E.—2.

Text-boohs. In the course of the year something has been done in the way of improving the special text-books now in use in Maori schools. The Native School Primer has been corrected and enlarged by the addition of eighteen lessons dealing with difficulties experienced by Maoris when learning to pronounce English. " Health for the Maori" has been extensively revised, and, it is hoped, improved. The Native School Eeader also has been corrected, and a few illustrations likely to be interesting to Maori children have been inserted. The corrections consist mainly of the elimination of Maori, or perhaps pakeha-Maori, modes of expression which were of use formerly, but are now out of date. The Preparatory Glasses. There is a kind of weakness inherent in small schools (like most of those dealt with in this report) that requires very careful attention to prevent its leading to a positive abuse. _ In a school consisting of five classes, say, only four of which have to be prepared for coming examinations, the teacher may sometimes be tempted to neglect in part, or wholly, the junior class, in connection with which he perhaps feels inclined to think there is no special urgency Now a neglected class is just an ingenious contrivance for making young children listless, idle, and inattentive, and for giving them a bad tone of mind which it will afterwards be very hard to cure. It seems to me that teachers should everywhere be on their guard against having such a class in their schools —a dummy class it might perhaps be called. It is pleasing to be able to say that in a great many of our schools there is no trace of this blemish, and it is hoped that these remarks may tend to do away with it everywhere. To put the matter from the business point of view, it is not too much to expect that every child for whom the Government pays a capitation fee shall receive an adequate share of a teacher's attention. Conclusion. It is safe to say that the improvement noted last year has continued, and has been progressive.. There was a considerable amount of epidemic sickness in the winter, and this tended for a considerable period to reduce the average attendance , but, in spite of this, the average for the year shows a considerable increase, and the passes, although not so numerous in Standard 1., have been considerably stronger throughout. I have, &c, The Inspector-General of Schools. Jambs H. Pope.

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