35

E.—lb

having loss than sixty scholars on the roll shall be allowed a pupil-teacher. (3.) That, in cases where it may be deemed necessary to provide assistance to schools not entitled under the foregoing regulation to the services of a pupil-teacher, stipendiary monitors be employed, a.sin England, under regulations and at a rate of pay to be fixed by the Board." If these suggestions had been adopted, such a case as that referred to above could scarcely have occurred. I beg therefore to once more urge upon the Board the propriety of adopting the above or similar regulations. To avoid unnecessary hardships to individuals a clause might be added providing for the payment for the instruction of pupil-teachers being made to any other competent person if, after a certain time to be fixed, any head teacher should have failed to qualify himself as required by the proposed regulations. Another question in connection with pupil-teachers has recently been brought under the notice of the Board, and that is the teaching of drawing as a compulsory subject. As you are aware, a resolution to that effect is still under the consideration of the Board. It is, however, a difficult question to deal with, as drawing, to the full extent required by the Government syllabus, is, in a minor degree perhaps than music, a subject which some otherwise excellent teachers would be quite incapable of teaching, and it would be a very harsh measure to compel such teachers either to pay for such instruction elsewhere or resign their appointments. It seems to me that the only remedy must be found in limiting future appointments to persons who are prepared to undertake the instruction of their pupil-teachers in every subject of the programme. There is a remarkable difference in the interest apparently taken by head teachers in the welfare and progress of their pupil-teachers. Some, I know, carry on their instruction up to the very day of examination, thus sacrificing a considerable portion of their own well-earned holidays; others seem to think that, having fulfilled the letter of the regulation, they have done all that can be reasonably demanded, and as soon as the vacation arrives leave the pupil-teachers to their own devices. There can be no doubt as to which course is calculated to affect most beneficially not only the pupil-teachers but the school, and through it the teacher himself. The men who so unmistakably show that they take a wide and liberal view of their duties and responsibilities will in the long run be amply repaid not only by the consciousness of a duty heartily performed, but in the earnestness and zeal with which such pupil-teachers will endeavour to co-operate with them in the work of the school, if only to show their appreciation of the sacrifices thus made for their benefit. The influence, too, of such an example of self-denial and earnestness can scarcely fail to develop and encourage the same earnestness in the other members of the staff. Scholarships.—The last report of the examiner of candidates for the scholarship draws attention to several shortcomings in some of the candidates, which have been noticed more than once in my own reports. The nomination of candidates by any one but the head-teachers of the schools is, in my opinion, a very grave mistake, and, while it deprives the teacher of the power of distinguishing deserving scholars, it adds considerably and vexatiously to the labour of the examiner, and has a tendency to reflect undeserved discredit upon the schools and upon the district generally. It would be manifestly contrary to the interest of any teacher to hold back any candidate who had a reasonable chance of doing well at the scholarship examination, and the idea that he would do so under any circumstances could only exist in the morbid suspicion of some few parents possessed with an overweening opinion of the transcendent abilities of their own offspring. I would therefore again beg to suggest that, in future, nominations for the scholarship be received from the head teachers of public schools, and from no other persons whatever. My opinions as to the present method of distributing scholarships throughout New Zealand have been so often expressed that there is no need to repeat them here, more especially as they were adopted by your Board and embodied in your report for last year and the year before. Some alteration is evidently necessary in the Board's scholarship regulations. Experience has shown that two years' attendance at secondary schools is insufficient, as a rule, to give scholarship holders under the present regulations the full benefits of secondary education. At present the successful competitors are for the most part quite ignorant of subjects outside the ordinary standard course, so that their attainments, however respectable in the ordinary subjects of the primary schools, do not fit in with those of any class at the High School, and at least a year's time is lost in gaining a good position therein. A remedy for this might be found by including some of the subjects of secondary education in the competitive examination. This, however, would practically limit the competition to the few schools whose teachers are competent to give instruction in such subjects. So that it would appear that a better course to adopt is to extend the currency of the Board's scholarship to three years. This might be effected without any increase of the present scholarship grant by dropping the competition every third year, which would then leave two scholarships always current, as at present. Before the end of the third year the holders would probably be able to secure some of the numerous scholarships open for competition at most of the secondary schools. I have often thought that something might be done to supplement the small fund available for scholarships in this district by opening a subscription for an additional scholarship, to be awarded to the second in order of merit at the annual scholarship examination. It ought not to be impossible to raise £50 a year by subscriptions for this purpose from amongst those who take, or profess to take, an interest in the future prosperity of the rising generation in Westland. Perhaps if the Board notified its willingness to receive such subscriptions or donations, and to apply them exclusively to this purpose, the suggestion might be received with favour by the public. Any person who is blessed with a sufficiency of this world's goods, and who desires to live in the memory of his fellow citizens and their descendants, could scarcely find a more effectual and beneficial method of gratifying this honourable desire than by giving or bequeathing a sufficient sum of money to endow a scholarship to be called by his name. In other parts of the colony there are many instances of such foundations. I beg therefore most respectfully to commend this suggestion to the consideration of all who are well on the " right side " of their banker's ledger,