H.-2

5

males and 332 females, shoAving an increase on the year of no feAver than 147. This points very clearly to the great importance of providing for the thorough education and training of the large number of the youth of the colony who are noAV preparing for the profession of teaching. The average number of scholars per teacher over the Avhole of the schools at the close of the year was 31*4, as compared Avith 298 tAvelve months previously. This average ranges from 21 in Taranaki District to 41*8 in Otago. The figures in Table A will, to a large extent, account for this very great difference. In a district where most of the schools are very small, the number of teachers must necessarily be large as compared Avith the number of children under instruction. In Taranaki nearly one-fourth of the schools have an attendance of less than 15 scholars each, and there are only four schools Avith an attendance of over 50. In Otago, on the other hand, there are very feAV small schools, and many are so largely attended as to admit of two or more teachers being employed in them. The scholars can therefore be so classified, according to attainments and subjects of study, as to enable one teacher to instruct with success a larger number of pupils than if he were in sole charge of a small school, in which there Avould necessarily be a number of small classes at different stages of progress. School Attendance. Previously to the issuing of the Order in Council regulating the calculation of the attendance at the public schools, the practice followed in regard to the keeping of the school registers and the calculating of the average daily attendance differed widely in the several education districts, and there is reason to belieA re that in some instances the registers were imperfectly kept, or almost wholly neglected. The uniform attendance-registers and summaries which have been supplied to all the schools, the method of calculating the attendance prescribed by tiie regulations, and the quarterly returns for each school required under them, greatly facilitate the collection of complete and reliable information of a uniform character respecting school attendance throughout the entire colony. Some of the statements required by the quarterly returns are necessary to enable the Boards to report to the department as to the numbers in attendance ; others afford periodical information to the Boards respecting the state of the schools, in such a form as to enable them to judge of the sufficiency or otherwise of the staff employed in each school, and as to the particular section in the school in which the greatest number of pupils is to be found ; Avhile other particulars are only actually AA'anted once a year for the purposes of the Registrar-General's Department. Common experience of the difficulty of getting forms properly filled up justifies the practice of requiring complete returns frequently, in order that those who make them may by habit become expert in making them. Besides, in districts in which there is a frequent change of teachers, it is a Avise, and indeed a necessary, precaution to haA*e the more important contents of the school records lodged periodically in the central office of the Board, for it is only in this Avay that accurate statistics relating to long periods can be obtained. The circular Avhich Avas issued to Boards Avith the first supply of return forms (Circular No. 7, 6th June, 1878 : Education Report, 1878, p. 114) sets forth very fully tbe objects contemplated by the regulations. As the Parliamentary grants for education are paid to Education Boards and to schools almost wholly on the basis of the average daily attendance, it is of the utmost consequence that the school registers and returns should be thoroughly trustworthy. Por the perfect accuracy and truthfulness of these registers and returns the department and the Education Boards are almost entirely dependent upon the carefulness and good faith of the teachers, and the attention given to the matter by the School Committees. Apart from the latter, the District Inspector of Schools, over Avhom the department has no control whateA rer, is the only person who has an opportunity of examining the school records from time to time, and of checking any neglect or irregularity which may occur. 1 (') Since the above was written two Boards have reported the dismissal of teachers by them for falsification of their school registers. The Boards have been informed that the names of the offenders will not be entered in the Lists of Certiiicated Teachers under tho Act. (See Circular No. 31, in the Appendix.)