11

E.—2

English is capital, so far as it goes. In the other branches a standard has been reached that would have been considered totally unattainable a few years ago." The following notes are taken from the inspection schedule in the order in which they occur: (1.) State of buildings, &c.: The interior of the Te Aute school-room always seems to be less pleasing than it ought to be; a couple of coats of varnish would make the place quite smart. But perhaps this is a matter of opinion. (2.) It is of great importance that blackboards should constantly have a good " face"; it worries a master to have to write on a bad one, and the reading of the indistinct letters on a shiny surface must be very hurtful to pupils' eyes. (3.) So much has been done to beautify Te Aute that it would now be rather difficult to make it look amiss; the long-continued drought had failed to do so. It is pleasing, too, to notice that attention to the beautiful does not cause the useful to be neglected; fine crops of green and other vegetables are grown for the boys' use; this is a very important matter. (4.) Suggestions with regard to the time-table are made with hesitation, seeing that the organization of the school has been evidently thought out with unusual care. I content myself with asking two questions— (a.) Is it advisable to give a great deal more time to analytical than to synthetic English? In Form VI. six hours are devoted to the former ; only one is given to the latter, (b.) In the lower school the same kind of time distribution holds good for the four lower forms : must not this lead to frequent clashing in the case of such " noisy " lessons as reading and recitation ? (5.) There is, and always has been, an excellent spirit among the Te Aute boys with regard to their school work. The tone is good. (6.) The carpentry shed is now being lined, in order that it may be used as a dormitory; but carpentering, which receives much and deserved attention here, is to be taught in what is now the football dressing-room. (7.) The usual inspection of dormitories, living-rooms, kitchen, outhouses, &c, was made, with entirely satisfactory results. Native Boys' Boarding-school, St. Stephen's, Parnell, Auckland. —This institution was inspected on the 10th March, 1898, and examined on 18th April. The following notes are taken from the two reports on this interesting school: (1.) The order here is good, but not so very good as to paralyse the mental activity of the boys. (2.) With regard to the tone it may suffice to say that pupils, when left to themselves, do capital silent work; those under actual instruction show satisfactory interest in their work; on occasion they can become enthusiastic about it. On the whole, the school is what Americans would call a "live" one. (3.) I watched a singing-lesson throughout, and found it very satisfactory. Only two slight faults were noted : (a) Some boys sing with the lips too close together ; (b) there is a certain amount of sliding from note to note. (4.) The drawing was very good indeed. (5.) The musical-drill and gymnastic work are educative and health-giving to a high degree; the work could hardly be better. (6.) The technical work was about to be taken up again. [At a more recent visit it was found that an arrangement had been made under which each one of the senior scholars would receive an amount and kind of technical instruction that would be of real and permanent value to him; the principle depended on is concentration of the work into limited periods, instead of allowing it to be spread out thin over the whole year.] (7.) The usual careful inspection of the dormitories, living rooms, lavatories, &c, was made; also, the boys were seen at dinner, and the food on the table was inspected. The stores were examined, too, with satisfactory results. The examination took place somewhat earlier than usual, and the boys were, with one exception, "first-year pupils." Many of the boys from Native village schools showed weakness in the subjects included under the head of "writing"; especially in spelling. The arithmetic was, on the whole, strong. The other subjects ranged from fair to good. The remaining classes were generally satisfactory. St. Stephen's School is a good one, and it would, 1 believe, be hard to find any considerable number of schools of the same size that have done more or better work. The Protestant Native Girls' School, Hukarere. —The inspection took place on the Ist March, 1898, and the examination on the sth and 6th December. At the examination the work of the senior girls (three) was decidedly pleasing, although one of them broke down in Latin and another in algebra; the third girl gained fair marks in one of the two subjects in which she was examined. The lower classes were very good indeed; strong, sound work had been done throughout. The middle of the school, however, was decidedly weak. The classes of which it consists are constantly receiving new pupils from outside, often girls that are still far from strong in English, and that need a great deal of special attention; indeed, a special teacher for this part of the school is almost indispensable. There were five candidates for the second-year examination ; these all passed. Although the seventeen girls taking the subjects for the first year showed some very good work, especially in physiology, drawing, and history, only five succeeded in passing; one of these gave in excellent work. The following extracts from the inspection report are of some interest: (1.) An indication of improved general tone amongst our Maori girls is to be found in the fact that the girls now bring clean linen back to school after the holidays, and not a stock of dirty clothes as they did formerly. (2.) The girls can, as a class, read vocal music very well; their voices are naturally tuneful, and they are very well trained. (3.) As is usual at inspection time, every part of the institution was visited ; it was found to be in first-rate order. (4.) The drawing at Hukarere is always very good indeed ; it is not particularly showy, but very sound. St. Joseph's Boman Catholic Native Girls' School, Napier. —This school was inspected on the Ist March, 1898, and examined on the 6th and 7th December. There is very little of general interest to report this year with regard to the inspection. Most of the work done on that occasion was of the nature of a close study of the methods in use. These were found to be well thought out and quite satisfactory. The following passages from the report may be quoted : (1.) The singing is very musical and mellow ; there are no bad habits; a fair knowledge of the notation has been imparted. (2.) Drawing is taught with great care, and of late years with uniformly good results. The juniors are, in their way, quite as good as the seniors. (3.) The callisthenic exercises take the form of scarf drill, a piece of rope serving as a scarf. These exercises have great value. (4.) It may be added that a careful modification of the hygienic conditions has been made. These conditions, so far as I can see, receive unremitting attention from the school authorities. At the examination there were six girls in the senior class ; of these, two passed the second-year examination and four that of the first year. The girls showed some need of further training in the art of answering written questions; but the fact that all the girls passed—two of