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Fernside School, December 6. Present, 34. (Attendance reduced by last two days’ wet and this morning’s uncertain weather.) The very satisfactory progress and the judicious course of instruction reflect much credit on the zeal and efficiency of the master, Mr. Poore. The school is one of the best supplied as to maps, diagrams, and other apparatus.

Eyreton School, December 6. Present 19, (low average) owing to the unusual flood in the River Eyre. Leakage through the roof, about the stove-pipe, will probably be at once repaired. Organization, discipline, and attainments satisfactory.

Rangiora Boys’ School, December 7. Present 70. Register incomplete as to weekly and quarterly totals. A lower than usual average of accuracy in arithmetic, together with the inaccuracy of some of the lower classes in reading and spelling, contributed to a less favourable result than this school usually affords. The attainments of several children were highly creditable. The instrumental and vocal performances of the children render the new school attractive.

Ashley Bank School, December 10. Present 27. The copy-books are not yet sufficiently improved. In other respects the attendance and efficiency of the school are increasing.

Saltwater Creek ........ December 11 ... Present 18 ... Satisfactory.

Leithfield School ........ December 11 ... Present 15 ... Satisfactory.

Woodend ........ December 12 ... Present 42 ... Considerable improvement in elementary and ordinary subjects. The master teaches Mensuration, Euclid, and Book-keeping, &c., to the first class, out of school hours.

Lyttelton Wesleyan School, December 13. Present 64. The excellent order and increasing numbers and efficiency reflect great credit upon Mr. and Mrs. Borthwick.

Lyttelton Church of England School, December 14. Present 63. The inside of the building has been strengthened as well as otherwise improved by the substitution of the wooden lining for the crumbling and unsafe plasterwork. The munificence of a member of the School Committee has surrounded the school by a substantial fence. Good order is not well sustained. The junior classes are neither judiciously nor skilfully taught; one child had, in a short time, learned much reading but little spelling.

Upper Heathcote ........ December 18 ... Present 30 ... Moderate.

Riccarton ........ December 18 ... Present 23 ... The alterations in the building permit of a better arrangement of the classes. The new teacher has not yet acquired a thorough control over the pupils.

Prebbleton ........ December 19 ... Present 16 ... Improving. Premises fenced.

Templeton ........ December 19 ... Present 5 (!) ... The very disorganised state into which the school has lapsed, points to the necessity of a more speedy termination of the engagement of a new but very unsuccessful teacher. The interests of a school generally, and of the children individually, suffer by protracted neglect.

Lincoln, December 20. Present 27. I was much gratified to find that the unusually large class of elder children, attracted by the improved efficiency of the school under Mr. Fergusson, had made very creditable progress, affording a proportionately larger number of good readers, spellers, and cipherers than many much larger schools. The progress of the younger children was also very satisfactory. The master informs me that he himself, without remuneration, dug the well which I observed to be about 14 feet deep.

Governor’s Bay, December 21st. Present 13. Very satisfactory, except as to the limited space in which the children are cooped. They are well grounded in each subject.

The proposed Tai Tapu School, which I stated above to be about three miles from that at Lincoln, is a chapel about 18 x 24 outside. A platform and reading-desk, or pulpit, upon it occupy four or five feet across one end of the room; the rest of the available space is lumbered up with cumbrous benches, ill-suited for school use. There is no fireplace nor chimney. There are no out-door offices on the site, nor any building besides the chapel, which has a porch, and may be considered a tolerably well-finished building with an imitation-of-stone frontage.

Further particulars as to each examination are stated in the Journal.

I have the honour to be, Sir,

Your obedient Servant,

J. P. RESTELL,

Inspector of Schools.