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Five schools have this year obtained a gross percentage of over 80. These are Omaio, taught by Mr. H. A. Hamilton, 94-6; Te Araroa, taught by Mr. Thomas Beattie, 93-5; Paeroa, 84-1; Te Kaha, 82-5; and Tuparoa, 81-8. The following schools, also, made over 70 per cent. : Kaikohe, Eaukokore, Te Matai, Colac Bay, Waitapu, Port Molyneux, Kaiapoi, Maketu, and Akuaku. Therefore fourteen schools in all have gained over 70 per cent. Boarding-schools. Four of these institutions are now recognised by the Department. The work done by them is of a very useful nature : pupils from the village schools are, with their parents' consent, sent to the boarding-schools, and their education is carried forward to a point that would at present be quite unattainable at the ordinary schools. Besides this, the girls and boys who go to the boardingschools are taught to do various kinds of manual work —cooking, laundry-work, house-cleaning, and dressmaking; or carpentering and gardening. They have also, of course, to live in the European fashion, and to learn the ordinary European social observances. Speaking generally, one may say that during their two years' stay at a boarding-school young Maoris are steadily subjected to European influences in ways that can hardly fail to have a very great effect in forming their characters and fitting them for contact with European civilisation. Besides this work for the Government, all the boarding-schools do more or less in the way of educating pupils of their own, and one of them (Te Aute) receives the candidates who succeed in winning the Te Makarini scholarships. These scholarships are provided for by means of a fund established by E. D. Douglas McLean, Esq., in accordance with the views and wishes of the late Sir Donald McLean, and in memory of him. A few particulars are added about each of the boarding-schools, and a brief statement is made of the results of the Te Makarini Scholarships Examination held in 1891. St. Joseph's Providence, Napier (Roman Catholic Girls' School). —The school was examined on the 10th of December last. Twenty-six pupils came up for examination ; twenty-one of these were Government scholars. Of the total number, eight passed Standard 1., four passed Standard 11., four passed Standard 111., and one passed Standard IV. ; also, three of the senior pupils passed the examination for the first year, and one completed her school-course by passing the examination for the second year. None of the senior pupils, except two that had joined the school quite recently, failed to pass. These results speak for themselves in very favourable terms, and render explanatory remarks quite unnecessary. It may be added, however, with respect to the extra subjects, that there has been very great improvement in the singing, several of the girls being now able to sing simple airs at sight; tone and expression are always good here. In drawing there is still some room for improvement in the elementary work. Drill and calisthenic exercises are well done, as is also every branch of the needlework. It is almost unnecessary to add that the comfort and domestic training of the girls are well looked after. It may be remarked with reference to this school and to the other girls' school at Hukarere that the manners of the pupils always appear to a visitor to be courteous and gentle, and their behaviour to their teachers respectful. The Protestant Native Girls' School, Hukarere, Napier. —The examination took place on the 11th December last. Forty-seven pupils came up for examination ; twenty of these were Government scholars. Of the total number, five passed Standard 1., three passed Standard 11., seven passed Standard 111., and four passed Standard IV.; also, six of the senior pupils passed the examination for the first year and two failed, while five passed the examination for the second year and none failed. These results were more than satisfactory. A slight falling-off in the arithmetic of some of the senior pupils and in the writing of Standards 111. and IV. was observable ; but, on the other hand, a very important and satisfactory advance in the English work had been made, and in all the other subjects capital work had been done; the singing and drawing were surprisingly good. The pupils of this school also are always conspicuously clean and tidy, and the domestic arrangements generally leave nothing to be desired. The accommodation has been greatly increased since the previous examination took place, and the buildings are much better suited for the work that has to be done in them than they were before the alterations and additions were made. Native Boys' Boarding-school, St. Step/hen's, Parnell, Auckland. —The examination was held on the 6th of last July. Thirty-six pupils were present. Of these, eleven had been but a short time at school. Four passed Standard 1., five passed Standard 11., and three passed Standard IV.; also, out of fourteen senior boys, four passed the examination for the first year, five passed the examination for the second year, and five failed. No fault can be found with such results, which evidently represent much hard and honest work. The pupils appear fond of the school, and, unless I am much mistaken, their liking for it has been increased by the lessening of the time that each pupil is required to devote to technical work, and by the great development that the teaching of gymnastics, See., has undergone at this school. With regard to the " technical work," it may be remarked that this used to consist of road-making, rough gardening, &c, and that, except in so far as it taught the boys to perform certain kinds of hard work and to use certain rough tools, it hardly deserved its name. No doubt some of this work might be done by boys with beneficial results if they had no other manual work to do ; but the quantity should be reduced to a minimum. It is much to be regretted that carpentering, blacksmithing, or similar artificers' work cannot be substituted during at least a portion of the time that is still devoted to rougher and less educative work. With regard to the teaching of gymnastics, it may be stated that the Committee have during the last two years made very decided improvements in the equipment of this school. Amongst these improvements (which include lavatory and closets that are as good as one could wish) perhaps the most noticeable is the gymnasium, which is one of the largest and best-appointed school gymnasia in the North Island, if it is not the best; and most excellent use is made of it. The Committee has, in founding such an institution, probably taken one of the best possible steps in the direction of forwarding the interests of Native education. In spite of their powerful physique and healthy appear-