E.—IB

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Port Chalmers District High School. English.—ln this subject the pupils answered with great accuracy and intelligence. Not a single inferior paper was received, and nearly all were of uniform excellence. Latin.—ln both classes the translation was excellent; the accidence, parsing, and syntax were good, and the Latin composition was very fair. French.—The work was very well done by Class L, and most of the pupils of Class 11., and fairly by the rest. Geometry.—The quality of the work was excellent in all the classes. Algebra.—Class I. made a very good appearance in this subject, and Classs 11. a very fair one. Tokomairiro District High School. English.—The pupils made, on the whole, a good appearance in this subject. The matter was well known, and the difficult words and passages were very fairly explained. The majority of the papers received were good, and of the rest, all except two were fair. Latin.—Class I. translated the passage from Sallust well, and that from Cicero fairly; the parsing was most accurate; syntax and composition were very fairly done. In Class 11. the translation of the prose was in most cases fair, and that of the verse good. The sense of the somewhat difficult extract from Caesar was not quite accurately caught by any. Here also the parsing was accurate; the syntax and accidence questions were fairly answered; composition was moderate. Class 111. translated well, and made a very fair appearance in the rest of the work, except in composition. French.—The work was well done by Class I.; fairly by half of Class IE, and only moderately by the other half. Geometry.—The work was well done by all the classes, but especially so by Class 1., the members of which all gained full marks. Of the other classes, nine members gained full marks, and only three less than 50 per cent. Algebra.—Classes I. and 111. showed a very thorough knowledge of the work read. In Class 11. six pupils answered very fairly indeed, two did moderately, and two poorly. Trigonometry.—The work was well done by one pupil and moderately by the other. Agricultural Chemistry.—The pupils examined showed a very good knowledge of this subject, which has been treated in a practical manner. Lawrence District High School. English.—The pupils of this class showed a very good acquaintance with the matter, language, and incidents of the play. Difficult words and passages were in general clearly explained. Only three inferior papers were received. Latin.—The translation of Class I. expressed the sense of the original, but was marred by a mixture of Latin and English idioms, and by inaccuracies in the rendering of the tenses and moods, and even of the voices of the verbs. Only one paper showed what would be reckoned a satisfactory English rendering of the text. Parsing was well done, and syntax and composition fairly. In Class 11. the translation had the same faults as in Class 1., but not to the same degree. The meaning of one or two passages was not properly rendered by any; parsing was very accurate; syntax, accidence, and composition were fairly done by half the class, and moderately by the rest. Class 111. consists of beginners, whom it was hardly worth while to examine ; a few did fairly, and the rest moderately. French.—Class I. passed a very good examination—the lowest percentage is 76 and the highest 95, the mean percentage being 84. The work of Class 11. was well done by by about half the pupils, and very fairly by most of the rest. Geometry.—Of Class 1., two pupils gained full marks, five 80 per cent., one 70 per cent., and one below 50 per cent, of the marks. The pupils of Class 11. each gained 95 per cent, of the marks. The work was very fairly done by Class 111. Algebra.—Class I. answered very well indeed, and Class 11. did almost as well. In Class 111. the mean percentage of marks gained was 80, and none fell below 70, per cent. Trigonometry.—One pupil did well, three very fairly, and two moderately. The Secretary, Otago Education Board. P.' Goyen, ' J Ins P ectors - SOUTHLAND. Sir, — Education Office, Invercargill, 20th March, 1889. I have the honour to submit my general report for the year ending 31st December, 1888. During the year I travelled 3,053 miles, and spent in the service of the Board 1,895 hours. At the close of the year there were in operation in this district 103 schools, six of which were of too recent erection to stand the test of a formal examination. Twenty schools were visited for inspection, and ninety-five were examined according to the regulations of the Education Department. A few of the smaller schools were inspected and examined on the same day. I must again express regret that I was unable more fully to comply with the regulation relating to the inspection of schools. In this regulation it is stated " that as far as practicable the work of the Public School Inspectors shall be so arranged as to provide for two visits to every public school in every year, one visit for the purpose of general inspection, and the other visit for the purpose of examination according to standards." Of all the duties devolving on an Inspector, the work of inspection is of first importance. In this district it has, for the last two years at least, been left