19

E.—9

WANGANUI ENDOWED SCHOOL. 1. Ebpoet. Sir, — Wanganui, 28th January, 1885. I have the honour to forward you returns of the Wanganui Endowed or Collegiate School for the year ending the 31st December, as requested in your circulars of sth, 9th, and 18th September. I am sorry to be so late in letting you have them ; but, as the annual accounts of the trustees are made up for the year ending the 30th June, I have had to rearrange the first six months of the year, and work them in with the last six, of which no accounts have been made up for the trustees. For this reason I cannot get the signature of the auditor. The accounts, duly audited up to the 30th June, are in the hands of Mr. C. P. Powles, of Wellington, the secretary to the Board, who will, I dare say, obtain the signature of the chairman to these papers if required. In the general return of endowments, column No. 5, I have put in the value per acre as it was estimated in 1878, when the sa. 3r. 32p. were sold to the Eailway Department. I could not undertake to put a separate value on each block or section. The trustees do not receive any boarding-school fees, as this is under the entire management of the Principal. I have, &c, Edwaed Chdeton, Secretary, Education Department, Wellington. Attorney to the Trustees.

2. Statement of Eeceipts and Expendituee for the Year ending 31st December, 1884. Receipts. £ s. d. Expenditure. £ s. d. To Bents .. .. .. .. 639 3 9 By Salaries .. .. .. .. 995 5 0 School fees .. .. .. .. 972 18 0 Interest .. .. .. .. 243 16 6 Insurance .. .. .. .. 30 10 0 Eepairs .. .. .. .. 315 0 School-porter .. .. .. .. 8 10 0 Bates .. .. .. 11 4 0 Advertising, printing, and prizes .. 29 8 4 Gas and fuel .. .. .. 39 18 1 Law expenses.. .. .. 23 5 10 Petty cash .. .. .. .. 913 6 Commission .. .. .. 56 5 0 £1,612 1 9 £1,451 11 3 Edwaed Chueton, Attorney to the Trustees.

WELLINGTON COLLEGE. 1. Eepobt of Examinees. Gentlemen, — Wellington, 12th December, 1884. We have the honour to report that in conformity with your instructions we have recently examined the College. To do justice to the work assigned us we began with some of the subjects three or four weeks ago, and only concluded our labours yesterday. It will thus be seen that the examination has not been a hasty and superficial one, but, on the contrary, a very careful and searching one. We have endeavoured to ascertain with as much accuracy as possible the exact standing of each pupil in the various subjects of the course. The examination was conducted entirely in writing in the Upper School; in the Lower it was partly written and partly viva voce. During the course of it each of us visited the College several times, and on each occasion spent some hours there, and had an opportunity of visiting the various class-rooms and seeing the boys at their work. The results of the examination have been tabulated, and are appended hereto. We shall not, therefore, trouble you here with details, but content ourselves with merely offering a brief summary of the general results. We shall take the subjects of the curriculum seriatim. Beginning with languages, we note with pleasure that four boys have this year been studying Greek. Two of them have done little more than broken ground ; a third has gone through Smith's Initia Grseca, and shows a fair knowledge of what he has learned. Treadwell alone, however, has done anything deserving of note, having read a book of Xenophon and a play of Euripides. He showed a very creditable knowledge of the work he had done, and also of the accidence of the language. Of course, from want of public encouragement, the study of this subject languishes here as in all the secondary schools of the colony. The sister language (Latin) is carefully taught throughout the whole school. In both divisions of the Fifth Form a large amount of work has been overtaken and fairly mastered, indicating much hard work on the part alike of master and pupils during the year. In examination the upper division acquitted itself very well, only two failing to pass. The same cannot be said of the lower division, for out of seventeen only seven gained the necessary number of marks to entitle them to pass. It must be borne in mind, however, that the examination papers in this Form are very testing, as they are drawn up on the lines of the New Zealand University examination for junior scholarships and matriculation. The Fourth and the three lower Forms acquitted themselves to our entire satisfaction. Their answering, both on paper and orally, was such as to reflect the highest credit on the several masters for the careful manner in which the boys have been grounded in the rudiments of the language. The only other language taught in the College is French. From the results obtained in the various classes we have no hesitation in saying that this subject is taught with more than ordinary zeal and care, and therefore with more than usual efficiency. Coming now to mathematics, we have much pleasure in reporting that this subject in all.its branches is most efficiently taught throughout the whole school. Both divisions of Form V., with two