97

H.—2

who, consequently, are indisposed to overlook laches on his part which, under other circumstances) would probably have been passed over in silence. I may say' that the charges brought against the teacher, so far as they came to my knowledge, were somewhat vague, but indicated a belief that the care of his cattle, and other private business, absorbed an undue portion of his time and attention, and that the school work was hurried over and neglected. As a new Committee has since been elected, I hope that a more satisfactory condition of affairs will soon prevail. During my stay in the Bay, I attended at the school on every school day, and gave instruction to one or other of the classes in the presence of the teacher. Rangiriri.—The progress made by the children attending this school has been quite as great as could be expected, especially considering the fact that during the last quarter of the year, when the experiment of making it a half-time school with Jackson's Bay was being tried, the school was only open four days in a fortnight. The number of children on the roll is 20 ; the average attendance for last quarter was 13, and the number present at the examination waß 16. I have, &c, G. Mueller, Esq., John Smith, Chairman, AVestland Education Board. Inspector of Schools.

OTAGO. 1. Mr. Petrie's Report. Sir, — Dunedin, 31st March, 1879. I have the honor to submit the following report for the twelve months ended 31st December, 1878 :— During the year I made one or more surprise visits to forty-three schools, chiefly in the central and- northern parts of the district, and examined in detail forty-three schools, including one of the district high schools. I also conducted, in conjunction with Mr. Taylor, the ordinary examinations of teachers and pupil-teachers, and, in conjunction with Messrs. Fitzgerald aud AVhite, the annual examination for the Board's scholarships. Tho initiation of the system laid down by " The Education Act, 1877," and the new relations of the Department of Education to the Board aud to the teachers of Otago, imposed upon me a great deal of work extraneous to my proper duties, and occupied my entire attention for a large portion of the year. In consequence, 1 have not managed to visit or examine a considerable number of the schools in my district, and at the end of the year the examination of throe of the district high schools had to be abandoned. Statistics for the Tear.—During the first four months of the past year the Southland Education District remained united to that of Otago, and such of the Southland schools as were examined during that time are included in the statistics and returns of this report. The following tabular statement shows the total number of pupils examined by me, and the total number of passes in reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, and grammar, the subjects iv which the pupils were examined individually : —

Table I.

Table 11.

Subjects. Reading. Spelling. AVriting. | Arithmetic. Grammar. umber Presented umber of Passes 3,600 100 3,481 97 3,045 85 3,415 95 2,716 75 1,684 72 Dhe lower column shows the percent: •esults, each standard being kept sept ige of passes in each subject, irate. The next table sh< iwb the same

Numbee oe Passes in Standard. Number. Reading. Spelling. Writing. Arithmetic. Grammar. Presented. I. II. III. IV. V. VI. 845 100 1,071 100 879 100 564 100 186 100 55 100 817 97 1,036 97 845 96 545 97 183 98 55 100 749 89 900 84 700 80 468 83 175 94 53 96 801 95 1,002 93 827 94 550 98 182 98 53 96 645 76 774 72 677 77 433 77 141 76 46 84 688 78 374 66 120 65 37 67 The lower line in each pair shows the percentage of passes 13— . 2.