E.—lβ
38
behaviour of the children so far as these are under observation during periodical visits, but greater attention is sometimes necessary to details of school routine. In some cases it is forgotten that an Inspector judges the behaviour of the pupils not only by forms specially adopted for examinationday, but also by incidental openings for the exercise of habitual politeness. General. —The fact that certain education districts are small and remote often leads to a general impression that the standard of work in these must fall below that of the more prominent districts. A little consideration will show that this is not necessarily the case. The smaller number of schools allows the Inspector to acquire a more exact knowledge of the conditions and efficiency of each, and the lack of distractions causes the opportunities granted by educational institutions to be valued more highly. This has been well illustrated by the successes in colonial examinations of pupils of this district. During 1898 a pass with credit was obtained in connection with the University Junior Scholarship examination, besides a number of passes in the matriculation and in the Senior and Junior Civil Service examinations, two candidates from Westland securing in the junior competition first and second places respectively for the colony. In addition, a pupil of a primary school of the district has been awarded a scholarship in connection with the Victoria College, Wellington. I have, &c, The Chairman, Education Board, Westland. A. J. Morton, Inspector.
NORTH CANTERBUBY. Sic,- — Christchurch, 30th January, 1899. We have the honour to present our report on the schools of the North Canterbury District for the year 1898. In the body of the report, or attached as one of the appendices, are given for transmission to the Education Department the returns required by section 12 of the regulations for inspection of schools and standards of examination. The routine of inspection and examination has very closely followed the lines of previous years, and, with the examination of pupil-teachers and scholarship candidates, has fully occupied our time, with the exception of the customary February vacation. Having on various occasions discussed more or less fully the chief topics of school work, we do not in the present case purpose entering into much detail; and, beyond a few general observations and the usual statistics, with the necessary comments upon them, take the liberty of confining our remarks to one or two matters of immediate interest. The schools in general are in good working-order. The teachers, with few exceptions, provide themselves with suitably arranged time-tables, making provision for the necessary subjects of instruction. They, in the main, carry out their duties punctually and methodically; they rarely fail to apply themselves with earnest purpose to those subjects at least of the school course on which the status of the children directly depends ; and if in subjects the effective treatment of which is less regarded by local public opinion greater differences are to be found, wo have to remember that schools necessarily differ in their opportunities, and that deficiencies in some respects are the necessary complement of a-specialisation which is in many cases to be encouraged. On the whole, the pass-subjects are creditably done, though we have had an indifferent result rather more frequently this year than usual; and the class and additional subjects receive in a majority of instances as much attention as might fairly be expected.
Table A.—Pass-subjects.
Classes. Presented. Examined in Passed. Standards. Schools Average Age ,. of those " "' that passed. Yrs. mos. Above Standard VI. Standard VI. V. ... IV. ... III. ... II. ... I. ... Preparatory 327 1,454 2,270 2,999 3,000 2,542 2,384 5,914 204 1,397 2,161 2,848 2,875 2,466 2,321 5,266 1,149 1,579 2,186 2,211 2,299 2,267 99 159 184 191 189 192 191 199 13 9 12 10 11 11 10 10 9 7 8 6 Totals for 1898 Totals for 1897 20,890 21,028 19,538 19,814 11,691 12,003 200 200 11 11 8* 3* * Mean if average age.