77

E.—l

send the children under their charge regularly to school. These measures are attended with but small success ; and there is little doubt that a large number of children are growing up without that training for the duties of life wdiich the public system of education provides; and this is specially true of the large centres of population, where schools are good, and most easy of access. The existing schools could w 7ith perfect ease overtake the education of the whole of this class of children, and some effective means of gathering them into the schools ought certainly to be adopted. The Truant Inspector has already made his appearance in some towns, and with good results; and the Committees and the police will doubtless resort to his services to a larger extent in the future. The number of Maori and half-caste children attending the schools in this district is as follow7s : Maoris —Eleven males, nine females; half-caste, or other children of mixed race living among Europeans—thirty-two males, twenty-eight females. The number of schools in which there are Maori or half-caste scholars, or those of mixed race, is twelve. Ages of Pupils.—The following table shows the number and ages of the pupils that attended the public schools in the district during the last quarter of the years 1885, 1886, 1887, 1888, 1889, and 1890. [Not reprinted.] Scholarships.—Twenty scholarships—ten senior and ten junior—were offered for competition at the end of the year. Thirty-four candidates competed for the senior and seventy-eight for the junior scholarships. It is satisfactory to record that several of the Board's scholarship holders have again been successful in winning junior scholarships in connection with the New Zealand University. The privilege of free education at the Boys' and Girls' High Schools, hitherto enjoyed by scholarship holders, has been withdrawn by the Board of Governors, owing to the Board's financial position. Free education at the above schools —a scholarship of itself—is still granted to all candidates for senior scholarships who, although failing to win a scholarship, make 50 per cent, and over of the attainable marks. The amount expended on scholarships w ras : Paid to holders, £1,255 ; expenses of examination, £44 3s. 9d. During the year new regulations were adopted. These regulations were drawn up w 7ith the view of giving greater advantages to the children in the small country schools. Inspection.—All the schools that were opened throughout the year were examined; and all except four were visited for inspection, but five of those visited were found closed. The following is an abstract of the work done by the Inspectors during the year:—

Standards.—For examination in the standards 14,271 pupils were submitted. Of these, 13,915 were present, and 11,399 passed. The number of absentees was 356, or 2*5 per cent, of those presented. Of the 13,915 who were examined, 495, or nearly 3*6 per cent., were excepted — that is, they were not reckoned as passing or failing, and were left out of account in computing the percentage of failures. The percentage of passes in standards was 82, which is 2 per cent, below that obtained last year; the percentage of failures was 14, as against 13*8 for 1889, 15*3 for 1888, and 18 per cent, for 1887. The average percentage of marks for class-subjects was 54, and the average additional marks 69. The latter number is somewhat above and the former somewhat below that for several preceding years. Efficiency.—Of the 191 schools examined— 22 ( = 12 per cent.) had a percentage of failures ranging from ... oto 5 31 (= 16 per cent.) „ „ * ... 6 to 10 57 (= 30 per cent.) „ „ „ ... 11 to 20 40 (= 21 per cent.) „ „ „ ... 21 to 30 20 (= 10 per cent.) „ „ „ ... 31 to 40 13 ( = 7 per cent.) „ „ „ ... 41 to 50 8(= 4 per cent.) „ „ „ ... 51 to 62 The following are the twenty-two schools at w7hich the percentage of failures was 5 or less, with the number of pupils presented in each : — r, , i Percentage of -- T . -, „ , , Percentage of , T , . School. Failures. No. presented. School. Failures. No. presented. Highcliff ... ... 0 ... 76 pupils Pukeuri ... ... 3 ... 104 pupils Macrae's ... ... 0 ... 21 „ Waipahi ... ... 3 ... 59 „ Lee Stream... ... 0 ... 14 „ Bluespur ... ... 4 ... 129 „ Mount Stuart ... 0 ... 16 „ Green Island ... 4 ... 391 „ Bongahere ... ... 0 ... 21 „ Kaikorai ... ... 4 ... 692 „ Tarras ... ... 0 ... 20 „ Moa Flat ... .. 4 ... 51 „ Wangaloa ... ... 0 ~. 17 „ Stirling ... ... 4 ... 157 „ Kakanui ... ... 1 • •'• 131 „ Beaumont ... ... 5 ..." 36 „ Normal School ... 2 ... 731 „ Benevolent... ... 5 ... 40 „ East Taieri... ... 3 ... 165 „ Moonlight ... ... 5 ... 33 „ Mosgiel ... ... 3 ... 330 „ Totara ... .., 5 ... 43 „

Inspector. Time. [ Distance travelled. Inspection Visits. Schools examined.* .i. Petrie t. Taylor r. Goyen Hours. 1,961 1,804 1,997 Miles. 3,729 3,490 4,587 90 75 83 77 74 73 * Thirty-three of the schools in this column are reckoned twice over, as two Inspectors worked together in ixamining them.