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the lowest class. That lowest class is in charge of a junior teacher, whose hands were quite full with two divisions just beginning the work of the term. The backward pupils were therefore drafted off for a few weeks to work at easier arithmetic in another room, under the eye and, to some extent, under the instruction of a master whose chief business at the time was the care of a drawing class. But now that the stress incident to the beginning of a term in a class with two divisions is fairly past these pupils will take their place again in the arithmetic class as a third division under the master who is responsible for the arithmetic. I suppose that any one who is anxious with respect to the efficiency of the instruction that bears most directly on commercial pursuits will lay most stress on these subjects—English, arithmetic, and geography I think ample time is given to these subjects, and I add that all study of languages tends to broaden and deepen the knowledge of English, while all mathematical study has a bearing on arithmetic, and on calculations and accounts. Modern languages certainly sustain a direct relation to commercial life, and bookkeeping has relation to nothing but commercial life. With respect to modern science, I could wish that some one subject, in which physical facts and mathematical investigation are associated, were included in the school programme. Physics, with Balfour Stewart's Primer as a text-book, is a subject for the Lower Fourth, but that does not provide what I have in view The Fourth Form is not ready for the mathematical work, and the book is too elementary, and not marked by sufficient precision to be a basis for such work. I suppose, however, that the programme at the top of a school must be influenced, in some considerable degree, by the conditions of examinations for which the pupils are being prepared. As to the books in use, I see no reason to challenge the judgment of the authority by which they have been selected. My reference to Balfour Stewart's book is not inconsistent with this conclusion. In the Fourth Form, and in the hands of a teacher whose instructions throw light upon its brief statements, it is not out of place. Good teachers are not likely to use bad text-books if they have any option. And here I should like to say that your Board has succeeded in obtaining the services of excellent teachers. The improvement in the knowledge of French in the upper part of the school during the last few years is remarkable. In my report presented to the Minister of Education after last year's inspection, I made special mention of the wide range of Latin reading in your Upper Sixth. With respect to mathematics I should not wonder if, because Mr Brent has been here thirty years, it were supposed that he might be out of date. A glance at his new edition of Euclid will satisfy a mathematical student that he is up to date, and I can testify that he knows the art of teaching a class as distinct from the art of individual coaching. At an ordinary time I should not make such definite reference to the quality of the teaching as I have done here, but the occasion is not an ordinary one. You have very able teachers in your service. That the teaching must be good in the upper part of the school you have proof in the position the institution holds in the competitions to which it is invited by the University It is fair to conclude that the teaching in the lower part of the school cannot be bad, for it is impossible to make up in the last two years for loose work put into the foundations in the years that went before. I do not expect to find all the juniors in a staff equal to their chief or to their senior colleagues, but I can assure you that good and faithful and sound work is being done in the lower part of your school as well as at the top, and that the younger men have the benefit of the advice and support of the seniors. I am not sure that the method of selecting free scholars (as distinguished from holders of Education Board scholarships) is satisfactory Some of the free scholars are as far down in the school as the Eemove, and one is in the Third. These I saw in a dictation exercise, and the weakest of them were making strange mistakes. On the other hand, I see that in the Lower Sixth there are free boys who have not been longer in the school than boys who entered with scholarships, and in the Upper Sixth is one scholarship boy who has been as long in getting to that form as the free boys. It might be worth while to ask the rector to investigate the comparative status and progress of the two classes of boys. My opportunities are not sufficient for such an investigation, and I cannot venture beyond the expression of a doubt as to the adequacy of the 50-per-cent. test. May I say in conclusion that there is no school in the colony where my regular visits of inspection are made easier for me than here, by frank welcome and by the prompt supply of all returns and information I find it necessary to ask for ? I have, &c, Wm. Jas. Habens. The Chairman Board of Governors, Otago High School.

EEPOET ON THE OTAGO GIBLS' HIGH SCHOOL. Sir,— Dunedin, 27th August, 1894. I have the honour at your request to submit the following statement with regard to the Girls' High School, which I have this day inspected. I am able, as usual, to express my satisfaction with the quality and character of the work done in the school, and to speak in terms of high commendation of the earnest and intelligent devotion to their studies displayed by the pupils, especially in the senior classes. As I said in the case of the Boys' High School, I am inclined to think that the weakest of the free scholars have been admitted on rather easy terms. The only remark I feel called upon to make with respect to school-books is that I should like to see a more complete text-book of Latin grammar in the hands of the senior pupils. I understand that it is in accordance with a resolution of the Board of Governors that pupils are admitted to attend only at certain hours for instruction in the special subjects to which those hours are appropriated, and that the regular pupils are allowed, if their parents desire them to do so, to omit some of the subjects included in the ordinary school course. I find that sixteen pupils