E.—IB

42

in pointing this out, I have no wish to detract from the credit which, I am convinced from the schedules, must be generally due to the teachers of these classes. In the higher classes the subject of spelling and dictation is above the average of my experience. In writing, if there are few cases of very high merit, there are few in which the results do not reach a fair standard. Arithmetic shows gratifying results in Standard 111., and, on the whole, impresses me as being well taught in the district. The record of Standard V. forms a conspicuous exception. The weakness in this class is common to several subjects, and, while I must set down a large proportion of the defects to unsound teaching, I am willing to accept in partial explanation some difference of interpretation of the requirements. In geography generally, much improvement is to be desired in map drawing, which rarely rises above the level of mediocrity, and in a knowledge of the historical or commercial importance of places of some note. The most pleasing feature of the grammar is the general attention paid to composition, and the success with which, in many cases, this branch of the subject has been taught. History appears to be entirely omitted in some schools, and this, on the whole, is the least satisfactory subject, being frequently confined in Standard 111. to a knowledge of the periods or the names of the sovereigns, to the exclusion of leading events or features, and in the higher standards being frequently deficient in fulness of detail. It surprises me that in the larger schools there is not more evidence of an attempt to satisfy the demands of the Government syllabus in respect of the subjects not necessary for a standard pass. Whatever may be said in the case of schools with a single teacher of the possibility of doing much more than prepare for the exactions of Inspectors in the pass course, schools enjoying to a greater or less extent the economies attending the division of labour are surely expected to devote considerable attention to other subjects in proportion to their opportunities. I sincerely hope that the entire absence among the notes forwarded of any remark on drawing does not imply that the subject has been entirely neglected, and that the higher object lessons, to which the term "elementary science " would be applicable, are included in the instruction given by more than one or, perhaps, two schools. Object lessons are, however, given in more than half the number, and repetition of poetry is not only almost universal, but almost universally reported to be good. A knowledge of the subject-matter of the reading lessons, too, is generally professed, and generally reported as of fair quality. I have, &c, W. J. Andebson, M.A., LL.D., Inspector. The Chairman and Commissioners, Education District of Grey.

WESTLAND. Sib,— Hokitika, 20th February, 1886. I have the honour, in accordance with the provisions of the Education Act, to present my eleventh annual report on the state of elementary education in the District of Westland. The number of schools in the County of Westland at the end of the year 1884 was nineteen, since which time three small schools have been opened—one at Bruce Bay, one at Okuru, near Jackson's Bay, and one on the Christchurch Eoad. This last consists of a group of three families under the care of an itinerant teacher. All the schools north of the Mikonui Eiver have been visited for general inspection, and at most of them a day was devoted to this work; but the pressure of business consequent upon the inauguration of the new order of things brought about by the operation of the Westland Education District Subdivision Act absorbed so much of my time that I was unable to visit the remote schools in the southern portion of the district at the beginning of the year. I had, however, arranged to do so at a later date, intending to go down by the steamer " Napier;" but, after waiting her arrival day by day for nearly two months, I was compelled by the near approach of the date fixed for the examinations to abandon the trip; and, lastly, when just about to start for the South some months later, the unfortunate destruction of the Hokitika school by fire threw so much extra work upon my hands that I was again reluctantly compelled to postpone once more my visit to the South; consequently these schools have not been examined during the year 1885. This is much to be regretted, as it is now more than two years since the school at Jackson's Bay was visited ; and the two new schools at Okuru and Bruce Bay greatly need a visit from the Inspector in order that the teachers may receive some assistance in the classification of their scholars, and some advice as to organization and general management. As before stated, there are now twenty-two schools in the Westland District as constituted under the Act above named, and up to this date fifteen of these have been examined for results. As in past years, I commenced the examination at Donoghue's, and concluded it at Kumara, taking the intervening schools as nearly as possible in their topographical order. The total number of scholars on the rolls in this district was 1,914 at the end of the September quarter; but, leaving out the unexamined schools, the united roll numbers of the others amounted to 1,810. Of these, 999 were examined in standards (exclusive of those who were examined a second time in the same standard), and of this number 859, or 86 per cent., passed. The following table (A) • gives a summary of the results, which are more fully displayed in Table B [not printed].

Table A.

Examined. Passed. Percentage. Percentage in 1884. Standard I. Standard II. Standard III. Standard IV. Standard V. Standard VI. 194 223 248 164 102 . 68 190 191 192 140 89 57 98 86 77 85 87 84 95 84 73 75 77 bO Totals 999 859 86 82