E.—2

8

November, the prospects of the school have improved considerably. The master appears to be rather hopeful about the future —with good reason, apparently. Te Houhi (examined 6th July, 1898). —The order has improved; the amount of talking in school has decreased considerably; but there is room for further improvement —for instance, boys and girls might be taught not to giggle when put on to read. There are many indications that honest hard work has been done, and the school is not without its strong points. The principal defects depend on a wrong estimation of the accuracy required in pronunciation. This has caused all work involving reading or spelling from dictation to be weak. Buatoki (examined 16th June, 1898). —At the examination some weakness appeared in the geography and the reading. Still, much good work had been done. There was marked improvement in the arithmetic. There had been two very great drawbacks—severe frosts had cut off the crops of the Maoris, in some cases very completely ; and the wife of the teacher had suffered greatly and constantly from a most painful chronic complaint, borne with much fortitude. At the end of the year the teachers had to ask for relief, which was granted them by the Department, with great sympathy and much regret. The Maoris of the district are showing much wisdom in their attitude towards the school. Bay of Plenty East. Wai-o-weka (examined 15th June, 1898). —The new teachers were doing good work both inside and outside the school; if they do not succeed in regenerating the school it is unlikely that any one else will be able to do so. The results were decidedly satisfactory. Standards 11. and 111. were good throughout; Standard IV., except in arithmetic. Standard I. was rather weak, but the children were pretty young. On the whole, such good work was hardly to be expected. Omarumutu (examined 14th June, 1898). —The master had had up-hill work here for some time after his arrival; he had to reform the discipline, and to make the attendance regular ; the children had had too much of their own way, and some of them absented themselves at pleasure. Success in both respects has been secured. The examination results were good almost throughout. It appears that depth rather than bread this aimed at here—in the earlier stages, at all events —and this in the English work especially. Hence a very hard day's work was pleasant for both teachers and examiner. Torere (examined 13th June, 1898). —The master has had trouble in getting some of his pupils to come to school clean; they appear to suffer from a kind of dread of water —a kind of chronic hydrophobia. Still, the master's efforts have been at least partially successful, for the children looked very well at examination time. The Torere Maoris say that their children are less brilliant than those of other settlements ; the cause assigned is the close consanguinity of the parents.. But here, again, the examination failed to prove the necesssity for that—or, indeed, for any—theory, for the results were really very fair, and if the arithmetic can be hardened up they will next year be very good. Omaio (examined 11th June, 1898). —This school has emerged from troubles caused by change of teachers, and is now again doing capital work. The number of passes secured was, for the size of the school, not very large; the arithmetic of the two higher standards was weak, and caused many failures; the geography also was not uniformly strong. Most of the other work was really excellent. On the whole, the results may be properly characterized as " pretty good." Te Kaha (examined 10th June, 1898). —There was a very large attendance of Maoris, and after the main business was concluded a long korero took place. There was evidently no reason to be dissatisfied with the relations existing between the Maoris and their teachers. Of course, there was some disappointment at the small number of passes ; but all recognised that the teachers had worked very hard, and were ready to expect, with me, that there would be a large pass-list next year. The tradition of this school with regard to tidiness and cleanliness has been well conserved. Baukokorc (examined 9th June, 1898). —There is here a certain amount of whispering in school, and this might advantageously be got rid of; but the existent order is not inconsistent with the doing of good work. There is no lack of diligence here. On the whole, there is good reason to be satisfied with the beginning made,by the new master. At Mangakahia he had no chance at all, and here it will probably take him a little time to show his very best work; but the root of the matter is in him, very plainly, and he is certain to do well. Kokako (examined sth March, 1898). —At inspection time this school had not yet recovered from the troubles referred to in last year's report, and a new difficulty was beginning in connection with the unseasonable frosts and the destruction of crops that had occurred about a month previously. Thus the season was not quite opportune for an inspection Of course, the passes were nearly all in Standard 1., and some of them were not very strong. However, the results were much more satisfactory than could have been fairly expected in the circumstances. East Coast. Wharekahika (examined 7th June, 1898). —It was thought likely that several of the children attending this already small school would leave after the examination. The Maoris informed me, however, that the present roll-number would be maintained. The examination work was almost uniformly good; some of it was excellent. The teachers have evidently determined to secure whatever amount of success can be secured at Wharekahika. Te Araroa (examined 6th June, 1898). —The Maoris showed themselves very anxious that the assistant teacher of the school should be retained as head teacher. After consideration it was decided that an experiment lasting a year should be made. At the examination the school did fairly well on the whole, and was decidedly good in what may be called the " literary work." In the extra work the singing and lha drill were highly commendable. Drawing was rather weak.