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ance. The schemes of work should show what lias been done and what is proposed under thai head. In thirty-six schools moral instruction appeared to receive definite attention. It is shown that order, discipline, and tone are usually of a highly satisfactory character. It may be observed, however, thai a low attendance implies in some schools a weak educational tone. In one 01 two instances the teachers have been requested to cultivate in the children a just pride in their personal appearance. Drill.—Sergeant-major Colclough spent some time with the cadets —with manifest benefit to them. A detachment has been recognized at Renwick. The Chaytoi contests produced some good shooting. The Department appears on two occasions not to have received information of the highesi score in this district. Most schools give time to deep breathing. In the smaller schools a good bodily movement and posture should be cultivated. In every school visited physical instruction formed a, part of the course ; it takes various forms : free gymnastics, dumb-bells, wands, chilis, breathingexercises, and military drill. Scholarships.—The result of the scholarship examination was very satisfactory. It may be mentioned that schools which take up model drawing in Standard VJ are at a disadvantage, compared with those that undertake instrumental drawing : a test is set in the latter and not in the former, although the branches are alternative in the syllabus. Regulation 12 of the Civil Service Junior tnighi very well be made to apply to this examination also. No successful candidate came from a sole-teacher school; there was only one such candidate presented. Standard VII. —There were twenty-four pupils in Standard VII at the close of the year. The class at Canvastown covered a good course, producing two candidates successful in the Civil Service Junior test. In addition to English and arithmetic, the pupils in Standard VI [ study one or mote of the following subjects : Agriculture, algebra, book-keeping, botany, Latin, physiology. Free Books. —It is not clear why free histories and geographies should be granted in small schools and not in Lrge schools. The most painfully poor people are generally found in the hit lei. Mr. Ladley.—Death has taken away a striking figure in the late headmaster of Grovetown. For twenty-five years he served the Board faithfully. He was ever ready to test new methods, and he did his best both to discover and to show to younger teachers what was good in them. He did not measure his duty by foot-rule, but throughout he set before the children a simple and homely example of noble living. D. A. Strachan, M.A., Inspector. The Chairman, Education Board, Marlborough. NELSON. Sir,- - Education Office, Nelson. We have the honour to submil to you our annual report on the schools of the Nelson Educational District for the year 1909. One hundred and thirteen schools were at work during the last quarter of the year. Five small schools—viz., Baton, Burley's, Kahurangi Point, Newton Flat, and Woodstock have been closed since our last report was presented, but eight others —Inangahua Landing, Mangarakau, Matakitaki. O'Brien's. Pakawau, Six-mile, Upper Wangapeka, and Warwick Junction —have been established or reopened, so that the total number is higher by three than previously. Additions to and improvements in our school buildings have been effected during the year by the erection of new schools at Summerlea, Wangapeka, Rockville, Globe Hill, and Rahui (side school) ; the addition of new rooms at Birchfield, Cape Foulwind, Brooklyn, and Karamea ; and the rebuilding of the infant room at Wakefield. As a rule, the new schools recently erected are of a more convenient and suitable character than that hitherto prevailing, but the following additions might well be made without greatly increasing the initial cost but certainly adding to their suitability as class-rooms. The interior walls should be painted a light tint (such as light green), hyloplate should be fixed at a suitable height upon all blank wall-spaces, and the windows be provided with blinds, if of the roller spring variety, attached to brackets at the top and made to run under a roller with the laths secured to side wires so that when the windows are open at the top and bottom no annoyance can be caused by flapping blinds. These appurtenances should be provided for in the specifications drawn for all new buildings; and, above all, especial attention should be given to the structure of the chimney, so that in future that bete noir of country-school life —the " smoky chimney " —may be avoided. In wet and exposed situations the proper fit of window-sashes and the lap of roofing-iron are no less important considerations. The rebuilding of our oldest school-rooms such as Neudorf, Motueka, and some of the wooden buildings at Westport should now receive the earnest consideration of the Board. The marked distinction that formerly prevailed between the two visits of the Inspector to a school within the year —the one being a surprise visit of inspection and the other a previously announced visit purely for examination purposes —no longer exists, as no examination need be taken by the Inspector unless it be of those who desire to obtain certificates. One inspection visit must, however, be previously notified to the school, so that parents may make application for the examination of their children if they so desire it. In this connection it is even expected that candidates for Sixth Standard certificates should make application to sit for examination. It is necessary for the well-being of our educational system that parents should maintain a keen interest in all that concerns their children's progress, and hence it is regrettable that generally they are not yet aware of many recent changes in educational matters. Few, for example, yet fully comprehend that the classification for all standards is in the head teachers' hands, and that they hold pass examinations for the most part in December for the purpose of determining it; that the Inspector's pass examination if held at all is merely for the purpose of determining the granting of certificates or the classification of a child whose parents object