E.—2

10

Table No. 7 gives the general results of inspection. Its construction has been explained on page 4. This table, I think, affords the best means of determining the relative general efficiency of each school. It is worth noticing that the same two schools in two successive years have formed the van- and rear-guards of the list. Twice is, perhaps, often enough for a school to occupy the last-named position. The Native Schools Code. —The code is undergoing a rareful revision. Ido not think that any changes of principle are needed, but experience has shown that many details require modification. The principal alterations should probably be in the direction of making the standards more definite and more conducive to the acquirement by Maori children of a knowledge of the simpler inflections of English words, and of the construction of easy English sentences ; and all rules that have been found necessary for the management of Native schools and have already had to be constantly observed should now be formulated. Apprenticing Native Boys and Technical Training. —Most of the attempts made to get Native boys apprenticed to trades have been quite unsuccessful, but an experiment is now being tried which will probably succeed better. An attempt is being made to give the Government scholars at St. Stephen's an opportunity of attending a smith's forge and of being taught the nature of the different operations of firing, blowing, shaping, welding, and shoeing, and of putting such instructions as they receive into practice. At Te Aute a considerable advance has already been made in the direction of giving the senior pupils a knowledge of the elementary operations of carpentry. On the whole, these two kinds of work seem, next to farming and seafaring occupations, the most suitable and useful for young Maoris. Work on Social Economy. —Considerable progress has been made with this book; but it is a task of unusual and unforeseen difficulty to translate an exposition of the rudimentarv principles of the subject into terms that even a well-educated young Maori could understand. I hope, however, that the attempt, which should have been made long ago, will not be altogether unsuccessful. It has been explained in the Education Report for 1885 that Mr. 11. B. Kirk, M.A., of the Education Department, now takes part of my work, while I relieve him of a portion of his duties. lam very glad that the portion of the inspection that I have been relieved of has fallen into such good hands. I have, &c., The Inspector-General of Schools, Wellington. James H. Pope.