17

E.—lb.

been done to improve the teachers' residences. For a number of years no improvements have been attempted, and some of the residences have fallen into a state of disrepair which is far from creditable to the district. Most of the school buildings are in good order and repair, and some of them, like Waipukurau, Waipawa, Norsewood, Hastings, Napier (Infants'), and Napier (Hastings Street), Meanee, Te Arai, Petane, Hampden, Woodville, and Port Ahuriri, are models of neatness in their internal arrangements, if not in their external surroundings; but lam at a loss to understand why one so often finds, when visiting the schools, petty defects to fences and buildings neglected when things might be so easily placed in order by the pupils themselves, if directed to do so by their teachers. Gisborne and Meanee appear to be the only two schools where improvements are carried out in this way. One hears a good deal about the thriftlessness of people generally in this country, but it seems to me that something akin to thriftless habits are being engendered among the children attending the schools by the non-application of the excellent motto of " the stitch in time." A hammer, saw, plane, rake, and spade are as useful and quite as necessary as pens, ink, and pencils in the economy of life, and I think one might reasonably expect to find them forming a part of the appliances of every well-equipped school. For my part, I see no reason whatever why children should not be encouraged and even required to keep school fences and grounds in good order and repair, under the supervision of the teachers. lam satisfied that a good deal of money would be annually saved to the districts in this way, and it would be perhaps the best means of illustrating the possibility of applying theory to practice in the matter of school training. Here technical training and school studies might easily be made to go hand in hand. Examination Eesults. —At the da.te of my examinations forty-six schools were in operation, and the names of 5,577 children were returned as attending, 3,733 of them being entered for examination in standards. The latter number represents nearly 67 per cent, of the cbildren in the district. Of the standard pupils 118 absented themselves on examination day from unavoidable causes, 147 were "excepts" under Eegulation 6, and of those remaining 889 failed to reach the requirements as laid down by the department in the " Standards of Instruction." The actual number of passes for the year was 2,561, exclusive of the pupils above Standard VI. and of those attending the highest class at the Gisborne District High School. The corresponding numbers for the previous year were : On the roll, 5,221; presented in standards, 3,350 ; passed, 2,194. The following tabulation gives in a summarised form the results of the standard examination for the year:—

Failures—Modification Suggested.—With respect to the " failures," a few words of explanation are necessary. Many of those who have been unsuccessful in the examination are well qualified in a large portion of the work required for a pass, and a failure in a standard should simply be interpreted as representing insufficient progress in one, or probably not more than two, of the subjects known as "pass subjects." Wherever pupils are presented for examination, one may rest assured they are fairly prepared for the ordeal through which they are required to pass, and in estimating the standard results of a school or district even the failures should receive consideration, for they always represent a good deal of educational progress on the part of pupils, and certainly much hard work on the part of their teachers. I am inclined to think that the present mode of estimating the progress of the schools simply by the number of standard passes too often gives rise to what, for the want of a better term, must be called an injustice. At present, a pupil failing in a pass subject like reading counts as a failure for a standard, however excellent he may be in the other subjects necessary for a pass. This, no doubt, is a proper thing as far as promotion to a higher standard is concerned, but it is difficult to understand why all the other pass subjects, in which even the failed pupils may have done well, should not count in favour of the teacher and the school where the pupils have been taught. This could readily be done without altering the present arrangements, by the addition in the official schedules of a column for each standard showing the actual passes in subjects as well as in standards. By adopting some such simple plan, I am satisfied that much needless anxiety would be taken from many teachers, who are too often blamed for standard failures without reference or regard to the number of passes which may have been gained by their pupils in separate subjects. Quality of Work. —The quality of the work done in the schools continues to show signs of steady improvement. In class teaching one sees the introduction of intelligent methods by skilful 3—E. Ib.

Standard Classes. Number Presented. CD CO Ixamiin in tandarc 1 "O p< CD O i I in Numbej Passed Standai CD r so . c3 CD in CO rds. > < Is. M. 10 62 152 283 395 444 624 F. Total. 18 149 278 530 778 848 1,132 M. 10 59 142 258 372 413 584 F. Total. 18 143 263 486 724 777 1,057 3 5 19 33 37 50 M. ' F. Total. Yrs. mos. S7 S6 S5 S4 S3 S2 SI 8 87 126 247 383 404 508 3 10 25 21 34 25 8 84 121 228 352 364 473 : 32 42 89 97 > 151 167 214 255 160 318 243 428 69 77 168 255 299 386 Ill 14 2 174 13 3 335 12 7 510 11 7 617 10 4 814 9 0 Preparatory 1,970 1,763 3,733 1,844 118 1,838 1,630 3,468 147! 8891,307 1,307 1,254| |2,561 11 10 972 872 2,942 2,635 5,577