8.—2.

[Appendix C.

have been provided without stint and without help from the Board ; and were a general grant made to the district by the Government for the promotion of manual and technical work it would be easy for every school to receive some form of technical instruction. In quite a number of schools everything partakes of method and arrangement. The grounds are neat, the gardens in admirable order, the shrubs are named, and dried specimens of weeds, or grasses or flowers, or collections of insects are ready for inspection and remark. But whilst it is possible to praise the general state of the buildings and the neatness of the school surroundings, it is necessary to point out that the desks and blackboards in use continue to give trouble. It is too often forgotten that boards and desks have been in constant use for twenty and in some cases for thirty or more years. They have not been painted, or planed, or repaired, and in some places the beetle-borer has attacked the wood. Then, again, the flooring in many of the schools requires attention. In Canada. England, and Scotland all school-floors are made of wooden blocks like ordinary bricks, so that there is no noise when class movements are taking place, and with the single desk the rooms fulfil all modern hygienic conditions. The Board's buildings arc perhaps better lighted and ventilated, but in all new buildings it would be well to equip them on modern lines, and in a way that experience shows is necessary. The three district high schools —viz., Hastings, Waipawa, and Woodville —continue to prosper. The successes gained by the pupils in the Civil Service and Matriculation Examinations were numerous and highly satisfactory. Waipawa deserves special mention in this connexion. At each school excellent provision has been made for instruction in science, including chemistry, physics, and the chemistry of agriculture, and it is gratifying to know that the provision made has met with the hearty approval of local governing bodies throughout the district. The Catholic teachers continue to deserve words of praise for their constant efforts to maintain their schools in fair working-condition. It is to be regretted that all the private schools in the district are not subject to examination or inspection. To the credit of the Catholic authorities it must be said that the schools continue to be carefully managed and to show satisfactory improvement. Last year I lie number of pupils examined in the eight schools established in the Hawke's Bay District was a little over a thousand. The Sisters are ever alive to the study of modern teaching-methods, and they excel in training the children in good manners and deportment—an aspect of training thai might well be improved in some of the Board schools. Two other private schools were examined —viz.. Mrs. Hogg's in Qisborne, and a station school at Mangatokerau, inland from Tolaga Bay. Both schools arc doing very well, and the results of my examinations in each case were satisfactory. As this is probably my final annual report to the Board, and as Mr. Smith, my confrere, is retiiinii from tlic service at the end of April next, a brief resume of the educational changes that have taken place in the district during the period of our service may fitly close the general report. It should be mentioned that Mr. Smith has been closely connected with the educational work of Hawke's Bay for many years, and, although he has spent but few years as an Inspector, he has played an important part in the educational advancement of the district. By the passing of the Education Act (1877) the new educational district of Hawke's Bay was enlarged by the addition of the Cook County, which reached from Frasertown near Wairoa, to Cape Runaway in the Bay of Plenty, a distance of about two hundred miles. By this extension of district five schools —viz., Frasertown, Gisborne, Matawhero, Ormond, and Tolaga Bay —were added to the twenty-six schools in the old Provincial District <>f Hawke's Bay, making a total of thirty-one schools, containing 1,854 pupils, and an average attendance of 1,580. The European population of the district between Woodville and Cape Runaway was. according to the census of 1878, nineteen thousand. The school accommodation only sufficed fur nine hundred children, so that the entire business of reorganizing the educational work had to lie taken in hand. There were schools to build, districts to be constituted, teachers to train, regulations to prepare, School Committees to organize, a teachers' salary scale to arrange, and many other matters dealing with pupil-teachers, schemes of work, and so on. Everything was new, communication was difficult, and settlement so scattered that three long days, for instance, were necessary to get from Dannevirke to Porangahau ! Southward from Napier the railway terminus was Takapau, and coaching was necessary to reach the three small schools at Norsewood (54), Dannevirke (33), and Woodville (43). which provided for all tin l school needs of that extensive district in 1878. School was carried on at Norsewood and Dannevirke in the dining-room of the small residence occupied by each teacher. At Woodville there was a small building which was reached by a sort of causeway made up of the stumps of tree-ferns. There was a small school at Ashley Clinton of 22 pupils and another at Porangahau (23). With the three bush schools these wen- the only schools south of Waipukurau, which then had a school of 41 pupils. South of Hastings the only other schools were Te Aute (31), Kaikora (29), Patangata (17), Tamumu (15), Waipawa (51), and Hampden (26). Napier had two schools, both in hired rooms, one being the present Protestant Hall (147) and another in a room in Emerson Street (236). Port Ahuriri had a school of 51 pupils. Then there were Clive East (43), Clive West (22), Hastings (15), Havelock (53), Meanee (37), Taradale (99), Puketapu (21), Petane (27), and Wairoa (63). These were all the schools in September, 1878, and with the five schools in the Cook County made up an attendance of 1,580 pupils. As at present, the Catholics had their own school in Napier and Meanee. The Education Board held their meeting monthly. In those days there were no manual and instruction regulations, no departmental examinations, no salary returns and a hundred of other non-essentials for efficient education such as now deemed to be necessary. A day sufficed for correspondence and minutes of the Board's meeting, and I started away on official duty, the late Mr. Fannin, who was County Clerk, doing the work of Treasurer and Assistant Secretary in a most efficient manner during my absence. In those days most of the country was unfenced and without proper roads. There were innumerable tracks, and several times I had to spend the night out in the open in consequence of losing my way, or other causes; but there were pleasures that compensated for all the disadvantages. Winter schools for teachers were established, and the best teachers from Home were obtained. In 1878 five counties constituted the whole of the present

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