53

E.—lβ.

•exercise of memory, and its choicest fruit a mere repertory of names without content. This, however, is but a miserable travesty of a subject which in itself is capable of affording an excellent training for every mental power. Class and Additional Subjects. —These subjects continue to receive, on the whole, a satisfactory amount of attention. As a rule, where the standard work is well done there also is the work in the class and additional subjects well done. This concomitance can be due to no mere accident; it is the natural outcome of the teacher's force'of character, and, to a large extent, the measure of his mental sympathies. Infant Department. —The infant departments of the larger schools in the district are, on the whole, in a very efficient condition, the mistresses being sympathetic in manner, progressive in their methods, and unremitting in the discharge of their duties. Glass above Standard Vl. —During the year much really good work was done in this class all over the district. In some schools the pupils under the guidance of the teacher employed themselves in preparing for different public examinations. In others they devoted themselves to the revision of the standard work and to the study of at least two of the subjects suggested by the Board's circular of the 23rd May, 1896. It must, however, be added that in several instances all the members of this class absented themselves from the annual examination, the inference being that they were merely nominal pupils. The school is no place for such, and it should be at once unburdened of the attendance of any pupil who declines to be subjected to a fixed course of study. It almost invariably happened that the pupils of this class did the best work in the schools in which the standard classes did well. Moral Tone. —" The one and the whole work of education may be summed up in the concept— morality; and morality is the highest aim of humanity." In view of the fact that, normally, intellectual culture monopolises almost the whole of the educational field this announcement by Herbart, one of the greatest of all authorities in education, at the beginning of one of his best known works, may well cause some searching of heart. If the work of teaching in our schools does not produce in the pupils strength of will and a bias towards right conduct, if it does not tend to produce independence of spirit and moral fibre in the community, then it is a spurious article, unworthy of being a factor in the development of a free people. Our observation, so far as it goes, leads us to infer that moral aims are more or less distinctly recognised in all the schools. Young teachers, as indeed is natural, are sometimes so consumed with zeal for intellectual growth that they but dimly recognise formation of character in their pupils as an end in itself. From the moral standpoint it is seen that in the administration of their schools grave responsibility attaches to the headmasters. It is not enough to offer a mere passive resistance to wrong-doing, nor to combat evil tendencies as they arise. The entire economy of the school should be so ordered that during his school career a sufficiency of moral sense should be developed in the pupil to enable him to pronounce correct moral judgments on his thoughts and actions as naturally as to cast up correctly arithmetical sums. James Hendey, ) t , The Secretary Education Board, Southland. Geo. D. BeaikJ -^pe^ o * ,B -

Summary of Results for the Whole District.

Roman Catholic Schools.

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B—E. Iβ.

Classes. Presented. Examined in Standards. Passed. Average Age o; those that passed. Yrs. inns. Above Standard VI. ... Standard VI. V. IV. III. II. I. 177 559 915 1,390 1,295 1,225 1,131 2,866 547 898 1,351 1,254 1,196 1,105 499 732 1,029 1,037 1,150 1,085 13 10 13 0 12 1 10 11 9 11 8 8 Preparatory ... Totals ... 9,558 6,351 5,532 11 5* - i !ean of average a. je.

School. Presented. Examined in Standards. Passed. Invercargill Convent ... Invercargill Boys' Convent, East Gore Convent, Queenstown ... School, Arrow 157 95 60 60 26 103 90 41 34 21 96 88 38 34 12