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For some time past I have been conscious of a disposition on the part of the Board to discharge functions hitherto left to its responsible officers. Some of them are of a purely technical character, requiring not only serious consideration, but much study and a wide knowledge of educational practice. I feel sure that the departure thus made will prove an unfortunate one, and that the Board will lose nothing of its rights and privileges by consulting its expert officers on important measures of reform. I have, &c, The Chairman, Wellington Education Board. Eobbet Lee.

Summary of Results for the Whole District.

Summary of Results for Roman Catholic Schools.

HAWKE'S BAY. Sic, — Inspector's Office, Napier, 21st February, 1901. After so many years of waiting and watching for educational fruit, one's annual report brings forcibly to the mind the fact that if change is slow it is also sure. As year succeeds year, the accumulated changes seen in the schools of the district supply material for wide contrasts between things as they were twenty-two years ago and what passes muster in the school world of to-day. Over the whole of the extensive district that is controlled by the Board great changes have taken place in settlement, in means of transit, in the growth of population, and in the supply of school accommodation. The extent of the changes can hardly be understood except by those who knew something of the district when the Board began its work in the year 1878. New settlements called for the starting of aided schools, but as the settlements succeeded the schools grew in importance, and became centres from which younger settlements gained strength and encouragement. The twelve hundred children in the Board schools twenty-two years ago had increased to 8,021 at the time of my examinations last year, and these were exclusive of 848 children in the Catholic schools, who were examined in the same manner and under the same conditions as the children in the public schools. The growth of the school population, though very marked, is likely to increase even at a greater rate during the next few years. There are many signs of increasing activity in some of the outlying districts, and several applications for schools may shortly be expected from new settlements in the Cook and Waipawa Counties. During the year the small subsidised school at Waimate, in Cook County, was closed, but three other schools were opened—viz., Waipatiki, near Weber ; Ngapaeruru, on the DannevirkeWeber Eoad; and a side-school at Dannevirke. In the latter place only has there been a building

Classes. Presented. Present. Passed. Average Age of those that passed. ibove Standard VI. ... itandard VI. V. IV. . .:. III. II. I. 'reparatory ... - Yrs. mos. 490 986 1,571 1,823 2,052 1,836 1,672 4,781 973 1,541 1,781 2,006 1,807 1,650 758 1,238 1,446 1,625 1,610 1,554 13 8 12 11 11 10 10 11 9 9 8 8 Totals ... 15,211 9,758 8,231 11 4* * Mean of average age.

Classes. Presented. Present. Passed. ibove Standard VI. ... Standard VI. V. IV. III. II. I. 'reparatory 21 66 80 109 153 154 160 369 63 68 100 139 137 152 47 59 86 115 116 135 Totals 1,112 659 558