E—lb

4

scholarship of those who, untrained, make shipwreck of the school in gaining for themselves a notion of the art of teaching. Again, these appointments require special monetary consideration, therefore the mischief is done at an increased expenditure. The experience of the past year or two points to the fact that the salaries paid to the teachers of these schools will not command the services of qualified persons. How many schools have been advertised during that time for which no eligible applications were received ! :;: * * >j: * * The average attendance for the year is again lower than last year's. I have noticed with regret that in several districts but little, if any, effort is made to improve or maintain it. From the returns to hand from thirty-four schools, 399 scholars had failed to make the minimum attendance for the last quarter of the year. The excepted number, also, shows a higher return. Including the attendance at the Carrington Eoad and the Kaimata Eoad Schools, not shown in Table No. 2, the number presented, 2,658, exceeds last year's presentations by 105. The rollnumber, however, for the September quarter was still higher; the returns were 2,701. The average yearly increase for the past seven years is 84. Both the absent and the excepted numbers are again higher, the first by 5 and the latter by 13. The percentage of attendance of those presented in standards on the examination-day has been increasing yearly. It has now reached 97 per cent., or 6 per cent, higher than that of 1889. It is very gratifying to know that the severe weather did not lessen the interest of my young friends in their examination. The other percentages for the year follow in table form to allow of comparison : —

In five schools the percentage of failures did not reach 10 per cent.; in twelve, 20 per cent.; in eight, 30 per cent.; in six, 40 per cent.; in five, 50 per cent.; and the remaining two were respectively 64 per cent, and 65 per cent. From the foregoing it will be seen that in twenty-five schools the percentage ranged from no failures (in three schools) to 30 per cent. In four others, ranging from 30 to 40 per cent., the year's preparation was interrupted by the change of the head teacher in each case; also in the remaining thirteen seven changes of a like character occurred. Deducting the results obtained in the seven schools where the teaching has been either exceedingly bad or hindered by changes, the percentage of failures for the district would fall to 20 per cent. Now that the district is well provided with school buildings, I trust that the Board will remove the chief hindrance which prevents the appointment of efficient and trustworthy teachers, especially to the smaller schools. I allude to the low salaries, which compare unfavourably with those of other Boards. Beading is slowly but surely improving; in several schools its changed character was very decided. I have good reason to believe that a fair number of your teachers are now 7 working zealously in raising tPiis subject above the merely mechanical effort which had been the standard of past years. The introduction of new primers for use in the preparatory classes is a success, and I am now in a position to form a good estimate of what I can reasonably expect in future. Both in town and country schools where the classification was good the reading was easy and well emphasized. Where it was bad, notes were taken, so that a repetition at the coining inspection will compel me to fill up a new classification schedule, which will be adhered to at the examination visit. The new Eeader for Standard I. will need careful treatment; the teacher will do well in giving extra assistance and supervision in schools where this class is under a pupil-teacher or an assistant. Fluency alone will not make the pass. I would again, also, remind teachers of the great value of good recitation, because of its effect in rousing the feelings and inciting the scholar to acquire a good style. The subject, itself, however, ought to be removed from the "additional " class, and grouped with reading for a pass in the senior standards. With some teachers the subject is treated as mere memory work, their efforts going as far as the preparation by each class of a few stanzas of verse a week or so before the school examination. Of spelling, I can only repeat what has already been said in last year's report. The subject is, with few exceptions, well taught. The experience of the year will, however, dictate the need of the preparation of the whole text-book in Standard V., instead of a portion merely. The methods of its instruction are now well established, and, excepting in the case of teachers well acquainted with them, advice is rarely required. Class failures in the arithmetic of Standard 11. occurred in a few instances, but in this, as well as the other standards, the work was decidedly better than formerly. The making-out of ordinary receipts seemed to be a foreign idea in Standard IV. in a pretty large number of the schools. Where the usual invoice form was the only stock article, some rather questionable attempts in controlling the use of "Bought of" and "Dr. to" were handed in. The making-out of receipt forms should be intelligently taught by various illustrations, and the scholars afterwards required to give them frequently, covering some imagined sale. Every receipt ought to bear the amount in words, and the stamp, when required, with the proper signature in full, and the date written across it. In Standard V. teachers overlook the fact that short methods in working complex fractions are

Year. p '3 ft o £ o 03 a Si 5* .S 1 <D a 60 & O '-3 a £ s d I C I I i-H 1889 1890 25-4 23-8 39-1 41-1 51-6 54-9 46-8 I 49-7 89-7 90-9 82-0 84-2 92-1 92-9 73-8 86-4 70-1 73'5 52-9 57-8 61-8 69-4 64'7 63-9