5

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Expenditure. The total net expenditure on Native schools during the year 1911 was £35,881 9s. 4d., included in which amount is the sum of £2,680 paid out of revenues from endowment reserves. New buildings and additions involved an expenditure of £3,451 ; maintenance and repairs, £2,053. Table HlO is a classified summary of expenditure.

No. 2. REPORT OF INSPECTORS. The Inspectors of Native Schools to the Inspector-General of Schools. Sir,— Wellington, 27th May, 1912. In accordance with instructions, we have the honour to place before you our report on the general condition of the Native schools and the work done by them during the year 1911. At the end of the year 1910 there were ninety-nine schools in operation. During the yearjthe following new schools were opened, viz. : Te Huruhi, Waiheke Island ; Orauta, Bay of Islands ; Rangiahua, Wairoa, Hawke's Bay ; and Taharoa, Kawhia. Two schools were reopened —viz., Waiotapu, Hot Lakes District; and Kokako, near Lake Waikaremoana. The Te Kopua School, Waikato, was closed owing to insufficient attendance, and Orauta School had also to be closed for a time, owing to unforeseen circumstances. There were thus 104 Native village schools in operation at the end of the year 1911. The erection of buildings at Rangitahi, Galatea, Waihua and WhahaM, Wairoa, Hawke's Bay, was in hand at the end of the year, and these schools have since commenced operations, the total number of schools at the present time being 107. In regard to the applications for the establishment of new schools in various places, it has been decided to erect buildings at Horoera, East Coast; Wawongomai, East Coast; Mangatuna, East Coast; Te Reinga, Wairoa, Hawke's Bay ; Waiomio, Bay of Islands ; Kirioke, Bay of Islands ; Pukehina, Bay of Plenty ; Maungatapu and Matapihi, near Tauranga ; and Okere, near Rotorua. It has not been found possible to have the buildings put in hand earlier, as the Department's builders have been fully occupied with the erection of the other schools, and in some cases the acquisition of a legal title to the site has not been completed. Other applications that have been inquired into without result during the year are Moerangi, near Raglan, and Waihuehue, in the far North. The cases of Wairahi, near Whananaki; Toreha.ua, near Gisborne ; PuJcetui, near Thames ; and Mataniho, Tuhoe country, have yet to be investigated ; while the claims of Waiohau, Galatea, and Ruatahuna, Tuhoe country, will receive attention during the current year, their isolation having prevented their being visited so far. General Remarks. In regard to the working of the schools and the proficiency attained in the various subjects of the school course, we beg to submit the following remarks : — English. —We are again pleased to state our appreciation of the progress made in reading, which we regard as being, on the whole, satisfactorily taught. The improvement effected in the method of teaching in the early stages has now shown itself in the work of the standard classes, and the Maori children, on the whole, find no difficulty in reading the prescribed books and in comprehending the meaning of the subject-matter. We should now be glad to see new reading-books introduced, the present series having been in use for the past seven or eight years. In the standard classes, at any rate, suitable continuous readers would be welcomed, and. would afford a greater variety of readingmatter than do the miscellaneous readers supplied at present. The slow rate of progress made in reading by the infant children in a few schools again calls for some remark. It is to us incredible that a child six or seven years old should complete a whole year in the lowest division of the preparatory class and, after receiving regular instruction according to recognized methods, be unable to read fluently words of two or three letters of regular formation. We look for special explanation in each case where this is found, but do not feel convinced by the explanation we receive. In most of the schools the children find no difficulty in completing the reading of the first-primer book in their first year, and this is what should be done in all schools. With regard to correct pronunciation of English words, we find that there is, on the whole, little to complain of, especially in the schools where the drilling in phonics has been thoroughly given. The principal defect in the enunciation consists of the omission of the final " s," but attention should be given also to secure the clear production of all the final consonants, especially those used in forming the tenses of the verbs. We still find in many schools a great reluctance on the part of the pupils to speak out freely and distinctly. The teachers usually ascribe the defect to the nervousness or shyness of the children in presence of the Inspector. We should ascribe it rather to the fact that they have not formed the habit of speaking out, and suggest this to the teacher as a remedy. Once the habit has been formed as the result of constant training it is very unlikely that it will disappear entirely on examination-day. Nor do we think that the Maori child is peculiarly susceptible to shyness. When he feels that he knows his work he is quite anxious to display his powers, and does so with the utmost confidence. It is a remarkable fact that in the three schools which are in charge of teachers who are themselves Maori, the children from the lowest classes to the highest speak out freely and distinctly without evincing *»»y signs of the so-called nervousness.