3

E.—la.

their ineffectual efforts and turned in despair to the essay. Only a very few, however, even of those who did attempt it showed much power in arranging or facility in expressing their thoughts with any degree of force or precision: a fact which shows that this branch does not receive in our schools the attention its importance deserves. And now, in bringing my remarks to a close, I cannot help saying that, while these papers reveal much that tends to sadden and depress the friends of the cause of education, they are not without a brighter side, calculated to cheer and animate them. They show, that, among the numerous aspirants to the noble profession of teaching, while there are many who are evidently mistaking their calling, there are not a few who give very fair promise of becoming, by study and practical experience, efficient instructors in our public schools. However unsatisfactory and disappointing many of these papers were —and some of them were so in the extreme —there was always present with me the consolatory reflection that the candidates themselves were, as a rule, better than their papers represented them. Por some reason or other many candidates when they present themselves for examination become so nervous and agitated that it is utterly impossible they can do anything like justice to themselves. And this will ever be the case until they come to look in the proper light on examinations and examiners— until they come to regard the former as necessary ordeals, intended not to pluck them, but rather to pass and classify them ; and to believe that the latter, while bound to conserve the interests of the State and those of its parents and children on the one hand, have also on the other the tenderest regard for the interests of those who desire to devote themselves and their energies to the honorable but onerous work of educating the young, and have far more pleasure in passing than in plucking any, even the very humblest of them.

Extract from Report on School Management. Out of a total of 344 candidates, we have only been able to confer an absolute pass on 86, a very small percentage. But there are a few candidates who have obtained 48 or 49 per cent, of marks, and we desire to recommend them to your favourable consideration. We regret to report that a great many have failed badly, the papers showing no real grasp of principles, and displaying grave ignorance of the commonest technical details. And there are some papers characterized by such confusion of thought and inexactness of expression, such a general lack of method, accuracy, neatness, and other teacher-like qualities, that it is very doubtful whether the writers would ever be efficient teachers. The time-tables were generally of a very unsatisfactory character, many quite unworkable, and very few indeed of the compilers showed any intelligent apprehension of the true principles of planning the work either of a country school or of an infant school. And the form of the time-tables was as bad as the arrangement of work. The notes of lessons displayed little originality of thought, Many of the candidates seemed to have no idea of what could be taught in a given time, or of what was suited to the different standards. And the notes gave only scanty, vague details of method, but were, rather, long answers to imaginary questions in geography or English history. Some of the writers proposed to teach the whole of English grammar in half-an-hour, and others discoursed in the same time of the shape, dimensions, and motions of the earth; of day and night, the seasons, and the tides. Some of the notes were unique, e.g., "Educe the parts of some nouns, as the legs, &c." Section IV., on Principles of Teaching, was badly done. The answers were quite irrelevant in many cases. Section V., on Methods of Teaching, was done better on the whole; but here again a want of perception of the true meaning of a question was only too apparent. We were repeatedly told, for instance, that the youth of the learner constituted one of the special difficulties of teaching English reading; and in the question relating to English composition the force of the verb "train" was very generally overlooked, as was also the fact that oral composition was one branch of the subject. Section VI., on Discipline, was answered very unsatisfactorily. Pew of the candidates had given the matter any serious thought, and many seemed to have no thought on the subject worth committing to paper. Many answers both to Sections VI. and VII. were absolutely valueless. Bearing in mind how greatly the welfare of the colony and the good working of our carefullyconticbred education system depend on the thorough practical efficiency of its teachers, it seems to us dcs rable to insist on a, good pass in this subject, as of paramount importance.

Class E.—English Grammar and Composition. Time allowed: Three hours. 1. Explain the following terms: Neuter, inflection, conjugation, mood, auxiliary, parse, syntax, predicate. 2. Define strong and weak verbs, and explain how they come to be so termed. By what other names are they known? Give two examples of each. 3. Which are the principal parts of a verb? Why are they so designated? Give the principal parts of the following: Dare (in its two senses), j^y, go, lie (in its two acceptations), Sear (carry), swell, wax, weave. 4. What verbs take an object after them in the passive voice ? Give two examples. 5. What is the usual classification of conjunctions? Arrange the following according to their classes; Also, although, as, but, however, moreover, when, yet. Can any of these be parsed otherwise than as conjunctions ? 6. What is meant by a cognate object? Porm two sentences illustrating your answer. 7. Analyse the following words, stating clearly the meaning of the several parts: Analytical^ antecedent, atheist, extraordinary, inconceivable, opposition, sublunary.