years has again risen to almost as high a point as it has ever reached, and this rebound has not been produced by any lowering of the expected standard of efficiency, but by a gradual and general improvement in the teaching of the great majority of the subjects in nearly all the classes. In consequence of a new regulation of the Minister, dated the 17th June, 1884, all the classes below Standard I. had to be presented for examination in the subjects they-had been taught. My

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colleagues and I have done the best we could to carry the new regulation into efferfc, and though the examinations of these initiatory classes must necessarily be brief, I believe that they will do much good in securing greater care and thoroughness in the teaching at this stage. This work has added very considerably to the burden of the Inspectors' not very light duties, and has forced myself and my colleagues to slightly curtail the examination in history and grammar in nearly all the standards, a proceeding which we very much regret, but are unable to avoid. Of the 164 schools examined, 15 gained a gross percentage of 90 or upwards, 73 one between 80 and 90, 42 one between 70 and 80, 24 one between 60 and 70, 3 one between 50 and 60, and 7 one of less than 50. These figures agree with the opinion, at which I had arrived independently from my experience of the working of the schools visited, that about half the schools in the district are taught with commendable thoroughness and skill, while in about one-fifth of the whole number the teaching is inefficient and barren of results in training and instruction. The organization and management of the schools which I have visited and examined were for the most part quite satisfactory. Something has been done to lighten the heavy round of lessons in the infant classes, but there is still room for improvement in this direction. Lessons on colour and form, which I found a very pleasing feature in one of the Wellington infant schools, are almost unknown in this district, and, with few exceptions, little is made of simple extension exercises, marching to the accompaniment of singing, music, and the varied action or songs in which little children take such delight. A fair share of attention to these lighter occupations would make school life more attractive, yield the variety of employment that is so needful for maintaining the interest and attention of little ones, beget a spirit of order, and in no way retard progress in the more solid parts of their education. In many of the smaller schools an extra play interval has been provided for the beginners about the middle of the morning and of the afternoon. I have not been altogether satisfied with the superintendence of the desk-work of the lower classes in some of the large and not a few of the small schools. The slates are too often mere fragments, for which, however, the parents and not the teachers are responsible, and frequently they are not ruled at all, or not ruled suitably. Then the children are allowed to write on or off the lines very much as they please. It would well repay the teachers of these classes to look round the infant desks more frequently, to write models if need be on the slates, and to prevent the children from filling their slates with wretched imitations of what they are copying. When the writing is badly done it would be best to have the work effaced when a line or two has been done, and a fresh start made ; for it very often happens.that the longer the exercise the more does its quality deteriorate. The large schools are, with very few exceptions, well organized. Only in one or two cases have I found one teacher required to take two distinct classes when better arrangements could easily have been made. The head-masters of most of the largest schools devote almost the whole of their time to the superintendence and direction of their assistants and pupil-teachers, and they generally turn their time to good account. It is largely to the training thus imparted that we must look for the development of skill in teaching, and the establishment of what I may call sound traditions of method. In these schools there is a large number of pupil-teachers who should all in ordinary circumstances acquire in the course of their apprenticeship fair skill as class-teachers. It is true that in past years the training of pupil-teachers in method has not been all that could be desired, but head-masters are now as a rule alive to their responsibilities in this matter, and are exerting themselves to overtake them. The provision lately made by the Board for testing the practical skill of the pupil-teachers, and assigning them due credit for their proficiency, is proving very helpful in promoting their training, and I am hopeful that continued attention to this matter on the part of the Inspectors will result in very great benefit to the cause of education. Reading is taught in the great majority of schools very fairly, though the number in which it is good remains smaller than one would expect. In the classes below Standard 1.1 have been a good deal disappointed both with the style of the reading and with the want of thoroughness in the working-up of the lessons. The teaching at this stage is too often of a routine and unintelligent character. This will continue to be the case so long as simultaneous reading constitutes the first introduction to new lessons. It should be preceded by a black-board study of the new and difficult words, by which the pupils would be trained to recognize the powers of single letters, and of groups of them, while the pronunciation could be largely elicited from the class. If properly conducted, such synthetical exercises would soon place the children in a position to make out many new words at sight, and lead to a ready power of reading. I must commend the readiness with which many young teachers have fallen in with suggestions offered for the improvement of their routine of teaching, but I trust that they will not carry them out in a spirit of slavish adherence to an example, but will always hold clearly in view the ends to be attained, and boldly adapt and vary their procedure so as to gain them in the easiest and most effective way. The explanation of the language and matter of the English lessons has been somewhat better than in former years, but on the whole much higher results should be secured without difficulty. In the smaller schools I have encouraged the setting aside of a suitable time during school hours for the study of the English lessons of the classes from Standard 11. upwards, and if the teachers see that the time is turned to good account the plan should be of great assistance to them. I notice with regret that the amount of reading done in the course of the year tends to become smaller and smaller. This is in every way a mistake, for breadth of reading is a necessary condition of intelligent comprehension of language. Teachers would do well to resist the temptation to read only so much as can be exhaustively explained and examined on. What is wanted is the formation of a method of study, and this can be obtained quite as well by a pretty full treatment of selected portions of the reading lesson. I believe it would be a great advantage if two reading-books were perused by the three highest standards, and less reliance were placed on the grinding-up of every difficult word or expression met with and more on the cultivation of a good method and spirit of preparatory study on the part of the pupils.

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Spelling continues to be well taught, and the results in writing are better than in any previous year. The transcription on slates has also been good, but in a large number of schools the everyday figuring and writing seen during visits of inspection have been careless and untidy. Teachers also show great indifference to the proper mode of holding the pen. Though the results do not show that the quality of the writing has greatly suffered from this fault, it is matter of regret that the point receives so little attention. Arithmetic is still a weak subject, especially in Standards 111., IV., and V. Considering the amount of time devoted to it, in the larger schools at least, the results are far from being as satisfactory as they should be. This year the Standard IV. results in this subject are lower than they have ever been before. The test here applied is fairly severe, but it has certainly not been such as to lead an experienced examiner to look for a percentage of passes no higher than 46. The questions proposed received my most careful consideration, and before the examinations began I was satisfied that fairer sets of questions had never been submitted to the pupils and teachers of the Otago schools. The failures are traceable to a combination of causes, which it may be worth while to indicate. In the first place, in this standard a great deal of mechanical work has to be done in the reduction and other treatment of tables of weights and measures. This takes up, especially in the smaller schools, a great deal of the available time, and leaves but little for elucidating simple problems. The remedy for this is clearly to begin the treatment of common-sense problems at an earlier stage—viz., in Standard 111., where occasional exercises of this kind would be a relief to intelligent children from the monotony of the purely mechanical work prescribed for that standard. Again, the principles involved in common-sense problems, which aro comparatively few, should be made clear and familiar by a graduated series of examples of increasing difficulty illustrative of each. The language in which they are expressed should be varied, beginning with the simplest and most direct statements. Lastly, the data of each question, and what is required to be found, should be elicited and clearly set forth before any attempt is made to work out the answer. This precise statement of the facts given is an excellent exercise in interpreting the language of the questions, a matter in which pupils are very deficient, and the relation of the data to the point to be ascertained, when stated in a general way, forms an admirable exercise in reasoning, and is of the highest educative value. When this preliminary analysis has been duly made, the pupil in working the example should be trained to write after each line what it represents. The last is a matter of the first importance, but one that has been very generally neglected in the lessons that have come under my notice during the last few years. It appears to me that it is mainly to a disregard of the principles above explained that the very poor results in the arithmetic of Standard IV. must be attributed. As a rule teachers postpone the treatment of common-sense practical questions till too late a stage; they largely fail to illustrate their principles by a sufficient number of easy but varied examples; and they as largely fail to analyse the questions so as to show clearly the data and the point to be determined, as well as to train their pupils to write down in their solution what each step in the working represents. lam quite sure that they are anxious to do this part of their work as well as possible, and I trust that they will not be averse to any reconsideration of their methods that promises to lead to fewer disappointments when their work is submitted to an independent test. When old methods have failed to answer it is time to try others. In the smaller schools it will be difficult to find sufficient time for the plans just sketched out. There is some prospect of changes in the syllabus that should go far to remove this difficulty. In Standards V. and VI. there has been considerable improvement in this subject, and in most of the larger schools it has been well taught in these classes. In most of the schools the teaching of notation in the infant and infra-standard classes was found defective. In grammar and composition Standards 111. and V. show a distinct advance on the results of the last two years, while in Standards IV. and VI. the work has been of inferior quality. Grammar is as a rule carefully taught, and in a number of schools with very considerable skill. I believe that the examination results would be higher if more pains were taken to secure a clear understanding of the meaning of the sentence or sentences containing the words to be parsed. If teachers would make it a rule to thoroughly sift the meaning of the sentences as a preliminary to parsing them in whole or in part, and would train their pupils to adopt this practice for their own guidance, very many of the mistakes that are now met with would be avoided. The knowledge of formal grammar (inflections, &c.) in Standard IV. is still, as a rule, unsatisfactory, and such a question as " Write in full the plural of the feminine of ' hero,' " is rarely answered correctly, chiefly, I think, because the purport of the question is not sufficiently considered, but for the most part only guessed at. In the higher standards this part of the work has been very fairly done. There has been considerable improvement in tho teaching of composition, especially in the Third and two highest standards. In Standard IV. there is still scantiness of matter in the letters given in, as well as difficulty in dividing it into sentences. Geography and history continue to be fairly taught. Physical geography is still weak in many of the schools, and the answers show little independent thought on the subject. In examining the science-lessons and object-lessons, I this year tried the plan of getting the teachers to examine the class in a selected lesson or two, so as to show what had been learned. In a very few cases the examination was very well conducted, but in the groat majority I was disappointed with the handling of the subject, and with the pupils' knowledge of it. Not a few of the teachers were evidently very nervous, and did themselves scant justice. The same plan of examination will be continued in the meantime. Singing, sewing, and drawing receive the usual amount of attention. Drawing simple subjects from the black-board is a suitable exercise for infant classes at desks, and it is a pity that it is not more widely in use. The discipline continues to be very satisfactory, and the conduct of the pupils is, on the whole, very good. In many districts the school training exercises an influence of wide scope and elevating character on the conduct of all the younger people. Even in densely-peopled parts of Dunedin and suburbs the tone of the school visibly affects the conduct of the children in the streets.

41

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The apparatus supplied to the schools is in general suitable in quality and sufficient in quantity, but in a good many cases it is not very well cared for. The globes that were supplied some years ago have nearly all come to grief, and maps have a far shorter term of usefulness than they should have. Damage has been most serious in a number of rural schools that have been afflicted with frequent Changes of teachers, but it is not confined to these. The registers are duly marked and carefully kept, and the records are generally in satisfactory order. Improvements in the school grounds have been made during the year by various Committees, and I have remarked fewer cases of broken windows and door locks than usual. For their prompt attention to these minor but not unimportant matters the Committees deserve great credit. I have, &c, The Secretary, Education Board. . D. Peteie, M.A., Inspector.

2. Me. Taylor's Bepoet. Sic,— Dunedin, 31st, March 1885. I have the honour to submit my report for the year ended 31st December, 1884. During the year I visited for purposes of general inspection seventy-four schools, examined unaided forty-one, and took part in the examination of twenty-nine of the larger schools, nine with Mr. Petrie and twenty with Mr. Goyen. The remainder of the year was occupied with pupilteacher and scholarship examinations, with the compilation of annual report tables, and other office work. Of the schools inspected by me, in sixteen, or fully 20 per cent., the general management was found to be weak and the teaching inefficient, and I find this estimate quite justified by the poor results gained at the annual examinations. About one-half of these backward schools were in charge of persons comparatively destitute of the natural aptitude for carrying on the work of a school successfully, upon whom repeated directions and suggestions for improvement appeared to have produced very little or no effect. It would be well, therefore, for the interests of education in their districts, and for themselves personally, if they could find more congenial employment. Continuous failure year after year ought to convince one that there is at least some necessity for seriously considering his position. There aro other schools in the hands of young teachers who, though they have not yet succeeded in gaining very satisfactory results, with further experience and a study of the best methods, promise to do good service. The mechanical part of their duties is generally accomplished successfully. When they become alive to the necessity of arousing and cultivating the. mental powers of their pupils, and have found the secret of doing so by properly-directed training, then their success will be assured, and no doubt they will sooner or later meet with the reward they deserve. It has to be noted in regard to the sixteen schools I have been referring to, that they are small, and in nearly every case have but one teacher, who, single-handed, has to attend to numerous classes and subjects. The inference will possibly be readily drawn that in such circumstances good results could scarcely be expected. Although there is some show of reason for coming to such a conclusion, yet I could name an equal proportion of schools under young teachers, enjoying advantages in no way superior to those already spoken of except in the tact and skill with which they are managed, that have gained as high percentages of passes as any school, large or small, in the whole district. Success or non-success does not depend so much on the advantageous condition or otherwise of the schools as upon the quality of the teachers, their ability or inability to overcome hindrances, and to rise superior to the circumstances in which they may be placed. Defects in the methods of management and teaching have had attention directed to them so frequently that a restatement of them year by year becomes monotonous". Suffice it to say that they do not persist to the same extent as formerly, and that where needed notes of these defects and suggestions for improvement have been handed to the teachers when their schools were inspected. Of the forty-one schools examined by me, six gained over 90 per cent, of the attainable passes in subjects ; sixteen between 80 and 90 ; thirteen between 70 and 80 ; three between 60 and 70 ; and one below 50. The tables of percentage for the whole district in most cases show an improvement over the corresponding numbers for the previous year. It will be observed, however, that the number of absentees —namely, 735 on the day of examination—is nearly double that of last year. The reason why such a largo proportion of the pupils was absent was owing principally to the measles epidemic that prevailed in so many places. Not only were many unable to attend school at all, but large numbers had just returned after having been for weeks away on account of sickness, and consequently were ill-prepared for passing an examination. It is therefore satisfactory to find that the results are so high as they are. The only serious falling off is in Standard IV., where the percentage of passes in subjects shows a decline of 11 below the same percentage for the previous year. Arithmetic and grammar appear to have been the subjects which this standard failed in to the greatest extent. Standard VI. also failed to produce such good results in grammar as formerly. I am unable to account for the falling off here, unless it is owing to the words for parsing having been selected from lines of poetry instead of prose. There is no sufficient reason, however, why Standard VI. should be unable to interpret the language and understand the relations of words in the form of poetry. During the past year a considerable amount of attention was devoted to the examination of the infant classes, and it is intended that a similar inquiry into the condition of these classes shall continue to be made in the future. This part of inspection work, although it requires moire time than can well be spared, especially in the larger schools, will undoubtedly prove to be very beneficial, as it will lead to more systematic teaching of tho children, and also to improved methods in their training. More skill is, perhaps, required in dealing successfully with the younger children than with those of any other department of a school, and in no other case will skilful teaching be of greater service. If the foundation of the school course has been well and efficiently

6—B. Ib.

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42

laid the progress afterwards is likely to be comparatively smooth and easy. Unfortunately, the care of the infants has often to be committed to inexperienced pupil-teachers, who, however anxious they may be to do their work well, have not acquired the tact either to manage or teach them in a satisfactory manner. As pupil-teachers cannot be dispensed with under present arrangements, every effort should be employed to make them as serviceable as possible. There is no doubt about the fact that they could be, and ought to be, of much greater use than they are in many places did the head-teachers give greater attention to their training, and thus fit them for doing efficient work in the important positions they occupy. It is gratifying to find how well the pupil-teachers in several schools can maintain attention and control, and impart instruction to a class of infants ; but it is painful, on the other hand, to frequently witness the abortive efforts to do either the one or the other. Now that the plan has been adopted of assigning marks for efficiency in teaching, and of reckoning them with those gained for literary subjects at the annual examination of pupilteachers, greater attention will probably be given to their efficient training, as good marks for teaching will help them materially to secure a pass. Before concluding, I wish to warn infant-school teachers, old and young, against two very common faults. Do not rest satisfied with merely requiring children to repeat, parrot-fashion, certain lessons after you, but use some means for exercising, however simply, their budding mental faculties. Do not allow your pupils to say their letters in a song, spell and pronounce their words in a song, and run over their tables in a song, for the song will persistently cling to them during their school-days, and long afterwards. If they ever part with it, it will only be after a hard struggle. I have, &c, The Secretary, Education Board. William Taylor.

3. Mr. Goyen's Bepoet. Sic,— Dunedin, 31st March, 1885. I have the honour to present my general report for the year 1884. During the first half of the year I was occupied in examining pupil-teachers' and Normal School scholarship papers, compiling table for annual reports, writing examination papers and reports, and making fifty-two visits of inspection, and the last half in examining sixty-nine schools ■ —two with Mr. Inspector Petrie, twenty with Mr. Inspector Taylor, and forty-seven single-handed, and in examining a portion of the work of the four district high schools. Of the sixty-nine schools examined either wholly or partially by me, twenty-nine passed well, twenty-four very fairly, and sixteen more or less poorly. Small schools conducted by inexperienced or inefficient teachers comprise the bulk of the last group. It is gratifying to be able to report that a fair number of our schools are very ably conducted, and that there are very few that do not yield a fair equivalent for the money spent upon them. The material condition of the schools is in most cases good, tho supply of furniture and apparatus ample, and the Board's property is as a rule fairly well taken care of. The schoolroom floor, the out-offices, the play-ground and play-shed are, however, often found very dirty. It is useless to teach the laws of health whilst at the same time every precept of sanitary science is set at naught. We are largely creatures of our environment, and it behoves teachers and Committees to see to it that the environment of the children intrusted to their care is such as to induce and develop good and not bad tendencies. There can be no question about the tendencies induced by dirt and litter. The practical work of about half the pupil-teachers ranges from fair to excellent, and that of the other half from fair to inferior. In mental power and scholarship most of those placed in the latter category are equal to those placed in the former. They are as earnest and zealous in the discharge of their duties, but receive so little practical assistance and guidance in the difficult art of controlling and teaching that their efforts are not crowned with much success. Now that marks are given for efficiency in teaching, success in the annual examination of pupil-teachers depends as much upon passing in teaching as upon passing in, say, arithmetic ; and we may, I think, expect that head-teachers will devote as much attention to the development of teaching power as to the elucidation of the principles of arithmetic. I have a good deal of sympathy for the pupil- ' teachers. Their duties are more arduous than those of adult teachers, and it is certainly due to them that they should receive the utmost assistance in the management and teaching of their classes. We owe it, moreover, to the children that their teacher should gain as little as possible of his skill and experience at their expense. Instruction. —By a recent Order in Council an examination of the classes below Standard I. is made obligatory on the Inspectors. This adds considerably to the work of examining, but is a step in the right direction, and cannot fail to have a salutary effect upon the teaching of those classes. In small schools taught by one teacher they have hitherto received very little serious attention, and in not a few schools in which a teacher was provided for them the teaching was not of a very satisfactory character. It is pleasing to be able to report that already there is an improvement in the teaching of this very important department of our schools. In the standard classes there is a slight advance in the percentages gained in every subject but grammar, in which there is a trifling decline of 1 per cent. In methods of teaching, too, there is a noticeable improvement, but much yet remains to be accomplished in this direction before we shall have attained to excellence in the majority of our schools. There is, however, a good spirit of work abroad, and the future is hopeful. The reading is generally characterized by correct pronunciation and fair fluency and accuracy, but rarely by natural expression. On the whole the art of reading is poorly taught, partly because there is a great deal of other work to be done, partly because in too many cases the teacher's ideal of good reading is a very low one, but chiefly because the difficulties of the reading-lesson are not recognized, and the necessity for the previous preparation of it is persistently ignored by all but a few teachers. The resulUis that the meaning of the language and the sense of the lessons read

43

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are frequently handled in the most feeble manner. Under such circumstances it is, of course, vain to expect intelligent reading. As a rule the pupils do not appear to gain any ideas or information from the books they read. The subjects given for composition are invariably selected from the lessons read during the year, and it is marvellous how little the majority of children can write; and in not a few cases, if unable to recall the words of the book, they can write nothing at all. The facts and statements of the lessons have never been effectively questioned into them, and naturally they have little but words to offer. The art of questioning into the minds of children the ideas and statements of an author in such a way as to give them firm lodgment there is a very difficult one; nevertheless it is one that every teacher ought to try hard to gain a fair mastery of. In the junior class sufficient attention is not paid to the natural grouping of the words of the lessons read. Many teachers have no class-books of their own, and have to borrow from their pupils to conduct their lessons. Spelling continues to be good. The excellent spelling of this district is, I believe, largely owing to the practice of causing the children to write the words as soon as they are able to do so without undue waste of time in forming the letters. Writing is generally taught with care, and in many schools with skill. Many teachers appear to follow Mr. Fitch's dictum, " That there is no harm in allowing different modes of holding a pen or pencil so long as the writing produced is good," for nine-tenths of the children hold the pen anyhow, and sit at the desks in very slovenly attitudes. In the classes below Standard I. a great many children are allowed to write with blunt pencils about the length of one's thumb-nail, and to cover both sides of their slates with the poorest imitations of the copy set on the black-board, before their work is looked at by the teacher. In arithmetic the results attained in the middle and senior standards are not an adequate return for the large amount of time consumed in the study of it. The mechanical operations are in most cases well performed. Tell the children to add, subtract, multiply, or divide, and notate the numbers for them, and they will do it readily and accurately; but state the sum so that they have to discover which of those processes has to be employed, and a considerable number of them are sure to go wrong. This is especially so in the Third and Fourth Standards; and, unless some serious attempt is made to familiarise the pupils of the Third Standard with the meaning and application of common arithmetical terms, as well as to train them to think out easy money problems, and much more attention is given in the Fourth Standard to the practical bearing of arithmetic upon every-day business transactions, I confess I do not see how we can reasonably expect much improvement. It is surely folly to keep the Third Standard hammering away at mechanical examples from the beginning to the end of the year; yet this is what is done in a great many schools. It must be mentioned, too, that the methods employed in the solution of problems in the Fourth and higher standards are often mechanical and but little calculated to develop the intelligence of the pupils. I have been much pleased during the past year to see Hamblin Smith's excellent arithmetic gaining a place among the teachers' books. The study of this book and the key to it cannot but have a good effect upon the teaching. The addition and multiplication tables are not got up so thoroughly as they ought to be in the junior classes. Though there is a slight decline in the general percentage gained in grammar, the method of teaching this subject has certainly improved. It is now more widely recognized that the learner must think out the function of the word, phrase, or sentence before attempting to assign it to its proper class ; but the fact that the function of a word or phrase depends upon its meaning in the sentence in which it is employed, and that if the latter is not understood the former cannot be determined, does not receive due recognition. As might be expected, in those schools in which the meaning of the language and the sense of the lessons of the reading-books receive adequate treatment children experience no difficulty in the grammar exercise. It is easy to predict the result of the examination in grammar after testing the reading and comprehension. A considerable improvement has been effected in the teaching of geography and history in the Second and Third Standards. In the higher standards history is, as a rule, well got up by the pupils from the text-book, and political geography from the text-book and atlas. Physical geography is on the whole poorly known. Object-lessons are regularly given in a fair proportion of schools ; but the regulation respecting elementary science is more honoured in the breach than in the observance. Singing is well taught in a few schools, but in the majority it receives no recognition; and a similar remark applies to drawing and drill. Sewing is generally well taught. The Daily-Attendance Begister is faithfully marked, and generally found fully written up ; the other registers are, however, frequently found considerably in arrears. Again I would suggest that the department should provide a register from which the quarterly [returns could be readily compiled. The present " Weekly Begister "is not suitable. The discipline and tone of our schools continue to be good. One or two Gases of excessive harshness came under my notice during the year, but as a rule the government is mild. One of the most pleasing features of the examinations is the independence and self-reliance of the pupils. Here and there an examiner has to be on the alert to prevent copying and prompting, but in the majority of schools the children do not evince the slightest desire either to know what their neighbours are doing, or to give or receive any assistance. Class-movements, though in a good many schools performed with the maximum of speed and minimum of noise, are in too many noisy and slow. A good deal of time is wasted in this way. Three or four minutes lost now and three or four then amount to a considerable total in the course of the year, to say nothing of the injurious effect produced upon the habits of the children by such dawdling and disorder. Before closing this report I should like to say a word or two about the over-pressure craze. It is alleged that the syllabus exacts greatly too much work, and that the effort made by the children to get it up and pass a standard every year is highly detrimental to their health. No attempt, however, is anywhere made to accomplish the whole of it. Singing, drawing, and elementary

E.—lb.

science are either not taught at all, or receive but little serious attention in the great bulk of our schools, and the syllabus shorn of those is not at all a formidable document—does not map out more work than any teacher ought, with fairly regular attendance and by working steadily from year's end to year's end, to get through without exercising undue pressure upon his pupils. Allowing for changes of lessons, recreation, assembling, &c, the children do not study more than four hours a day (if so much) in school, and a considerable proportion of this time is spent in purely mechanical work, or work thac does not exact a heavy mental strain. The home lessons of the junior classes occupy from thirty to sixty minutes a day, and those of the middle and senior classes from one hour to two (if more the teacher is to blame), and the best attendants do not attend school more than about 220 days per year, the majority of children attending considerably fewer. The schoolrooms are airy and cheerful, and the theory of education is better understood and more intelligently applied than ever it was. Nearly all the children are well fed, well clad, and well housed ; and all enjoy an invigorating climate and abundance of recreation. How, under such circumstances, they can be said to suffer from over-pressure I cannot at all imagine. That a few delicate children now and again break down seems certain; but it would, I believe, be a very difficult matter to prove this to be wholly, or even chiefly, owing to over-pressure at school. The health of such children would occasionally give way under any system of education. It would, however, obviously be absurd to gauge the working capacity of the average child by that of a very inconsiderable number of weakly ones. I have, &c, The Secretary, Education Board. P. Goyen, Inspector.

4. Me. Peteie's Bepoet on Disteict High Schools. Sic,— 31st March, 1885. I have the honour to submit the following report on the district high schools for the year 1884. The following tabulated statements show the extra subjects taught at each of the district high schools, the number of pupils examined, and the amount of work done under each subject:—

Oamaru District High School.

Port Chalmers District High School.

44

Subject. Class. Number examined. Work Done. Inglish jatin I. I. 3 1 Thomson's Seasons—Spring. Principia Latina II., 62 pp.; JEneid, Book 1., anc Caisar, Book I., 12 chapters. Principia Latina I. to end of Active Voice. De Jardin—The whole book with easy retranslations To Ex. 134. Euclid, Books I.-IV. To quadratic equations. Vench II. I. II. I. I. 5 2 4 1 1 leometry Igebra

English Latin French I. I. II. I. II. 16 1 5 1 5 Merchant of Venice (Boyal School Series). Principia Latina II.; Books III. and IV. of the History Caesar's Invasion of Britain, as in De Bello Gallico. Principia Latina II., the Fables and Mythology, with Grammar. Le Juif Polouais; and De Jardin's Class-Book, 204 Exercises. De Jardin's Class-Book, 120 Exercises; the verb as in pp. 57-72, and translation of pp., 181-200. Euclid, Books I., II., III., IV., and VI., with simple deductions. Euclid, Books I. and II. To quadratic equations (inclusive). To simple equations (inclusive). jreometry I. 1 Ugebra II. I. II. 4 1 9

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Tokomairiro District High School.

Lawrence District High School.

The following notes show the quality of the work. English, Latin, algebra, and science were examined by me, and the other subjects by Mr. Goyen. Oamaru District High School. English. —One of the papers was good, one fair, and ono moderate. The matter of the poem was well known, and the language fairly. Latin. —In Class I. the translation was very good, and the Latin composition very fair. The grammatical and syntactical questions were moderately answered. In Class 11. there was one good paper and one fair one ; the rest were moderately done. The inflection of nouns and adjectives was the part of the work that was best known. French. —ln Class I. the work professed was well known. In Class 11. the translation was, on the whole, well done; grammar was fair, and French composition weak. Geometry. —Well answered. Algebra.— Fairly answered. Port Chalmers District High School. ■English. —On the whole well answered. The incidents, the thoughts, and the language were all well known in nearly every case. Latin. —The translation of the pupil in Class I. was poor ; the rest of the paper was fairly answered. In Class 11. the translation was very good, and the parsing and accidence were well known. The class was weaker in syntax. French. —The pupil in Class I. showed a good knowledge of the work read. In Class 11., two knew the work well, and the others were fairly. Geometry. —The pupil in Class I. did fairly. One in Class 11. got full marks, and the others answered moderately.

Subject. Class. Number examined. Work done. English Latin I. I. 21 2 Hamlet (Eoyal School Series). iBneid, Book I.; De Officiis, Book I., 20 chapters; Caesar, De Bello Gallico, Book II. Principia Latina II., Fables and Book IV. De Jardin's Class-Book, pp. 1-97, and Beader to p. 209 ; Malot's Sans Famille, 10 chapters. De Jardin's Class-Book to p. 72, and Beader to p. 195. Euclid, Books I., II., III., IV., and VI., with exercises on Books I:, II., and III. Euclid, Books I,, II., III., and IV., with exercises on Book I. Euclid, Books I. and II. Todhunter's Smaller Algebra, the whole work. Todhunter's Smaller Algebra, to harmonical progression. Todhunter's Smaller Algebra, to quadratic equations. Todhunter's Smaller Algebra, to simple equations. Hamblin Smith's Elementary Trigonometry, the whole work. Hamblin Smith's Elementary Trigonometry, to solution of triangles. French II. I. 11 4 Geometry II. I. 10 2 II. 5 Algebra III. I. II. 12 2 5 Trigonometry III. IV. I, 13 19 2 II. 5

English I. 15 Merchant of Venice and King John (Boyal School Series). Principia Latina II., Books II., III., and IV., of the History; Csesar, De Bello Gallico, Books I. and II., 20 chapters. Principia Latina II., Books II., III., and IV., of the History. Principia Latina I., 53 pp., and 15 Fables of Part II. De Jardin's Class-Book and Charles XII., 3 books. De Jardin's Class-Book. De Jardin's Class-Book, 200 exercises. Euclid, Books I.-IV., with exercises on Book I. Euclid, Books I. and II. Euclid, Book I. To end of quadratic equations. To end of simple equations. Hamblin Smith's, 75 pp. Huxley's Physiography. Latin I. 4 II. 3 French III. I. II. III. I. II IIP I. II. I. I. 17 4 6 4 4 5 7 8 8 1 9 Geometry Algebra Trigonometry Science

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Algebra. —ln Class I. the pupil gained half marks. In Class 11. five gained half marks or more, while the others made a moderate appearance. Of the papers, one was very good and two were very fair. Tolwmairiro District High School. English. —The language, thoughts, and action of the play were well known throughout. Latin. —The translation in Class I. was very fairly given, and the rest of the work was well known with the exception of the syntax and the Latin composition. In Class 11. the translation, parsing, and inflection of nouns and adjectives were well given. The class was weaker in the inflections of the verb, syntax, and composition. French. —ln Class I. the translation was very fair; grammar was generally well known, but French composition was rather poorly done. In Class 11. the translation was very fair ; the grammar was generally well known, and the French composition was weak. Geometry. —ln Class I. there was one excellent paper and one moderate one. Two in Class 11. answered well, and the. others very fairly. Most of the pupils in Class 111. showed an excellent knowledge of the work read. Algebra. —ln Class I. one paper was excellent and the others very fair. Class 11. made a very fair appearance in this subject. Class 111. did moderately. Trigonometry. —ln Class I. the boy showed a good and the girl a moderate knowledge of the work read. In Class 11., two did the work set very well and the others very fairly. Lawrence District High Schhool. English. —The class showed a good knowledge of the incidents and the language, but was not very successful in explaining the thoughts of the speakers. Latin. —ln Class I. the work done was well known. Three gained over 75 per cent, of the marks. The Latin composition was good in one paper and fair in the others. Class 11. also answered well, two gaining over 75 per cent, of the marks. Class 111. has made a good start in the subject. French. —ln Class I. the work professed was very well known. Four of the pupils in Class 11. answered well and the others fairly. In Class 111. one did well and the others moderately. Geometry. —This subject has been well taught in all the classes. Algebra. —Class I. passed a good examination. Five gained 75 per cent, of the marks. In Class 11., one gained full marks, and two others gained good marks. Only one did poorly. Trigonometry. —The pupil examined showed an excellent acquaintance with the work read. Science. —There was one good paper; the others were of moderate quality. I should add that Mr. James Hendry, 8.A., had charge of the Bector's classes at the Tokomairiro District High School for several months before the examination in the extra subjects, and that the teaching was carried on by him in a most creditable manner. I have, &c, The Secretary, Education Board. D. Peteie, M.A., Inspector.

SOUTHLAND. Sic,— Invercargill, 18th March, 1885. I have the honour to submit to the Board my third general report on the efficiency of the public schools in the Southland Education District. As the Board is aware, several circumstances in succession interfered seriously during the past year with the attendance of children at school, and culminated in several instances in the entire closing of the school for some weeks. First, there was the unusually wet summer, which was not only itself a cause of irregular attendance, but which, by necessitating delay, and often a lingering delay, in the harvesting of the crops, detained many scholars in the fields after the harvest holidays had terminated; whilst a second hindrance to school work followed in an epidemic of whooping-cough and other ailments incident to childhood, which became general throughout the district. Under these circumstances the Board would hardly be surprised if the annual returns showed a falling-off in the educational results secured as compared with preceding years. lam happy, however, to be able to report that, so far is this from being the case, a comparison of the reports of the annual examinations of the schools shows that, not only has the previous standing been maintained, but that very appreciable progress has been made. In support of this assertion I now submit the following tabulated statement of results obtained at the annual examination of the school: — Table I.

Gross number of Scholars presented for Examination. Absent, &c. Net Number of Scholars. Passed. Percentage. Percentage in 1883. Number of Schools presentinj in the Standard. standard VI. Standard V. ■Standard IV. standard III. Standard II. ■Standard I. infants 60 183 484 875 872 807 2,240 9 15 65 135 99 59 51 168 419 740 773 748 32 73 214 413 588 662 62*7 43*5 51*1 55*8 76*1 88*5 45*2 41*5 32*4 44-7 67-4 82-5 16 38 60 68 69 67 Totals ... 5,521 382 2,899 1,982 68*4 58*7 69

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In the above table tho third column, headed " Absent, A-c," requires explanation. The figures in this column are to be subtracted from the gross numbers in the second column. They comprise —(1) All scholars absent from examination through sickness or other lawful cause; (2) all scholars re-examined under the new Order in Council in a standard already passed ; (3) scholars who attended less than 250 half-days during the twelvemonth previous to the Inspector's annual examination, and who failed at that examination. This is in accordance with a resolution of the Board on the subject. I must add that, as in former years, any child absent from examination without satisfactory excuse has been invariably reckoned as present and as failing in every subject. Also, in the above table, two schools (Waikiwi and Otaria) have been omitted, their examinations having been postponed —Waikiwi in view of its removal to another site, and Otaria in consequence of its having been closed for some time. On the other hand, five new schools have been added to the list, and examined for the first time —viz., Biversdale, Waikaka, Tho'rnbury, Otama, and Ferndale ; also one school (Queenstown) has been reckoned twice over, having been examined twice in the twelvemonth. Thus sixty-nine schools have been examined by me in the course of the year, in addition to the Southland High Schools, the examination of which, with the concurrence of the Board, I again undertook. It will be seen from the above table that a total of 5,521 scholars has been presented for examination —3,281 in standard classes, and 2,240 in classes below Standard I.; that from the 3,281 scholars presented in standard:', 382 have been deducted under the various headings enumerated in the third column ; that of the remaining 2,899, 1,982 successfully passed the examination; that consequently the percentage of scholars who passed is 68*4 as compared with 58*7 of last year. The year 1884 therefore shows an advance of nearly 10 per cent, on 1883. The improvement, as might be expected, is not the same for all the standards ; it is greatest in Standard IV., .which shows an increase of not less than 18*7 per cent, in the number of scholars passed, and it is worthy of note that this was the standard which last year obtained the lowest percentage of any. Of the other standards this year, Standard VI. is little inferior to Standard IV. in increased efficiency, its percentage being 17*5 over that of last year. Standard 111. has also made very creditable progress, which is indicated by a rise of 11*1 in the percentage. These results are satisfactory, but require some qualification. The Board will observe that the percentage has this year been calculated on a more favourable principle—on a more just principle, as I believe —than that of preceding years. This year, as already explained, deductions have been made from the gross number of scholars presented—deductions not only, as in former years, of scholars lawfully absent from examination, but also of others who came under the operation of the resolution of the Board already referred to, together with a very few more re-examined under the new Order in Council. It is of course evident that some fraction of the numerical advance which this year shows over the preceding must be attributed to this circumstance; and, in order to ascertain exactly how much of the apparent improvement is due to this disturbing element in the calculation, we must reduce the total of column 3 in Table I. by 216, the number of scholars omitted under the operation of the Board's resolution, which only took effect in the middle of the year. This makes the net number of scholars 3,115 instead of 2,899, as before, and the percentage of scholars passed then becomes 636. Taking this lower estimate therefore as the true one, it is unmistakably evident that there is an increase this year of at least 5 per cent, in the efficiency of the schools. I acknowledge it is with some pleasure that I view this improvement, so different from the decline in efficiency which it was my duty to record last year; and I even venture to think that the sharp criticism contained in my report of that date was taken in good part by many of the teachers, after the first feeling of natural irritation had passed away, and that many made a vigorous and, to some extent, successful effort to raise the tone of education in their schools. Of this at least my experience repeatedly reminds me, that the Board has amongst those in its employ conscientious, hard-working, and intelligent teachers, enthusiastic in their work, who can be relied upon to produce year by year results of high educational value. As already intimated, the resolution of the Board on the subject of attendance was not put into force till the middle of the year, and has therefore affected the results of only half the schools examined. The six months' experience we have had of it, howßver, demonstrates, in my judgment, the wisdom of the regulation. It has removed one great hardship complained of by teachers. Formerly a teacher was often disheartened in his work by the consideration that, however unsparingly he might devote himself to his duties, his efforts would fail of full recognition through the perversity of parents who could not be persuaded to send their children to school regularly and habitually. It was thus in the power of careless and indifferent persons to damage the reputation of conscientious and dilligent teachers, and many such cases occurred in the district. Under the operation of the Board's resolution, however, this is no longer possible. If a child fails now at the Inspector's annual examination because he has not been to school sufficiently often to acquire the knowledge requisite to pass, his failure no longer affects the percentage of passes ; and the Inspector is able to form an estimate of the teacher's dilligence independent of all such waifs and strays amongst the scholars. The resolution has also another side to it equally valuable. Unsuccessful teachers are no longer able to explain away a low percentage of passes by attributing it to the irregular attendance of the children. The resolution works well every way, and experience seems to reveal no objection to it. As far as my intercourse with the teachers goes they are highly satisfied with it. Of the working of the new Order in Council it is perhaps premature as yet to speak. Infant Classes.—lt has always been the custom in this education district to examine the infant classes as well as the others at the annual visit of the Inspector, and the Board will see from Table I. that the infant classes now comprise 2,240 scholars, or about two-fifths of all the children attending school. In some schools the scholars of these sub-standard classes exceed in number the rest of the school. These facts show how important it is that the classes in question should receive their due share of the teacher's attention and regular instruction suited to the age and intelligence of the scholars composing them. I am glad to be able to report, as the result of

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my observation and examination, that these infant classes are now much more efficiently conducted than they were formerly in many schools, and that much better results are obtained in them. I furnish this year, as last, a second table (Table II.) showing the percentage of passes made in each of the standard-subjects. A comparison of each result with the corresponding one of last year will determine in which of them the greatest progress has been made. TABLE 11.

The Board will be interested in noticing that, whilst in all subjects there is improvement, the greatest progress is observable in the subject of history, as is indicated by a rise of 16 per cent, in the passes made in it. Next to this comes geography with an improvement of 10-3 per cent. I may be allowed to make a few remarks on the various subjects. Beading.—ln spite of the fact that the table shows a high percentage in this subject, and an advance of 5 per cent, on the result of last year, I am far from satisfied with the degree of proficiency attained by the scholars in the art of reading in many of our schools. At times lam almost disposed to think that the high percentage indicates rather the leniency of the Inspector than the proficiency of the scholars. In the lowest and highest standards the children generally read fairly; it is in the classes preparing for Standards 11., 111., and IV., that the ability to read is often wanting, as if the attention of the teachers and scholars alike was draw Tn off to the many new subjects to be learnt, to the neglect of this the most important of all. I suspect the examination system is to some extent responsible for this. lam inclined to think that thoughts of the following kind pass through the minds of not a few teachers : "I know that my scholars read badly, but I do not think they read so badly that the Inspector will feel himself constrained to ' fail' them in the subject, so I shall leave them to take their chance in it, and devote my energies and theirs to working up the other standard-subjects." At the risk, however, of repeating what I have said on former occasions, I would urge upon teachers the grave impolicy of such a course, to take no higher view of it. Children who cannot read cannot learn history, geography, or even grammar with any ■facility; and I believe it would be found a good economy of time, that would not only be best educationally for the children, but would even pay best on examination day, to devote a large fraction of school time to mechanical practice in reading until the necessary facility is acquired. The characteristics desiderated in reading are correctness, fluency, distinct enunciation, even loud enunciation if you will; these as the first essentials ; and to them should be added varied inflection of the voice, and suitable expression. Expressive reading of course means intelligent reading, and this will only come when the children are made acquainted with the meaning of the language employed. Some may think that the Inspector has in his own hands the remedy for bad reading— "Let him give another turn to the examination-screw." Spelling.—The statistics in this case only confirm the convictions I had previously arrived at, that there has been considerable improvement in the art of spelling. The examination in it should, in my judgment, always be conducted in writing, even in Standard I. This has been done in this district for the last two years, to the great satisfaction of pupils, teacher, and Inspector. Whiting.—ln a large number of our schools this subject is now taught in a thoroughly systematic manner. Arithmetic—This subject, in spite of its great importance educationally and practically, still stands the lowest on the list as regards efficiency. I think, however, improvement has taken place in the written work; it is in mental arithmetic that so many scholars fail. Undoubtedly much practice is required to make children proficient in mental arithmetic, but it is an exercise that tends to sharpen the wits considerably, and one therefore on which a good deal of time may be very economically expended. Unfortunately some teachers seem to have very exaggerated notions of the difficulty of mental calculation, and, consequently, practice their scholars in none but the most elementary exercises. Geammae. —I should like to draw the attention of teachers to one branch of this subject, included in the syllabus for Standard VI., but which need not be restricted to that standard. I refer to the derivation of words from Latin, Greek, and, I will add, Saxon roots. Of these there are good lists in the grammar and reading-books authorized by the Board, and the study of them will be found to be both a useful exercise in analysis, and very valuable as showing what an interesting object of study are the words we daily use, and how much they need and deserve our closest scrutiny if we are to use them correctly, or even to think accurately. The subject is a good deal neglected at present, but it is one of no difficulty, and I am not sure that it might not be allowed with advantage to supersede some of the more technical parts of grammar in any revision of the syllabus. Of the other branches of the subject of grammar, analysis of sentences is usually well done by the scholars, and is evidently taught in a satisfactory manner by the teachers. The same cannot, however, be said of parsing. In not many schools are the scholars able to distinguish between a present participle and a verbal noun ; and I fear that the inability in some schools is not confined to the scholars.

Subjects. Not Number of Scholars. Passed. Percei}tago. Percentage in 1883. leading Spelling Vriting irithmetio 2,899 2,899 2,899 2,899 1,378 2,151 1,370 2,644 2,248 2,830 1,557 932 1,654 945 91'2 77-5 97-6 53-7 67-6 76-9 69-0 86'2 70-0 96-6 50-8 59-3 66-8 53-0 Irammar leography listory

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Geogeaphy.—l think it cannot be denied that in the hands of any but a very skilful teacher geography is a dry subject of study for young people. The ordinary school maps are not well adapted to give scholars the idea of an actual country spread out before them, still less of its physical characteristics, by which its political and commercial destinies must necessarily be determined. It would be a great boon to our schools if a series of maps in alto relievo could be obtained for them at a cheap rate —maps that give an actual model of the elevations and depressions of the land, thus exhibiting in miniature the mountain systems and the river basins as they would actually appear to a person enjoying a bird's-eye view of the whole country. Such maps have long been in use, but hitherto have not been produced at a price sufficiently cheap for adoption in primary schools. Histoey.—Many of the history-papers written for me by the scholars on examination-day show a very intelligent knowdedge of the subject; show too, I think, that the children are really interested in their historical studies. I should be sorry to see this subject expunged altogether from the school course, although its place in that course might, I think, be altered wuth advantage. A useful concession to popular opinion would also, in my judgment, be made if the period studied were more restricted in limit; if, for instance, it were to commence with the reign of the first Tudor King, to the exclusion of the preceding periods, the events of which do not now very closely concern us.. It would be a great boon to get rid of the Wars of the Boses alone. Extea Subjects.—The non-standard subjects are at present occupying a good deal of public attention, and I should like to refer to two of them. I will begin with the one at present most talked about —viz. : — Drawing. —Such specimens of the art as I have seen in our schools have not impressed me greatly in their favour; they are bad specimens of a bad order of drawing; and I have come to the conviction that there is not sufficient technical knowledge of the subject amongst the teachers to enable them to give instruction in the art to advantage; I have therefore made no attempt to* stimulate teachers generally in this direction; not because I do not think the art an important one to be taught in our schools, but because, under present conditions, the time devoted to it is generally little better than time wasted. The first thing, however, to be done in discussing the subject of drawing is to define what we mean by the term. Some apparently use it in the sense of practical geometry, the construction of geometrical figures by means of instruments, leading up ultimately to mechanical and architectural drawing. If this be what is meant, teachers might by their own efforts qualify themselves without much difficulty for teaching the subject, and the chief hindrance to the introduction of it would be that each child would have to be furnished with mathematical instruments. Generally, however, when the subject is referred to, some variety of free-hand drawing is meant—either the copying of artificial combinations of lines or model-drawing on the principles of perspective. The former of these is not an exercise suitable to young beginners on account of its uninteresting character, whilst to give instruction in either the knowledge and? skill of a specialist are required. Doubtless in time primary-school teachers may become specialists sufficiently for the purpose required; but at present not many of them are such, and therefore it , seems to me that the art of drawing can only become an integral part of school work in schools situated in the larger towns, or in the immediate neighbourhood of such, where a visiting master may attend each school in succession for the purpose of giving the scholars technical instruction in the art of drawing. In the country schools Ido not see how the subject is to be introduced into the school work at present with any advantage. Elementary Science. —Certainly not less important than the preceding as a subject of school instruction is that of elementary science, either as affording scope in the training of the faculties, or as providing mental furnishing of the most valuable and practically-useful kind. In an age when we are no longer content to travel by steam and talk by lightning, but vote these methods slow, and when even agricultural operations are nearly all performed by machinery, it is plain that we cannot afford that our children should grow up ignorant of science. Some grounding in the elements of physics,, chemistry, and their allied sciences, is almost as necessary as a knowledge of arithmetic—at least in my judgment. The fact that we live in a young country, with its resources undeveloped and to a great extent still unknown, seems to make the necessity for scientific knowledge still more urgent. Already, in the best of our schools, something is done to impart this knowledge in accordance with the authoritative syllabus of instruction, but the results secured are not, in many cases, very satisfactory. I believe that our attempts are at once too ambitious and too desultory to effect much : we need, on the one hand, to make the science lesson as integral a part of our school work as the arithmetic lesson ; whilst, on the other hand, instead of attempting to give a complete outline of science, we should restrict our efforts to thoroughly grounding the children in a knowledge of a few important facts and principles by a well-graduated series of lessons corresponding in form to the object-lessons given in the lower standards. I need hardly say that such lessons must, of course, be illustrated by experiments and specimens, though the experiments can hardly be of too simple a character. Instruction of the kind just described is, I think, the most that can be expected of our primary-school teachers, but in the larger towns something more than this might be done by the help of a visiting teacher of science, just as in the case of drawing. The aid of a professional teacher of science is at least needed to inaugurate a course of scientific instruction. We shall, however, never give effective instruction in science until we have elementary schoolbooks of science, the contents of which have been as carefully selected and adapted to the minds of children as are those of the text-books relating to the older subjects of instruction. Some approach to this wo have in the series of science primers which are amongst the school-books authorized by the Board; but in school-books adapted to primary instruction it seems to me the people of the United States of America are far ahead of us, and the best model of a book on elementary physics for primary schools that I have ever seen is a small Work in general use throughout the public schools of the United States known as " Hotze's ' First Lessons in Physics.' " 7—E. Ib.

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Before I leave this subject of science, as the revision of the syllabus is now engaging much public attention, I will venture, at the risk of subjecting myself to the reproach of wishing to increase rather than diminish the amount of work prescribed to scholars and teachers, to call attention to a grave omission in our school course of science. There is one branch of science not directly concerned with the practical life of many of us, but so elevating in its influence on the mind, so fitted to inspire awe and reverence in the young thinker, so far removed above the reach of controversy that all classes of our divided community approve of it, which yet by some strange oversight seems dropping out of public notice and school life altogether. I need hardly say that I refer to the ancient science of astronomy—the science in which modern methods achieved their first triumph, a knowledge of the truths of which gives us moderns our great superiority over the men of ancient times. There should be no real difficulty in teaching the most prominent facts of this noble science in elementary lessons to the higher standards; and the lessons need not be merely book-work, as the attention of the children may be directed to the celestial objects observable by night, and to the phenomena of which so much may be learned even with the unassisted eye. Amid the many matters in which the education of to-day excels that of fifty years ago, it is not creditable to us that we have overlooked the claims of the grandest of all the sciences; indeed, I think, that to pretend to educate a child, and then to teach him nothing of the wonders of the heavens, may justly subject us to his reproaches in future days when he shall have become aware of his loss, and of the wrong done him. I have, &c, The Secretary, Education Board. John Gammell, 8.A., Inspector.

Report on the Extra Classes of the Riverton District High School. The following is the Rector's abstract of the past year's work in these classes:—

In all, fifteen children avail themselves of the advantages" of these classes. Two of them, however, were absent from the examination. In Latin the majority of the scholars in the two classes examined acquitted themselves with great credit; one scholar, a girl in the third class, gaining nearly cent, per cent, of marks. Some good work was done both in translation and retranslation, particularly the latter. The average of marks obtained in these classes was 54 per cent. In French, too, the result obtained must, I think, be regarded with considerable satisfaction. No scholar came much below half-marks, and one obtained 82 per cent. I should, like, however, to see the " French into English " more accurately rendered, and this, I remember, was the weak point last year. The average of marks for the subject was 56 per cent. In algebra the examination was a searching one, and the result shows that the children have been well grounded in the subject, the papers showing much good work in the elementary rules, factoring, and equations. In algebraical fractions the scholars seemed less strong. The average percentage for the subject was 48. The Euclid is the least satisfactory part of the high-school work. Only three scholars were examined in it, and of these only one obtained marks. This scholar, however, acquitted himself with considerable credit. The average percentage of marks obtained in all four subjects was 45, whilst one of the best scholars was absent from the examination through indisposition. I append the class-lists showing the percentage of marks obtained by each scholar in the several subjects. John Gammell, 8.A., Inspector.

By Authority: Geobge Didsbuby, Government Printer, Wellington.—lBBs.

Subject. Class. Number of Pupils. Work done. Latin French Algebra I. II. III. I. II. 1 2 4 1 7 Caesar, De Bello Gallico, Book IV. Dr. Smith's Principia Latina, Part IV. to Ex. 30. Dr. Smith's Principia Latina, Part I. to Ex. 53. Caesar, De Bello Gallico, Book I. to Ch. XX. Dr. Smith's Principia Latina, Bart I. to Ex. 24. Voltaire's Charles XII., Book IV. Dr. Smith's French Frincipia, Bart I. Dr. Smith's French Principia, Bart I., to Ex. 45. Voltaire's Charles XII., Book IV. To simultaneous equations. To simple equations and problems. To least common multiple. To division. Euclid, Books I., II. Euclid, Book I. Euclid I. II. III. IV. I. II. 2 4 2 1 2 2