E.—9

4

very considerably in numbers lately, and the school accommodation has been correspondingly extended, and is quite ample. Practical instruction in chemistry is given in the laboratory, and physiology is included in the school course. A workshop has lately been established for technical instruction in carpentering, and lathes have been ordered from England. Especial care appears to be taken to afford suitable instruction to the pupils who come up with scholarships from the primary schools, and with no knowledge of Latin and mathematics. The High School at Whangarei is, I believe, to be closed at the end of the year, so that I need not give a report on its condition. I inspected it on the 22nd October. There were present six boys and the master's three daughters. The Thames High School for Boys and Girls is doing good and useful work, according to its resources. I inspected it on the 28th October. In the senior class three pupils are reading Horace and Sallust, and the rest are reading Cassar, to which I think they are not quite equal. Geometry is carefully taught in such a way as to avoid mere rote knowledge. Considerable pains is taken with English composition. A lesson I heard given in natural history was a good example of an objectlesson. French appears to be well taught. Two classes, each subdivided, occupy the main room ; it would be much better if they could have separate rooms. I inspected the Napier Boys' High School on the 3rd November. The schoolroom has been greatly improved since my last visit by a change in the manner of lighting. A class-room is urgently required : at present three teachers work in the one room, and some distraction is a necessary result. In the lowest part of the school the methods of instruction are defective. The middle part is very well taught. The boys in the highest Form receive instruction well adapted to the stage they have reached. Their attainments are unequal, and they fall into several groups in the most important subjects. The most advanced are reading Sallust and the Second Book of Euclid, and are working at quadratic equations. The rest of this Form are reading Caesar, 8.G., Book I. At the request of the Headmaster I examined this Form for prizes in Latin, Euclid, and algebra. I noticed that the lower part of the Form, in translating, preserved the Latin idiom, instead of writing correct English, while the boys who were more advanced translated more thoroughly. The Headmaster explained to me that this was in accordance with a method he had adopted for securing an accurate understanding of the Latin forms of sentences. The Girls' High School at Napier is a new one. I inspected it on the 4th November. The building is very well planned: the class-rooms are good, and the accommodation for boarders (in excess of present requirements) is excellent. French is taught in all the Forms; Latin, algebra, and Euclid in the Fourth or highest Form only. In these latter subjects a beginning has been made : the work includes about the first half of Principia Latina, Part 1., the first sixteen propositions of Euclid, and algebra to simple equations not involving fractions. English literature and history are taught, and good instruction is given in geography, physiology, and botany. The general tone of the school and the quality of the instruction are very satisfactory. I inspected the New Plymouth High School on the 20th and 21st November. I consider that the studies are well adapted to the wants of the pupils. None of them are as yet very far advanced. The teaching is sound and good. There is a proposal to admit girls to the school. I think the proposal is a good one. The school wants pupils. lam still of opinion that the fees are too low. With your permission Mr. Pope will inspect the Akaroa High School for me. On occasion of my last visit to Canterbury I was obliged to leave Akaroa out of my programme. I ought to say also that, as there is only one Board's scholar at Christ's College Grammar School, I did not think it necessary to visit that school. I have, &c, The Hon. the Minister of Education. Wm. Jas. Habens.

Mr. Pope's Bepoet on Akaeoa High School. Sib,— In accordance with your instructions, I visited and inspected the Alcana High School on the 4th of last month. I was well pleased with all that I saw of the working of the school, which appeared to have produced capital results, the short time that the school had been opened being considered. The only defect noticed was caused by the fact that young schools like this are compelled, in order to maintain an existence, to take pupils that would find a more suitable place in a primary school. As the school becomes firmly established no doubt this difficulty will disappear. I may mention also that there appears to be considerable loss of teaching-power through boys and girls at the same stage of progress being taught in separate classes. I have, &c, The Inspector-General of Schools. James H. Pope.

WORK OP HIGHEST AND LOWEST FOEMS IN SECONDAEY SCHOOLS. Auckland College and Geammae School. Highest. —Horace (Ars Poetica and Satires), Cicero (Select Letters), Latin prose ; Histoire de Charles, and Histoire de Jules, Blouet's Composition, Chardenal's Advanced Exercises, Brachet's Grammar ; L'Allegro anl II Penseroso; English composition; Smith's Eoman History ; reigns of Anne and three Georges. Euclid, to Book VI.; algebra, to XLI. in Todhunter's "for Beginners;" trigonometry, Todhunter's "for Beginners;" statics and part of dynamics in Todhunter's "for Beginners;" arithmetic. Eoscoe's Elementary Lessons in Chemistry, and laboratory work ; magnetism and electricity. Lowest —(A preparatory Form for one term). Beading; spelling; grammar (parts of speech and easy analysis); history (Taylor's First Principles) ; geography, British Isles and New Zealand; writing; drawing; arithmetic (simple and compound rules).