E.—IB

10

Table of Results of Examinations.

HAWKE'S BAY. Sm, — Napier, 31st January, 1882. I have the honor to present a report upon the condition of the schools in the Hawke's Bay Education District, and upon their progress during the year ended 31st December, 1881. No alteration has taken place since my last report in the number of schools under my inspection, the opening of the Wallingford School in January being balanced by the closing of the Tarawera subsidized School, which was brought about by the withdrawal of the Government capitation allowance on children below five years of age. Schools.—There are 32 schools in the district, employing 84 teachers, viz., 50 head or assistant teachers and 34 pupil-teachers. The total accommodation in the 38 schoolhousea is sufficient for 3,516 pupils, which is equal to the largest number of children who have at any time been attending the schools; but it should be remembered that eight of the buildings do not belong to the Board. Buildings.—ln most of the districts where schoolhouses have been built within the past three years the accommodation continues to be ample for present requirements. The only schools where the attendance is equal to the full capacities of the buildings are —Gisborne, Wairoa, Hastings, Clive, Port Aburiri, and Ormondville. It will be remembered that an enlargement has only recently been made at the latter place, but the rapid increase in the attendance will soon make another addition necessary. The teachers' residences and schoolhouses which are the property of the Board are in good order and repair, with the exception of the schoolhouses at Ormond and Frasertown, and the teacher's residence at Patangata, which are somewhat dilapidated. The out-offices are generally clean and tidy, and the school grounds, with one or two exceptions, are substantially fenced. Attendance. —The increase in the attendance at the schools does not show a very marked advance on that of last year. The average weekly number on the registers was 2,980 in 1880, and 3,164 in 1881, or an increase of 61 per cent., and the average attendance was 2,250 in the former year and 2,348 last year, or an increase of 43 per cent. It is a strange circumstance that the average weekly number on the registers, and the average attendance in the schools throughout the district, reached their highest point during the first quarter of the year, since which time the average attendance has continued to diminish to a very material extent. In some measure this is to be accounted for by the marked falling-offin the attendance at the Napier and Gisborne Schools, measles and scarlatina having been very prevalent in those districts, hut, as the epidemics have been local, they certainly will not account for the great difference between the March and December quarterly attendances. On a perusal of the returns from each district, and a comparison between them and the attendance of pupils as shown in the examination schedules, I am again forced to declaim against the greatest drawback to school progress, viz., " irregular attendance." At Porangahau and Blackburn the attendance has become a mere shadow of what it was eighteen months ago, and at Norsewood and Matawhero the attendance is such as to call for the special interference of the Board. I have no hesitation in stating that the attendance at each of these places ought to be at least double what it has been during the past year. But there is another aspect of this question which, I think, deserves consideration. I have not the tables at hand giving the number of boys and girls in the Hawke's Bay Education District, as shown by the census returns, but I presume that the number of each is nearly the same. The case is very different, however, when seen by the following attendance statistics :—

Class of Schools. I C i g d . !5,3 &g go g d O si & o 1* p III 1 00 £h Cm © O O .3 . "3 | d en Standards in which CL issed. s. I d m ft .9 ■ 3 ft Vellingtcm City,., •istrict Town ... Jountry ,,. lural ,,. 9 8 21 10 372 198 51 27 3,349 1,582 1,071 267 3,070 1,441 1,009 243 2,132 1,051 715 153 2,046 1,013 677 i 151 467 255 172 46 II. 574 288 175 43 III. 421 196 167 33 IV. 307 157 99 16 V. 205 84 48 8 VI. 72 33 16 5 1,876 976 680 153 1,447 746 475 104 Total this year „ last year 48 43 131 145 ! 6,269 i 6,266 5,763 5,488 275 4,051 3,766 285 3,887 3,650 237 I 940 ! 896 i i 1,080 1,029 51 817 881 I I 579 j 551 345 194 126 99 3,755 3,595 2,772 2,750 Increase 5 -14 ! 3 44 -64 28 151 27 160 22

Total attending School. Difference between Males and Percentage Less of Females attending School. Average Attendance. Difference in Average Attendance of M. and F. Percentage Less Average Attendance oi Females. Quarter. ema] les. Males. Females. Males. Females. if arch 1,731 1,692 1,666 1,731 1,493 1,480 1,426 1,439 238 212 240 292 138 12 6 145 1G9 1,364 1,316 1,387 1,214 1,117 1,070 1,039 985 247 246 348 229 18-2 199 25 1 189 une leptember ... )eeetnber ... For year ... 1,705 1,459 5 245-5 14-4 1,322-5 1,05275 267 5 205