E—No. 4,

Average cost per head.—The Rev. Mr. Chapman could not give an exact estimate of this, but said that unless provisions were very cheap, it must considerably exceed the allowance of the £10 per head from the Church of England Board of Education. Division of Time.— l\ a.m., prayers; 8, breakfast; 9 to 11, manual work; 11 to 1, school with Sir W. Martin or Archdeacon Kissling, for the men; 11 to 12^, school for women; 1 dinner, 2\ to 4\, school for men ; 2\ to 4, school for women; 5, supper. In the evening the men have writing or lessons to prepare for Sir Wm. Martin or for Archdeacon Kissling. They are allowed candles in their room until 10 p.m. Wednesday afternoon is a half holiday for the women, and Saturday a whole holiday (that is, free from school work) for all. Subjects for Instruction.—Reading and writing, Maori and English, arithmetic, elementary geography, Scripture history, profane history. Industrial training is confined to field work for the men ; for the women, cooking, household work, sewing, washing, aud sometimes field-work too. The books and slates were in good condition. Writing.—Men and lads very good indeed. Four men write a good running hand, one remarkably so. Women aud girls: four of the girls write well, two are as yet too young to be instructed in writing, and one or two of the teachers' wives had not been able to learn. Maori Dictation (an easy phrase). —Men and boys, six good, one tolerable: the new pupil could not attempt it. Girls, four were good. English Dictation (easy phrase).—Men and boys, four good, two tolerable, three failures. Women and girls, one good, two tolerable, two bad. The men wrote very slowly. Maori Reading.-^Men and boys, and elder girls, very good. Two or three of the men read very well. The half-caste girls are not taught to read Maori. Reading English.—l man, 2 lads aud a little boy, good; 3, tolerable; 1, bad. Women and girls—4, good; 1, tolerable; 1, bad. Pronunciation bad; the books appear very ill adapted to teach English. Arithmetic.—Men and boys : 1, did every rule-of-three sum well; 3, tolerably; 4, could do the first four rules tolerably; 2, failed; 1 man was said to know something of algebra, but (being allowed plenty of time) could make nothing of a very easy sum involving a simple equation. Women and girls : 2, could do multiplication and division of money; the rest only simple addition, most of them were slow in their arithmetic. Mental Arithmetic.—(Examined simultaneously) 1 man did easy questions well; the rest were very deficient. Elementary Geography:—(Simultaneous examination) all very fair. Scripture History.—All tolerable. English History.—Almost all were entirely ignorant even of leading facts. Singing.—They all sing at prayer time, but there is no systematic teaching. General Remarks.—Discipline and management good; writing and reading Englisk very slow, and pronunciation bad. Progress little in these two branches, and method of teaching bad. The handwriting and reading Maori very good; much better than is usual in Maori Schools. Supplementary Remarks. We desire to call attention to the loose way in which returns of attendances are made up for Government. We suggest that in every School receiving Government aid, a muster roll should be called morning and afternoon, and only such scholars marked present for that day as answer to such roll-call. If the scholars be absent from sickness or other unavoidable cause, the explanation should be entered in a column of remarks. We have been struck with the poverty and imperfection of the English instruction, and with the inadaptedness of the books used to teach English to Maories. We suggest that some steps should be taken towards the publication of small elementary books for this specific object. Much dissatisfaction has frequently been expressed in this country at the small results accomplished in the way of teaching English to Maories. We behove that in no way could a sum of money be so advantageously expended for the object of advancing the education of Maories in the English language, as by publishing such books; they would greatly increase the efficiency of the general grant in this particular direction. We desire not to ignore Sir William Martin's book, but are of opinion that more is needed. We have been strongly impressed with the great need of awakening the Maori population generally to a sense of the primary duty resting on them, of contributing in money or kind to the expense of educating their children or relatives at the schools. It is for the Government to consider whether anything more can be done towards this object, by the publication of articles in the Maori Messenger, by calling the special attention of Missionary Managers of Schools, of Resident Magistrates, and of Assessors living amongst the Natives, or, in the case of new schools, by offering (as Mr Gorst has suggested) to pay for teachers, books, and slates if the Maories provide buildings and (where the the children are boarders) provisions. It were much to be desired that the hoys at these schools should be taught some handicraft, as carpentering, shoemaking, tailoring, &c; but, so long as no assistance is received from the Maories, the expense attaching to such additional instruction appears to be an insuperable objection. We desire to express our entire agreement in Mr. Gorst's remarks on the desirability of appointing a permanent Inspector of all Native schools receiving aid from Government. C. Hunter Brown, Henrt Tatlob. The Hon. the Minister for Native Affairs.

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REPORTS OF INSPECTORS