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guaranteed and civil, or, in other words, liberal, compulsory, and secular (by secular I mean religious in the truest sense of the word, aud at the same time wholly unsectarian). By such a system a better class of teachers, on the whole, will be obtained, who also will bo better and more regularly paid ; and at the same time a far better and more constant attendance of the children at school will be secured, whose progress will consequently be more steady and marked, to the ultimate satisfaction of all concerned —the parents and the children, the teachers, the Inspector, and the State. For lam more and more convinced, as I said in my report last year, that " such a system once well begun—in good and ample schoolhouses and with first-class trained teachers—would soon become established, grow more and more necessary and natural, and be heartily welcomed, and yield in due season an abundant crop of fruit." But, while I thus speak of trained teachers, I must bo clearly understood to mean that a trained teacher, as such, is only the more valuable to his school and to the public when he has also the especial natural qualifications of a teacher in him, which no mere training can possibly impart; otherwise the uutrained though educated man, possessing the aptness, the mind, and the heart which enable him to love his work in its entirety, and which peculiarly fit him for the office of teaching, will prove tho better qualified and more useful man : such an one will be sure to gain the hearts of his pupils, and the corresponding advantages will be great and solid, and, though not so showy, will be seen and approved. I have, &c, William Colenso, The Chairman of tho Education Board, Hawke's Bay. Inspector of Schools.

WELLINGTON. Sic— 27th March, 1878. Owing to the very large amount of extra examination work caused by the increased attendance, tho increase in the number of schools to visit, the extra labour involved in the modification which the standards have undergone, and the further time required for examination of the higher standard work, I have been unable to completely overtake the work of examination this year. I was able to examine all the schools in the Wanganui District, many of the schools in the Porirua and Hutt Districts, and to get through the greater part of the work in the city schools, before the end of 1877. Since Christmas, I have completed the examination of the Wellington City schools, except the infant departments, and also examined all the larger schools in the Wairarapa. The returns of these and a few other schools are for the month of February. There are still eight small schools unexamined, whose returns cannot be included in this report. I shall, however, endeavour to see them as soon as possible, and, if necessary, specialty report on them. They contain in all about 200 children, numbers not sufficiently large to affect my general statement of the whole results for the year. General Statement or the Eesults of Examination. There are now 80 schools established under the Board, of which 78 have been in operation during the past year. The new school building at Crofton, although completed, has not yet been opened, and the comparatively new schoolhouse at Marangae has been closed throughout the year for lack of sufficient children to form a school. At the beginning of the year there were 70 schools under the control of the Board, so that ten new schools have been opened during the year. Of the 80 schools now under the Board 42 are in the new Wanganui District, and 38 are in the Wellington District; but the number of children attending tho 38 Wellington schools more than doubles the number attending the 42 Wanganui schools. The standard of education, taken as a whole, is higher in the Wanganui schools than in the Wellington schools. The Wanganui District schools, with few exceptions, are more evenly efficient; whilst in the Wellington District there are some schools exceedingly good in results, and others exceedingly weak. The total number on the rolls at the end of the year was 5,234, an increase on last year's returns of 1,154. I have examined 953 more children this y rear than last year, and ab6ut 200 more are yet to be examined. On comparing the syllabus of tho standards this year with that of last year, it will be seen that the standard has been raised. The results of examination in the work of the amended standards may be thus stated : Exclusive of the eight small schools, representing about 200 children, which have yet to be examined, there is an increase of 406 passes in Standard 1., 303 in Standard 11., 141 in Standard 111., and 38 ia Standard IV. Including all the schools, the lowest estimate will give an increase of 500 passes in Standard 1., 350 in Standard 11., 141 in Standard 111., and 38 in Standard IV. Stated broadly, the results will thus show an increase of one-fourth last year's numbers on the roll, of onefourth the number of children examined, of one-fourth the Standard I. passes, and of two-fifths the Standard 11. passes. The number of passes in Standard 111. has increased by seven-eighths of last year's number, and the Standard IV. passes have trebled in number. Considering the rise in the standards and the increased numbers examined, I look upon the results iv Standards I. and 11. as fairly satisfactory on the whole, and the results in Standards 111. and IV. as highly satisfactory. I think the time has now arrived when your Board may begin to expect children to pass standards according to their age. I have, therefore, for the first time, given a return of the number of children of age to pass each of the first three standards. A comparison of the actual number of passes in any standard with the number of children in each school of age to pass that standard will give a closer means of testing the work of the school than percentage results on the whole number attending irrespective of age. But the data in the latter case are certain, whilst the comparison by age rests upon more uncertain data, as the ages of children are often difficult to obtain. About 50 per cent, of the total number on the books have passed Standard 1., and about 25 per cent, have passed Standard 11. Considering the increased difficulty in passing the standards and the