EDUCATION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4459, 5 July 1875, Page 3

EDUCATION.

His Excellency the Marquis of Normanby and Lady Normanby visited the convent and schools during Friday, June 4th. On arrival the vice-regal party were received by a large number of the leading ladies and gentlemen belongingto St. Mary's parish. His Excellency expressed himself greatly pleased with the arrangements of the Schools, at the same time making one exception, which was the accommodation provided for the reverend sisters of charity. The proceeds of the soiree held on the Sth go to remedy this defect. Mr. Lee, the Inspector of Schools, gives a most encouraging account of Iris visit to the Wairarapa district, whence he has just returned. The chief object of his visit was to examine into the working of the various schools, as well as to report upon the adaptability of the buildings and the capacity of the masters. In a word, his duty was to organise —to bring under systematic control the many agencies for disseminating the germs of knowledge which hitherto have been in great mea- | sure fruitless from want of proper supervision and direction. It is not attributed to Mr, Lee that he is going to regenerate the educational affairs of the province, but he has before now given ample evidence confirmatory of the judgment displayed in selecting him for the office he fills; and the results of his recent visit, when, embodied in the form of an official report, ■null be found to be still more satisfactory. This'report, it is to .be presumed, will embrace a statement as to the .number of buildings and school sites in the possession of - the board,—-or over which it exercises control, for in some cases the land has never been vested in the Board, —remarks upon the necessity for a uniform system of classification of boys and girls in the schools, and hints upon instructions to be issued to the masters. At

-present the Board*can put its finger upon no such memoranda, for the very good reason that none exist. Organisation, then, was the primary object of Mr, Lee’s recent visit, and it has been far from profitless. The settlers themselves recognised the necessity for a directing hand, dr rather head, and it is some consolation to know that in one half of the province the present educational system is thoroughly successful. The Hutt district, it is true, has suffered under many disadvantages. The school building is ill adapted for the purpose, and the schoolmasters appointed have for : some time past tamed out to be unfortunate selections. A better state of things will however exist in the future. Mr. 'Willis, the present occupant of the office, is an excellent teacher and in all respects up to his work, and the residents themselves are becoming reconciled to the measures adopted by the Inspector. The Carterton people have agreed to sink their little differences as to the site for the proposed school, though some little difficulty is still apprehended in the case of the Woodside school, through the desire of the contending parties to have the school erected nearest their own locality. There is one matter to which the Board should devote greater attention in the future, and that is the insufficient, quantity of laud attached to the schools. The Wain.rapa schools are not so, badly off in this respect; but in the districts • surrounding Wellington, such as Kaiwarra, Makara, Pahautanui, and Porirua, there has been a notable want of foresight exhibited In Queensland the Education Board decline to put up - a country ' school upon a site less than five acres in extent, and in Otago, close to our own doors, the limit is ten acres. In many oases schools have been erected on pieces of land not larger than an eighth of an acre, which is about the extent of the site' upon which the Hutt school stands. The subject is deserving of greater attention, * JbaiTaS it will probably be ably dealt with in the Inspector’s report, it is not necessary to allude further to it here.