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between Mr. Pope and Mr. H. B. Kirk, M.A., who for seven or eight years has performed all the most important part of the clerical work in the InspectorGeneral's branch of the Department. Mr. Kirk is now on a tour of inspection among the northern schools. Mr. Pope has made good progress in the preparation of his book on the elementary ideas relating to society and the state, intended especially for the iise of Maoris who have been educated in Native schools. He hopes to finish it as soon as the present pressure of more urgent affairs is sufficiently relaxed to allow of his giving his attention to it for a few consecutive weeks. His report on the schools will be submitted'to Parliament. The services of the District Superintendents are of great value, and deserve cordial recognition. They are often able to give most useful advice to the Department and to the teachers, and their frequent visits to the schools constitute an important extension of the system of inspection.

No. 2. The Inspector of Native Schools to the Inspector-General of Schools. Sir,— Wellington, 31st March, 1886. In accordance with your instructions I have the honour to send in my report on the Native schools of New Zealand for the year 1885-86. Number of Schools. Seventy-four schools have been in operation during the whole or some portion of the- year, viz., sixty-one village schools, three half-time, five subsidised, and five boarding-schools. The relation of the boarding and the subsidised schools to the Department has been fully described in former reports. Schools opened, reopened, or closed. The school at Otaua. Hokianga, was opened towards the close of 1885. The population of this district is large but somewhat scattered. The Otaua school should be a very good one. Te Ahuahu, Waimate, Bay of Islands, now has a flourishing school: there should have been one there years ago. Now that a start has been made, the Natives arc supporting the school well, and there is every probability of its being successful. Legal difficulties stood in the way of the establishment of a school at Waimamaku, Hokianga, for several years, but these difficulties have at last been overcome, and a fully-equipped village school has been successfully opened there. A small school has been established at D'Urville Island, Cook Strait. Although the Native population of this island is small, it was considered advisable to aid th'c people in getting their children educated, more especially as the Natives showed a laudable willingness to do their share of the work required to start a school. The grave difficulty in connection with the Native school at Poruti has been satisfactorily got over, and the school has been reopened. Energetic teachers have been sent to Poroti, and it is hoped that the Natives will do their best to make the school succeed. The school at Otago Heads was closed last October. All the Native children residing in the district have a sufficient knowledge of English to enable them to profit by the ordinary publicschool instruction. When this is the case nothing is to be gained by the special arrangements suited for schools in purely Native districts, and the sooner the school is handed over to a Board the better. The small school at Ruapuke has also been closed. The Rev. J. L l. H. Wohlcrs, who had lived on the island for forty-two years, and who, as missionary, civiliscr, and teacher, had done work of the very best kind for the Natives, died in May last. The probability of scouring anything like a satisfactory attendance is so small that it has been considered desirable to abandon the school. New Schools and New Buildings required, and New Schools applied foil • The school building at Karetu, Bay of Islands, is nearly finished. There is every reason to hope that this school, though it cannot be very large, will be very successful. The Natives at Karetu have to a large extent adopted the European way of living, and they arc very industrious. Tenders are about to be called for schoolhouses and residences at the following places : Tangiteroria, Northern Wairoa; Te Kopua, on the Waipa; llangitukia, with side school at Tikitiki, near the banks of the Waiapu, East Cape; Kawakawa, beyond the East Cape; Wharekahika, Hicks Bay, East Cape; Tuparoa, East Cape ; To Waotu, Waikato ; and Tapapa, between Cambridge and llotorua; also for a new residence at Tokomaru. A full statement of the reasons that make it desirable that the new East Coast schools should be established as soon as possible is contained in my last year's report. I have little doubt of the success of any of these East Coast schools : the Natives have learnt to feel the want of them, and that is one of the chief conditions of success —the only one that the Department cannot help to secure. It is easy enough to build a schoolhouse in a district and to send a good master to take charge of it, but, unless