The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, APRIL 16.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 2, Issue 182, 16 April 1878, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, APRIL 16.

We have received the report of the Board of Education for tho District of Canterbury, up to December 31, 1877, and purpose laying before our readers a precis of some of the most interesting portions of it. The report itself occupies ninety-eight folio pages, and is a creditable specimen of lette«:-press. It deals chiefly with a period of nine months, viz., from April Ist to December 31st, the first three months of the year having been dealt with in a former report. The expenditure on maintenance of schools, excluding such general charges as inspection and office expenses, was Sox the nine months £31,687 14s 5d. ;

distributed as shown in the schedule the general statement; and for th e twelve months was £42,872 16s 9dThe actual rate of expenditure for salaries and other allowances to teachers which is precisely given, shows that the staff employed during the month of December was then receiving payment at the following annual rate : —Salaries, £33,349 16s 8d; rent or lodging money, £1130.; instruction of pupil teachers, £749 ; teaching music, £220 ; bonus for classification, £1660 ; total, £37,108 16s Bd.

The number of the mean roll for the last quarter of the year was 14,096, and the average attendance (working average) 10,736. The average annual cost of instruction, inclusive of incidental and general expenses, was therefore for each child on the mean roll £2 12s 6d, and £3 9s for each child in average attendance. In the month of December there were (without reckoning 36 sewing mistresses) 369 teachers engaged, of whom 122 were pupil teachers, and the average number of children to each teacher was 29*1 in average attendance.

Besides the above expenditure for maintenance, we find that £22,124 has been expended on buildings, making a total for the nine months of £53,811. The receipts for the same period consist of— Government Grants, £24,479, Land Revenues, £6,430, Capitation fees and Rates, £5,345, interest, £538.

With regard to the teaching staff, we find that, the Board employs 369 teachers, 173 male, and 196 female. The highest salary paid (excluding the Normal School, where the total of salaries only is given) appears to be that of the Head Master of the Gloucesterstreet school, who receives, with allowances, £500 a year, while two pupil teachers receive as little as £8 a year each. The highest average attendance is in the district of Christchurch East, amounting to 1175, where, however, there are two schools, and the lowest is at Wainui, which can only boast of an attendance of 5. It is gratifying to learn that during the last two years twenty-nine new schools, or more than one-fourth of the total, have been opened. The attendance has increased during the same period from 11,481 to 14,249. Satisfactory as this may be deemed, it yet leaves much to be done. The estimated number of children of school age in the Provincial District was 23,125, and the figures quoted above show that of these only 61 per cent, were attending school. The work done, to judge by the Inspectors' reports, appears to be fairly satisfactory. Mr Restell says : —" lam glad to be able to report the following phases of improving efficiency : — "1. Several more or less incompetent teachers have been removed during tlie year. " 2. Some others who could not adapt their work to the standard regulations are now better able to do so. " 3. The provisions made for teachers to attend the Normal School lectures has been attended by generally beneficial results.- ---" 4. The pupil-teacher staff pass their examinations better than in former years." Mr Hammond, tho other inspector, after giving a table of the number and per centnge of passes in the different standards, remarks : — " The above table and the schedule, however, do not show the most important part of the improvement made, which lies in the quality of the work presented. In the large majority of schools the quality of the work throughout shows a most marked improvement on that of former years, and in many capes is all that the most exacting inspector could desire. I attribute this improvement in a great measure to the introduction of the Standard system of examination. The teachers arc unanimous in their expressions of satisfaction at the working of the system. Our principal schools are rapidly attaining good discipline, and thorough organisation."

In the Peninsula we have sixteen schools (excluding Lyttelton, which forms part of the Educational District), with 679 scholars, involving an annual outlay of £2,513 for salaries and allowances. With regard to the proportion of those pupils presented for examination in Standards who pass, we think there is room for improvement. We find that in North Canterbury (including Christchurch), of 4003 presented, only 1537, or 38 per cent., passed. In South Canterbury the results were better — the numbers being 3860 and 2453 respectively, and the percentage of passes 63. Whether this difference is to be attributed to the results of the teaching inthe two parts of the district, or to greater or less leniency on the part of the Inspectors, we have no means of judging, but the difference is remarkable. As the teachers are not bound to present for examination any but those they deem capable of passing, the percentage of passes ought to be better than this. However, the system of " Standards " is only as yet in its infancy, and the Board has many difficulties to contend with in obtaining qualified teachers for outlying schools, so that we think we may fairly congratulate the district on the great improvement already observable in educational matters, and hope for still greater results in the future.