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4. Peofessoe Thomas's Eepoet. Gentlemen, — Auckland, 15th September, 1884. I have at your request examined the two upper Forms of the Girls' High School in history, geography, German, laws of health and domestic economy, and physics, and I have now the honour of submitting to you the following report:— English History. —The girls in Form IVa. show a very fair knowledge of their work; but there is a tendency amongst too large a proportion of them to fall back upon the imagination when the memory fails. It would be better for them to leave a question unanswered or incompletely answered than to give an answer which is a combination of hazy recollections and guesses. The papers sent in by Form V. were very good on the whole, and a few were excellent. The teaching appears to be well carried out; but a little more thought might be expected, at any rate from the older girls. They manifest a good knowledge of facts, but the bearing of these on the development of the nation scarcely seems to be appreciated. Roman History. —More inequality is shown in the answering of this paper; but this seems to be partly due to the insufficient time allowed for it. Some of the answers were, however, very pleasing. Geography.- —The paper set for Form IVa. was not difficult, but it was scarcely so well answered as it ought to have been, and some of the answers returned were very weak. But even here some of the girls wrote very fair papers. The map of the North Island should have been better drawn, and too many of the girls are under the impression that Auckland is on the west coast of the Island. Form V., on the other hand, sent in a most excellent set of papers. More attention appears to have been paid to physical geography during the past year, and with good results. German. —This does not seem to be a favourite subject, and from Form V. only one paper was received. The composition and grammar were not very good, but the translation was rendered in a pleasing manner and with accuracy. In Form IVa. the grammar and composition were rather weak, and the translation, with one marked exception, was very poor. I am of opinion that it would be better for this Form to undertake a smaller portion of work, going through it more slowly and thoroughly. Laws of Health and Domestic Economy. —The papers written by Form IVa. were very satisfactory, whilst those of the Fifth Form were even better, attaining a very high average. There is still some weakness shown in the physiology, but there is an improvement in this respect over last year. Physics.- —ln criticising the work of the Fifth Form on this subject it must be remembered that the time devoted to its study is very limited —apparently only ten hours in the year. For this length of time the results are good, a few of the papers being very well done ; but there are many signs indicating that much of the knowledge is book-knowledge, and not based on the observation of experiments. Thus, a very large proportion of the girls were unable to describe a barometer _ correctly, confusing it with the thermometer. Such a mistake could never be made by so large a number of girls if they had carefully observed the instruments. Reviewing the whole of the work examined by me, the efficient state of Forms IVa. and V. appears to be maintained, and, so far as I am in a position to judge, there is, on the whole, no falling-off as compared with last year. I again notice the fact that few or no bad papers are returned, indicating that the discipline and arrangement of the Forms are good, and that careful attention is paid to the progress of the whole of the pupils, and not of the brighter ones alone. The Board is to be congratulated on the excellent work done by the school. I have, &c, The Education Board, Auckland. Alg. P. W. Thomas.

5. Eepoet of the Inspectoes. Auckland, September, 1884. English. —The work in the various subjects under this head was, except in one particular, satisfactory. The parsing was better than that of last year, and the knowledge of the meaning of the passages learnt by heart was also better. The pupils are in some of the classes starved, so to speak, by the meagre explanations given in the text-books in use. A great many of the composition papers were really excellent. The spelling of IVb. was good ; that of IVc. and the forms below it must be called bad. This was shown in all the papers. Transcription, practised in a systematic manner, would probably in a great measure cure this defect. Writing. —The writing in the whole school showed a marked, indeed a most wonderful, improvement. Beading. —The reading was not so good as that of last year. It was in many cases monotonous ; generally there was little modulation of the voice attempted. Pupils require variety in their reading—prose and poetry, dialogue and narrative. It is but fair to state that the reading was in many cases heard at a disadvantage to the readers, in rooms to which noise penetrated. Laws of Health.- —The papers in this subject were well answered. This showed that much attention had been given to the subject. Geograyliy. —It would appear that this subject had been taught more from books than from maps. The pupils were well acquainted with the productions of countries, and with the commercial importance and special manufactures of many towns in England. Physical geography all through was not well answered. History.- —The pupils in Form I. answered the questions put to them satisfactorily. In the other Forms many of the papers were exceptionally good, but a large proportion was not thought worthy of half-marks. Object-Teaching. —ln this subject the papers may be called good on the whole. Those of Form I. were relatively better than those of Form 11. There was a tendency in many cases,