20

E.—IB

recommend that the course be pursued in this district, and an annual examination made in science similar to that lately inaugurated in drawing. In drawing, the step taken of holding an annual examination every June promises good results. Last June eighty candidates obtained certificates, and I think it will be found that this number will be largely increased next year. I am thoroughly in accord with the recommendation lately made by the English Commissioners on Technical Education, that drawing should be associated with writing as a standard subject. This would insure its being taught in every class of our schools, large and small; and in this district it would not be difficult to commence doing so in all standards at once. I think also the teaching of singing in the larger schools should be under the direction of a professor of music. The teaching of drill and drawing may largely be left to the ordinary staff. But to the instruction in military drill for boys should be added extension motions, with the use of Indian clubs for both girls and boys. Infant-teaching.—The four infant schools in the City of Wellington are giving instruction to 1,221 children between five and eight years of age. Their general management and conduct is good, and school-life is made pleasant by pretty songs, sometimes rendered in parts, and by varied manual exercises. The same satisfactory character and quality of teaching is met with in most of the infantrooms of the larger country schools. It is in the infant school that the natural aptitude of a teacher is called most into play, and it is here that good teaching is productive of most lasting effects. Every true teacher will look well to the work of the infant department by seeing that the work appeals to the observation and intelligence, that it is strictly accurate and founded on philosophical principles, and that the child's life is bright, healthful, and varied. There is one phase of infantteaching in which I think much is left undone ; and it is with the view of making the work of our infant classes more varied that I have recommended the removal from them of standard examinations. More instruction should be given which possesses in a high degree the character of being both amusing and instructive. In fact I would sacrifice much of the instructive element to gain the amusing. The ingenuity of teachers should be taxed to see how they can best solve the problem. There is much child-like story which can be read to them. Lessons in form, colour, building in cubes, description of the incidents of a picture, constructing outline objects with sticks, or geometrical figures with triangles of cardboard or wood, patterns in paper, modelling in clay, and many such variety of teaching might be resorted to with pleasure and profit. I trust the School Committees will give what assistance they can in time and money to help the schools in this direction. Good appliances are much wanting. Highest Standaed Besults. —In most of the twenty-nine schools which this year sent up candidates for the Sixth Standard, the class was smaller than it was last year ; whilst in all other standards there is a large increase. I find many children leave school before or after preparing for the Fourth Standard ; and I estimate the number of children remaining for the Fifth Standard at threefourths of those who pass the Fourth, and the number remaining for the Sixth at two-thirds of those who pass the Fifth. I should be sorry to find any action taken which would tend to remove children from school as long as they are willing to remain, provided this does not exceed one year after passing the Sixth Standard. The difficulty is to keep them long enough and regularly enough at school to get a fair education ; and it is already shown that a large proportion of them leave school before passing a standard higher than the Third or Fourth. The following is an analysis of Sixth Standard work of the year: Eighteen large schools presented 146 candidates, of whom 114 passed, 38 being strong passes and 76 weak ones. Also 11 smaller schools sent up 21 candidates, of-whom 18 passed, 6 being strong passes and 12 weak ones. There were, therefore, in all, 44 strong passes, or just one-third of the total number of passes ; and, of them, 32 (25 boys and 7 girls) were under fifteen years of age in December last. This number, with possibly half a dozen added of those who remained at school another year after passing Standard VI., would constitute, in my opinion, the whole number available for a scholarship contest. In the Sixth Standard work I found the reading, writing, and spelling decidedly good. Arithmetic presented, as usual, the most difficulty; but many of the candidates gave up creditable papers with neat and fairly accurate work. I am pleased to notice much improvement in the arrangement of the side work. The answers in geography and history were also more or less satisfactory. The section which gave the least satisfaction was the English grammar as apart from composition, and this has been the case for the past two years. Composition is improved in quantity and quality. It is a question as to how far it is advisable to go into the technicalities of grammar in the teaching of primary schools, where no other language than English is taught, and where the home influence is a drag upon the work. At the same time it appears reasonable to expect pupils in the highest class of our schools to explain clearly the meaning of an ordinary passage of prose or poetry, to correct bad errors in speaking, to know something of word building and derivation, to construct sentences illustrating the use of words and inflections, and to know and intelligently apply the ordinary rules of syntax. In this work much weakness continues to exist. Speaking generally of standard work, I am still of opinion that an improvement would be effected by rearranging the work in seven standards, easing in a measure the work of the Third and Fourth, and leaving to the Seventh the higher knowledge of English. The high average age at which the children now pass the standards is, I think, an evidence of this. With regard to the conduct of the higher work in the city schools some amalgamation of classes would be economical, more especially in the Mount Cook schools. Masteeton High School.—This is the first year of the constitution of the Masterton State School as a district high school. One class has been opened for Latin, another for algebra and Euclid, and a third for French. The French class is taught by a French-born teacher resident in the neighbourhood, algebra and Euclid are taught by the head master, and Latin by the first assistant. The attendance has varied a little, but the number of high school pupils is small in all the classes. All but one of them had passed Standard VI. before entering the classes in special