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duced into this exercise in the upper classes. A supply of roots, affixes, and suffixes may be given, and the pupils required to make words. Special exercise in those little words to which I have before referred should be given occasionally: for just the reason, perhaps, that they are small, mistakes in them are specially objectionable. The proper division of words into syllables should not be neglected. In the upper classes the punctuation and use of capitals seldom show good teaching. There is too great a disposition to confine the exercises in dictation to the reading books used, with the result of disaster when, at a special examination, the examiner goes outside that boundary. Fairly good composition is often disfigured by incorrect spelling. Thorough drill in words of special difficulty should be attended to. Sullivan's " Spelling-book Superseded," and Stormonth's " English Spellings and Spelling Bules " are useful books. Oral spelling is not to be despised, and, as an exercise, it is a help to pronunciation. Wbiting.—The writing throughout the district, though reaching a fair level, very seldom attains anything approaching excellence, and in a few cases it is extremely bad. In the lower classes slate writing is generally well done, though improvement may be effected by insisting upon larger slates being used, and having them carefully ruled. The practice of allowing the use of small pieces of pencil is much too common, and, seeing that both pencils and pencil holders are issued by the Board, there is no excuse for it. In some schools Standard I. scholars write in copy books, and with good results, as might be expected, where teachers exhibit interest sufficient in their scholars to commence this work earlier than required by the regulations. In Standards 11. to IV. there is some room for fault-finding. Want of uniformity is an objectionable feature, and it could not well be otherwise, owing to the absence of a defined system of instruction. Standard lE, just commencing the use of a pen, and not having yet mastered the difficulties of posture, nor learned how to hold the pen correctly, is supplied with an exercise book for home work. In this book the child is allowed to write without the help of double lines—freedom which cannot safely be given earlier than Standard IV. The writing generally has, no doubt, been unfavourably affected by the reintroduction of Darnell's copy books. Vere Foster's are also used; but, though some fairly regular writing is produced by the upper classes, it is wanting in boldness and freedom, and seems to me to be the style of writing most likely to degenerate easily under the pressure of the principal business requirement—viz., rapidity. Where one meets occasionally with a specially favourable specimen, it appears to be more the result of a strong i .dividuality than of the excellence of the system. I consider the books published by Whitcombc: „nd Tombs, Cox's, and Cowham's on the Mulhauser system, to be decidedly superior to those at present used, and would recommend their introduction. lam fully aware that good copy books alone are not sufficient to produce good writing, and even that very satisfactory results are produced in schools where they are very little used. To produce a clear, bold, round, and regular hand, something more is necessary. Corrections and illustrations on the blackboard must not be omitted, and strict attention to details must be insisted upon. Thorough drilling in the lower classes in holding the pen, posture at desk, and formation of the various parts of the letters, will prevent the necessity for anything much more than practice, under strict supervision, in the upper classes. The use of exercise books with single lines only should be restricted to the three upper standards. Galleries are very nearly obsolete in this district, and, in connection with this subject, it is well that it is so. That so many of the younger children accomplish good slate writing in schools where galleries are used is testimony to the power of the teacher to triumph over difficulties. Abithmetic.—Notwithstanding its invariably prominent position in the time table, this subject furnishes the largest number of failures, though the percentage is not sufficient to indicate any great degree of weakness. There is evidence of careful attention to the lower, and of diligent working in the upper classes, but not altogether that kind of drilling in tables and notation and numeration which insures the correct and certain application of these details where necessary. The subject would be sounder in the upper classes if there were a greater searching after the best methods, securing variation of treatment, and illustration and exhibition of shortened processes. Mental arithmetic requires more practical treatment, and its connection with slate and paper work should be more insisted upon. Not that mental arithmetic is neglected; but it is confined too much to formal processes, which are not without their value, but do not cultivate that mental keenness so essential to correct and rapid computation without artificial aids. The teaching of mental arithmetic by rule has a tendency to increase the possibility of arithmetic becoming mechanical work. I recommend teachers to procure a little book upon this subject published by the National Society. The most serious feature in connection with this subject is the strong evidence which exists of the neglect of revision of back work. Other subjects are not exempt from this defect; and it is one which reveals the possibility, in connection with standard work, that a child may pass through the course by means of a series of efforts which have no due and proper connection, and that his equipment on leaving school may consist of that which he acquired during the last year, the remainder having become dim, or altogether forgotten. The cases were not few where the questions confined to the work for the year were satisfactorily answered, and a question in a rule belonging to the previous year's work proved an insurmountable difficulty. At the scholarship examination, the candidates ranging from fourteen to sixteen years of age, the majority failed to work correctly very simple questions in the elementary rules. In framing simple problems for the lower classes I have, on the whole, carefully observed the restriction imposed by the regulations. Still, the results cannot be accepted as altogether satisfactory. It is no uncommon thing for a teacher to say —and this applies as well to the upper classes—" I cannot understand why so many fail in working the problems. I have been so careful to give plenty of practice during the year." Here, perhaps, lies the secret. There is too much inclination to believe in the precept that " practice makes perfect." Practice is certainly most necessary ; but without skilful and painstaking analysis on the blackboard it is of only limited use. Another remark one often hears— that " if the question had been put in another shape," &c. —goes to prove the soundness of my con-