E.—2.

[Appendix B.

Stratford —Hygiene, 25 ; home science, 15 ; drawing, 28 ; geography, 7 ; history and civics, 7 ; English, 18 ; mathematics, 9 ; school method, 9. Considering that the Department has gone to considerable trouble and expense to make provision for these classes, it is disappointing to find that the regularity of attendance has been unsatisfactory. It would not, wo think, be unreasonable to insistthat teachers attending these classes should make a deposit, which would bo refunded upon 80 per cent, of attendances being attained. Provision was also made for the tuition of uncertificated teachers by correspondence. Seven took advantage of this arrangement. The usual course of practical lessons for pupil-teachers conducted by the Inspectors was hold at New Plymouth, Inglewood, and Stratford centres. By the permission of the Board the uncertificated teachers were on this occasion allowed to attend in order that they might get an insight into the most up-to-date methods of treating certain subjects of the school curriculum. Many of the teachers welcomed the opportunity, and expressed their appreciation of the provision made by the Board for their benefit. It is intended to offer this year similar facilities. Efficiency. —Speaking generally we may say that the teachers of this district as a body continue to do good work, and during the year have discharged their onerous duties in a conscientious and painstaking manner, for which they are deserving of every credit. The efficiency of the schools generally is good. There are, however, a few subjects which we think it wise to refer to specially. Reading.- —Though the mechanical side of reading leaves little to be desired, we are not altogether satisfied that the pupils gain an intelligent understanding of the passage read. Teachers should give more attention to the subject-matter. Pupils who have not a thorough grasp of the spirit of the lesson naturally fail to express themselves in an intelligent manner. It should be clearly understood that fluency is not the sole object of"a reading-lesson : the rapid recognition of the thought underlying the words is of far more educative value. As we have before mentioned, too little importance is attached to silent reading. This can be made a powerful aid to the oral reading, especially in the sole-teacher schools. It must, however, be borne in mind that the silent lesson must be under the wise guidance of the teacher if the work is to be of much practical benefit. In connection with the lesson, the pupils must be encouraged to make an intelligent use of their dictionaries, and should be made to feel that their work is under close supervision and will be thoroughly examined. If some such system is adopted the pupils will become more self-reliant and the time taken up in the silent preparation will be time well spent. Recitation. —The pieces selected for recitation call for a more careful choice. The selection, we are inclined to think, is often made regardless of the literature of the piece, the sole object being the memorizing of the requisite numbor of lines, to the sacrifice of all else. The aim of the teacher should be to encourage thought, correct expression, and last, but not least, literary appreciation ; and we fail to see how this result can be fully attained unless the choice made is a wise one. Before attempting to memorize passages of poetry the teacher should by various devices attempt to arouse in the pupils a live interest in the sentiment expressed in the poem. First of all the story should be carefully dealt with, and the general truth arrived at by means of association and formulation, and finally the truth applied to the incidents of everyday life. In connection therewith a free use should be made of maps, pictures, and blackboard drawings, to visualize what is being taught. It has been suggested that a portion of an afternoon each month might be set apart for a little concert, at which the pupils would be asked to read, recite, sing, or toll stories. We heartily agree with this idea, and feel certain that this plan would do much to overcome the natural diffidence and unresponsiveness of pupils so noticeable in some of our country schools. Certainly the children would look forward to it, and the healthy rivalry and emulation thus engendered would result in improved workFigures of Speech. —Comparatively little attention is given to the study of the figures of speech. Pupils during the reading-lesson are occasionally asked to pick out a metaphor, or a simile, or to turn into a simile a metaphor chosen by the teacher. A systematic study of the figures, however, is essential not only for the full appreciation of the subject-matter of many of the reading-lessons, but also for the purposes of composition. The children cannot enter fully into the spirit of the pieces of poetry they are required to recite unless they have previously worked out the meaning of the similes used. They should be required to recognize that the intelligent use of figurative language frequently gives an additional vividness and beauty to description. With the object of getting the children to use in their essays a more definite and also a less hackneyed diction, the teacher should give them practice in making a set of metaphors and similes, forming them on the model of those examined in the class. A good plan would be for the teacher to reproduce the most striking of these on the blackboard and invite the criticism of his pupils. As these lessons proceed the children may be led to see the value of the simile and the metaphor in adding force, beauty, or clearness to whatever subject they may be writing about. There is no fear, as some teachers think, that the tendency of such lessons will be to encourage the pupils to produce high-flown and stilted phrases in their essays : it will operate rather in the opposite direction. Arithmetic. —Arithmetic in most of the standards is well done, but that of S5 is somewhat indifferent. With a view to assigning a cause for this comparative failure we have made a careful analysis of the results obtained in arithmetic in S4, S5, and S6 in this district during the year. We are forced to the conclusion that the weakness in S5 is due mainly to the comparative difficulty of the work prescribed for this standard. The arithmetic syllabus of S6 seems to us to be to a great extent a mere repetition of that of S5. A part of the burden of S5 might well be thrown on S6. In the majority of our schools the arithmetic is logically and neatly set out, but in a few, more especially those in charge of inexperienced teachers, these important features are not given sufficient attention to, the teachers' sole objective apparently being the obtaining of correct answers. These teachers overlook the fact that slovenly arrangement tends towards slovenly thinking. Owing to this defect many otherwise strong pupils have been deprived of full marks through no fault of their own. Again we feel that comparative failure in some of the sohools in this subject is due to the teachers neglecting to give

VIII