E.—2

24

very much the ability of a Maori child to grapple with problems, we should, I think, feel gratified at the success achieved. Mental arithmetic, and especially oral arithmetic, do not, however, receive such thorough attention as they deserve. Most of our teachers find it necessary to devote several hours per week to slate and book work in arithmetic. In only one instance within my knowledge is to be found an exception. The teacher showed on his time-table a very small allowance of time to book-work. On the other hand, oral arithmetic received the greater share, and the results in arithmetic bore testimony alike to the thoroughness of such teaching and the advantages of the method. Concrete teaching in arithmetic is necessary from the youngest classes to the highest, and, indeed, it seems advisable that the whole programme of arithmetic for preparatory and lower standards should be amended in the direction of securing this concrete teaching. That is to say, a child should be taught numbers only as he can comprehend them. Instances have been met with where a child could say the numbers from one to a hundred with great facility when he could not count nineteen matches placed before him. Mr. Pope has during recent inspection visits endeavoured to lay before the teachers new methods of treating arithmetic analytically, and it seems very desirable that these methods should be introduced into all schools. It would be possible for a child in the youngest preparatory class to acquire a complete knowledge of the first ten numbers in his first year at school; in the second year he could master the first twenty numbers; and then when he is presented for Standard I. he could probably manage the numbers up to one hundred. Children may be found who have the ability to do such work as is indicated here in less time, but it seems to me that there is nothing to be gained; indeed, there is much to be lost by undue haste in preparation for the standards. With regard to the other subjects at present included in our school course, it may be said that we should expect their treatment to develop on more modern lines. At present our geography consists largely of topography only, and cannot have the educational value that more modern treatment of the subject has. It might be possible, therefore, to replace it by what one may term " world-knowledge," which can be taught largely from the pupils' own observation. To assist in the general knowledge required a suitable reading-book would be useful, and there would be from this source a distinct gain to the children. In the higher standards the laws of health might be the subject of closer attention. In all schools this subject is taught at present through the medium of " Health for the Maori " ; but, in view of recent action on the part of the Government with regard to the health of the Maori people, it seems that more attention should be paid to it. The ease with which the Maori child executes the various forms of handwork shows that little difficulty would lie in the way of arranging for a definite scheme of handwork for each standard. This would be work mainly intended to give skill of hand and eye —ability to make something. The scope of this subject is, of course, very wide, and, indeed, even now it ranges in our schools from mat-weaving up to carpentry. It is necessary, however, to define more clearly the work for the various standards, and to make handwork, an integral part of the school curriculum. The conviction has lately grown upon those who may be expected to be familiar with the work of our schools as a whole that in many schools the lower classes fail to secure sufficient attention, seeing that the energies of the teachers are in most cases too powerfully drawn to the standard classes. The bonus for passes has hitherto been given for passes in standards only, while the work 'done for the preparatories receives no such recognition. The standards have, therefore, as the late Inspector himself has put it, " come to be looked upon as the ' birds in the hand,' the preparatories being the 'birds in the bush.' " There can be no doubt that the best work in a school—other things being equal—is that done by the preparatories. In fact, the early work done with children may be made more powerful than any other. The need has therefore" arisen of a more fitting recompense to those whose work lies in the classes in question—namely, the assistants in our schools. This leads to a much wider question, and one which can hardly be dealt with here—viz., the need for revision of the present method of computing the salaries of our teachers. It will be'seen from the tables in the Appendix that in no two schools of the same size, except in those in which the minimuin salary is payable, are the salaries equal. In some, indeed, the difference is very marked. It is not fair to assume that in every case the teacher who receives the smaller salary does less work than he who receives the larger. There are many predisposing causes which may tend to lower a man's salary as far as it is determined by results. It may happen that what the teacher loses one year he will make up the following year, and, indeed, instances are not wanting where he has collected interest besides. It would, however, be more acceptable to the teachers as a whole were an arrangement made by which a lower proportion of their salary would have this vacillating margin, and which would give to their income a greater degree of stability, combined with a more equitable distribution of the amount now paid in salaries. To bring this about, I have come to the conclusion that a method of payment similar to that made under " The Publicschool Teachers' Salaries Act, 1901," should be introduced, and that payment for results on individual passes should be abolished. This in itself would have the effect of lowering the salaries already received by some of our teachers, but it would at the same time increase the salaries paid to the assistants, who in nearly all cases at present receive too little for their work. And, seeing that with very few exceptions the assistants are members of the teacher's family, the total wages earned by the family would not be much less in some cases, while in others it would be more Further, it is probable that by an addition to the staff of the larger schools the work done by the head teacher and assistant would be lessened. In consideration of the many hardships and difficulties which teachers in Maori schools have to undergo, owing to the remoteness of their schools from the ordinary comforts and conveniences of civilised life, the salaries of Native-school teachers should, I think, be increased somewhat above those paid under the colonial scale. The method of computing the increase might be directlyinvolved in a special scale, or it might be derived from a system of bonuses depending on the general efficiency of the school as gauged by the Inspector. It seems to me that the time is as yet