into a contract for the sum of £715, supposing that they would be able, from private subscriptions, to supply the balance required, in the meantime making themselves personally responsible to the contractor. Failing, however, to raise sufficient funds in this manner, the only alternative appeared to be to obtain the sum required by means of a rate, and the proposal submitted to the meeting was, that a Committee should be formed capable of imposing such a rate. This proposal, however, was negatived, and the individuals, it is understood, have been compelled to make up the deficiency from their private means.

EFFICIENCY OF SCHOOLS.

Certain of the schools which were found to be in an unsatisfactory condition, either as regards the progress of the children or the arrangements of the school, were, after due notice to the school authorities, visited by the Chairman, whose report the Board is happy to state showed that in every instance the defects pointed out had been removed so far as possible.

Detailed information as to the points requiring notice in the several schools will be found in the reports of the Inspector of Schools, appended to the present report.

As a general rule, to which however there are several exceptions, the Board has found that teachers are tempted to devote themselves too exclusively to the improvement of their higher classes, and as a consequence to neglect the children engaged in learning elementary subjects; but inasmuch as the former comprise a comparatively small portion, and the latter the large majority of the children, it is obvious that this practice must affect the general education of the province to a serious extent. Repeated representations have been made by the Board on the subject, and by the cordial co-operation, in most instances, of the local Committee, a great improvement has lately taken place in elementary instruction.

The school at Akaroa, which for a long time was in an unsatisfactory state, has, under the new master, Mr. James Murray, made remarkable progress. The Board, in consideration of the patient and painstaking manner in which he has conducted the school, and the great improvement which he has been the means of effecting in the proficiency of the scholars, has awarded him a gratuity of £10 out of the vote for contingencies.

It has been one great object with the Board, by offering every encouragement to zeal and diligence in the teachers, to make the schools efficient, and thus to induce parents to put their children under instruction. It appears to be an invariable rule, that as soon as a teacher becomes negligent, and the children under his charge cease to make progress, the attendance begins to fall off. On the other hand, whenever a school is properly conducted the number of children attending it is sure to increase.

No doubt a large attendance might be fostered by artificial means, even in cases where the children derived no benefit from the teaching; so that a large number of names on the school registers is not of itself any evidence of the soundness of a system, or of the general diffusion of anything worthy of the name of education. If the teacher is incompetent or negligent, or the attendance irregular, the great bulk of the children would leave school in as great a state of ignorance as they entered it, and so neither they nor the community would have received any benefit or any equivalent for the cost of their so-called education. On the other hand, if, as the experience of the Board would seem to show, the proper organization of the schools is in itself a means of securing a numerous and regular attendance, the paramount importance of directing attention to this object becomes at once very apparent.

The Board has, according to the practice adopted in the previous year, appropriated a small sum from the funds at its disposal, under the head “Contingencies,” to the purchase of books as prizes for such of the children in the different schools as have been found to evince particular diligence and attention to their school-work. A list of the names will be found in the Appendix to this Report.

By order of the Board,

HENRY JOHN TANCRED,
Chairman.