E.—lb

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pressing and frequent applications for further accommodation. Once again I would urge upon the Board that, if the children now attending the schools are to be even fairly taught without incurring the serious risk of permanently injuring their health, it will be necessary to proceed with a number of additions and new buildings without delay. Standaed Examinations.—The school examinations continue to show a satisfactory increase in the number of pupils who are being prepared for examination in standards. The names of 3,993 children were entered on the examination lists as belonging to the schools at the time of my examination, and the large proportion of 3,778, or nearly 95 per cent, of the whole number, were present at the different schools. Of the number belonging to the schools 2,499, or nearly 63 per cent., were deemed capable of being presented in one or other of the standards ; 60 per cent, were so examined, and 476 per cent, passed the requirements. The new regulations issued by the department in June last, allowing teachers to reclassify their pupils and to place them in a standard they have already passed, provided that the reclassification be made "at any time not being less than three months before the examination " of the school, has not, I am pleased to state, been abused, as far as I am aware, by a single teacher in my district. Thirty-four children only were re-presented for examination in the standards they had already passed, representing seventeen schools ; the causes assigned, with a single exception, being either " irregular attendance," " prolonged sickness," or " too young for the standards." I confess, however, that the issue of the June regulations caused me to have some misgivings, as in the race for percentages, which now form such an important though perhaps not a satisfactory feature of the standard system, I feared that advantage would be taken of the regulations by the less scrupulous among the teachers, and that those who could be trusted with discretionary powers would be forced to adopt " examination tactics" for the purpose of self-preser-vation. The plan which the Board has adopted in the distribution of bonuses based on the percentage of passes for the whole school, and counting as failures those who are re-presented, has naturally minimised this danger, because teachers will only re-present children for examination when the chance of their passing on to a higher standard has altogether disappeared. It is worthy of notice that Napier, the largest school in the district, did not present a single pupil for re-exami-nation, and Gisborne, the second school in size, only re-presented one. The following table gives the number of children re-presented, presented, examined, and passed in each standard for the past year : —

The proportion of passes for the whole district is slightly lower than last year. The largest number of failures occurred in Standards IV., V., and VI., the two former being exceptionally low. Out of every 100 pupils examined in standard subjects 78 passed in reading, 84 in writing, 69 in arithmetic, 23 in grammar, Bin geography, and 6 in English history. I do not think that the results of my examinations show much improvement in the general character of the standard work when compared with those of former years, but this is not because teachers have been less diligent in their work. The large inflow of new children into the schools and the insufficiency of accommodation are quite sufficient to account for a slight falling off in general efficiency. Standard eequieements difficult in Countey Schools.—ln most of the country schools teachers find it difficult to prepare their pupils for examination in the full requirements of the standards. At Norsewood and Makatoku, the one a Scandinavian and the other a German settlement, history is not taught as a standard subject; and in places like Kumeroa, Heretaunga, Porangahau, Danevirke, Te Arai, and Te Onga Onga, little work is ever attempted higher than Standard IV. With respect to the compulsory subjects many faults were observable in reading, writing, and arithmetic in a number of the schools, but these have been fully dealt with in my detailed reports upon the condition of the schools, as forwarded to each School Committee. In the lower standards the results were better as a whole than in previous years, but in the upper standards there was a decided falling off in efficiency. Above Standard 111. reading and writing do not appear to receive sufficient attention, and grave faults in these subjects, traceable to defective teaching and supervision, were observable in several of the larger schools. Geography and grammar are now much better taught than formerly, the methods adopted being intelligent, and the results in most cases very fair. But there are still several teachers who believe that geography and grammar are made up simply of definitions, and there is at least one other who considers that the best way to teach grammar is by means of a catechism of questions and answers! History is mostly neglected

< <D •5 Nr Pupil: tedir imber of Number presented in new Standards. Nun passed Stam iber Standards. s re-pi l Stan lassed. resenidard Numb jr Examined. in new lard. Percentage of Passes of those Examined. M. F. [Total M. F. Total. M. F. Total. M. F. Total. Standard I. Standard II. Standard III. Standard IV. Standard V. Standard VI. 8*8 10*4 11*3 12*4 13*1 14*1 3 1 10 5 6 5 3 8 7 15 3 465 313 264 164 94 24 435 280 222 134 83 21 900 593 486 298 177 45 449 298 249 157 82 24 420 276 209 127 76 20 869 574 458 284 158 44 396, 236; 200 94 49: 17 360 215 175 98 49 I 14 756 451 375 192 98 31 8778*6 81*8 67*6 62* 70*5 "i "i ! 15 19 34 1,324 1,175, i 2,499 1,259 1,128 2,387 992, |91l|l,903 80Infants too young f< »r St .ndards 779 695, 1,494 726 665' 1,391 ! 2,103 1.870 1 3,993 1,985 1,7933,778