7

E.—2

school is strong and good; the upper is much weaker. It is to be feared that the school will not do its best until the discord referred to above has been entirely banished, either by settlement of existing differences or by removal of the teachers. Taumarere (examined 25th July, 1899). —This is a good little school, very badly housed. The teaching here conveys the impression that the Teacher knows exactly what she is about —that she is working with a definite purpose to teach this or that, just then and there. The interest of the children is well secured throughout each lesson, and the silent work is done neatly and methodically. There were many passes, some of them very fairly strong. A little weakness appeared in geography and junior reading. Karetu (examined 27th July, 1899). —The results were highly satisfactory and creditable. The inspection work also was very good. Part songs are well sung ;so also rounds. In Tonic Sol-fa work the pointer is well followed. The singing as a whole is very good. " Swedish drill exercises are used here with capital effect." "The children were very neat-looking, and in all cases properly dressed. The school made a very good appearance." Whangaruru (examined Ist March, 1899). —Although some good work had been done, there was a considerable breakdown at the examination, and the number of passes was small. The reading and the arithmetic both require strengthening, especially the latter. I look forward confidently to a better pass for next year. This school is a most useful one ; it is very remote from civilisation. Poroti (examined 25th February, 1899). —Order has improved somewhat; the pupils are more fully under control. The apathy of the parents has been remarkable, and the Master has found it difficult to make headway. There are traces of effort and of actual improvements that would have been fruitful of good results if the people had shown even a small amount of earnestness about the education of their children. Taiharuru, (examined 23rd February, 1899). —The rule is very mild indeed, quite as mild as it could be without being in the least weak ; the order is very good. The Master is inclined to take a gloomy view of the prospects of the school, and this view will be more than justified if the Maoris do not bestir themselves to improve the attendance. Much of the written work is very good, and generally the results of the examination show that, with a little more practice in our special work, the Master will be able to take a high place among our strong teachers. Otamatea (inspected 9th May, 1899). —As the school had been at work little more than two months, and as none of the pupils had been previously at school, it was thought unnecessary to hold even a formal examination. The school had begun to show the usual effects of useful work, and of organizing ability in the teachers. Goromandel, Waikato, and King-Country. Manaia (examined 6th March, 1899). —The children are on excellent terms with their teachers, and the school tone generally is good. I saw, however, a little copying, and one boy had to have his ears boxed —a dangerous remedy, one would think. The examination work was on the whole very fairly satisfactory, some of it being excellent. The school has made a great advance during the year, and the Master deserves credit for his capital work. Something has been done in the way of technical work, and more is to follow. Rakaumanga (examined 3rd March, 1899). —At examination time the school was in a very unsettled state ; the new buildings were in view, and not yet ready, while the schoolroom in use was a Maori runanga-house, inconvenient in every respect. The Teachers, however, were making the best of a difficult position, and the children seemed to be '• taking to " them. The tone wants rectification. Copying and so-called helping were very common. It is hardly possible to get high results in such a building, but there had been decided improvement; the strongest work was the writing, which was generally good ; the weakest was the English, but even this had improved. The extra subjects were satisfactory. Baorao (examined 10th March, 1899). —The children here are decidedly well behaved. The Maoris are interested in the school, and there are no signs of any disagreement. As might have been expected, the number of passes was not very great; it is not possible to prepare the ordinary Maori child for the Second Standard in two years—the time that the school had been open. This fact being taken account of, results were satisfactory. Kawhia (examined 9th March, 1899). —The growing of wheat, long neglected here, has been reintroduced by the Master, who bore the first cost of the experiment to some extent. The venture has been partially successful, but work in connection with the wheat has sometimes served as an excuse for keeping pupils at home. Technical work has been done with good results. I saw saddle-straps, girths, surcingles, belts, wallets, &c, that had been made by the boys, who take much pride m their work, and with good reason. Except in reading, which was not fluent enough, and in English, in which the making of sentences had been hardly sufficiently practised, the results were good. This may be considered a very valuable school. The Master is striving for further development of technical work; what was done up to a certain point was done by the Master's unassisted efforts, and this was so satisfactory that Government has seen its way to provide for future operations a suitable workshop equipped with necessary tools and implements. Kopua (examined Bth March, 1899). —The school-grounds are made excellent use of by the master and his family; this is a very important kind of object-lesson in a country district. The arithmetic is rather weak here ; in other respects there is great reason to be satisfied. The English and the spelling deserve high commendation, and so does the health-work. On the whole the results are very decidedly good. The Master's zeal and success give great satisfaction. Te Kuiti (examined 27th November, 1899). —The school tone is very fair, and it is rapidly improving. The Teachers are getting a good grip of the children, but outside interest is weak as