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Auckland District. After the issue by the Department of Pamphlet No. 14 it would be natural to expect an improvement in the speech of the pupils, and to find that improvement manifested in more distinct enunciation in reading and recitation, as well as in all oral work. Our experimce has been that little use has been made of the excellent material contained in the pamphlet, and that the speech in our schools does not show the improvement that might reasonably be expected. Seldom do we find any mention of the pamphlet in the schemes of work. Those teachers who have followed the suggested courses have achieved creditable results ; many, however, consider the subject as one to be dealt with entirely in conjunction with oral composition. There are a few teachers, but their number is very small, who give lessons in voice-training and the purity of vowel sounds, but the effort on the part of both teacher and pupil lasts only for some ten minutes per week. Canterbury District. The teaching of composition proceeds in much the same manner as in previous years. In our best schools the quality of the written essays is distinctly creditable both in diction and in orderly arrangement of ideas. Where the work is inferior, the fault lies not so much with the pupils as with the teacher. " A pupil's written composition is predetermined by his oral practice and habit," and we are constantly impressing on our teachers the value —and, indeed, the necessity —of training in oral expression in connection with all lessons as the basis of well-constructed written essays. Here and there we have noticed a tendency to underestimate the oral composition lesson in the upper classes. This is to be deprecated, for, apart from its importance as an aid to written work, the power of exact oral expressioTi is of use in every phrase of social and public life. Auckland District. Probably the most useful accomplishment for the adult is to be able to express himself clearly either orally or by writing ; hence the teaching of composition is the most important part of a teacher's formal work ; yet in no subject is there such a difference in the results obtained. With the adoption of print-script in the primer department written expression has become more popular with teachers and scholars. It is quite common to find children in Primer 3 writing most creditable stories, and pupils in Standards I and II reproduce stories and deal with subjects autobiographically in a most pleasing way. In the higher classes, however, there seems to be a lack of purpose or plan. " Give and mark " appears to be the usual practice. Pupils who read widely always present the best exercises in composition ; and in those schools where provision has been made for well-stocked libraries, and where special encouragement has been given to silent reading in school combined with home reading, composition is usually of a high standard. Definite teaching in sentence-structure is needed, and an attempt should be made to develop in the pupils an appreciation of good English. Part of the time now devoted to arithmetic and to formal grammar might well be given to the study of gems of literature, both prose and poetry. System in the choice of subjects is also necessary; the imaginative type too frequently predominates. Grammar, as a rule, is fairly well taught; but it is often treated in isolation, instead of in conj unction with composition. Quite a number of teachers appear to think that the presence in the schoolroom of the books by Peasey, Kerr, and Glover is likely to exert a magic influence ; these works are not used as they might be as real aids to the teaching of English. The prominence given to the teaching of analysis is to be regretted. Teachers focus their attention on this phase of the subject, with consequent neglect of synthesis, variation in the form of sentences, and the study of the functions of words. The wide range of errors set for correction appears to - be a weakness, and an investigation into the errors actually made by pupils in composition exercises would seem to be well worth while. The teaching of grammar to Standard II still persists in some schools, and some quite advanced schemes in this subject for this class have been noted. Otago District. The work in this subject is not as strong as we should like, especially when the advance from Standard IV to Standard VI is considered. We find generally that there is little gain except in the length of the essays. The vocabularies of the senior pupils are often so meagre as to suggest that very little work is done towards enlarging the pupils' knowledge of the language. Sentence-structure is nearly always correct, but, speaking generally, we find only fair ability in organizing material and in arranging paragraphs. We should like to see more extended study of paragraphs of good prose and well-selected descriptive extracts. We recommend that the pupils should occasionally select from their reading-books examples of good English for careful study. The value of the oral composition lesson as a basis for written work and for the teaching of the mother-tongue does not appear to be fully appreciated. We urge that not only in the set composition lesson, but in such subjects as history, geography, and nature-study, pupils should be encouraged and required to discuss freely the topics that arise in class-work. Formal grammar still receives too much attention, and is not sufficiently taught as the handmaid to composition. Spelling. Auckland District. Spelling is by no means a strong subject. It is too often simply " taken " day by day, and not " taught "at all; in other words, it is just a " learn and test " subject. The short time during which the children attend the primary schools renders it impossible to dispense with direct instruction in

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