and Ordinary Schools. The upper division of the School, under the Master, was on the whole satisfactory; the desks, however, are badly arranged, and the registers untidy and incomplete.

Christchurch Wesleyan School ... July 30 ... Present, 112 ... A very wet day. Ventilation still defective.

The School passed a very satisfactory examination, attaining a high average of accuracy.

Lower Heathcote School, Ferry road ... August 5 ... Present, 15 ... Attendance reduced by measles and unfavourable weather.

The School-room wall is damp; the plasterwork holds the wet, and is, therefore, less suitable than wooden lining for school buildings.

Note.—Another objection to it is, that it soon gets out of repair, cracks and falls in cakes or blocks, sometimes endangering the children.

I regret to find that no notice has been taken by the School Committee of the warning from the Board as to the deficiency of furniture and apparatus. The necessity of these things is insisted on in the report for the month of April.

Two-thirds of the school, including all over six years of age, were unusually deficient in Reading, Spelling, Writing and Arithmetic.

St. Andrew’s School ... August 5 ... Present, 58 ... The school was crowded, while most others have been thinly attended owing to the measles and the weather. The school-room is not large enough for the attendance.

The school children here are remarkably clean and orderly. They passed a very satisfactory examination.

Heathcote Valley School ... August 7 ... Present, 26 ... The school is still without Bibles. A black board and other apparatus are wanted.

The organization, discipline, and attainments are, as yet, far from satisfactory. But some excuse is afforded both by the frequent disrepair of the building, which suffers from almost every gale; and by the deficiency of proper apparatus.

St. Alban’s ... August 8 ... Present, 28 ... A very cold day. The stove is not so placed as to give out much heat besides what escapes up the chimney. It is not large enough for this room, which is capable of comfortably accommodating 120 children.

The lower part of the school was much more satisfactory than the upper, as to the attainments of the children. The copy-books of the elder children were not creditable, and their attainments generally were below the average. The master had recently resigned.

Riccarton ... August 12 ... Present, 80 ... The buildings and premises have been improved at a very considerable outlay, and are now in good order.

More desks are wanted, as there is at present only desk room for 16 children. The children are more orderly than they were, but their attainments in Elementary Knowledge are quite unsatisfactory. They have learned to read badly, and are unable to spell such words of ordinary difficulty as are found in the first pages of the several books set down for them in the Teacher’s programme. This fault pervades every class in the school. There seems to have been too much reliance on a fanciful method called the “Phonic” system.

The Writing and Arithmetic were more satisfactory.

Upper Heathcote School ... August 13 ... Present, 27 ... Satisfactory.

North Road School ... August 14 ... Present, 19 ... New Teacher.

Eyreton School ... August 19 ... Present, 11 ... The floods in the Eyre kept away some children, and a funeral some others. Those present passed a very satisfactory examination.

Cust School ... August 20 ... Present, 17 ... Recently commenced under a new Teacher. Sufficient desks and fittings in the schoolroom. The Chairman was about to obtain a liberal supply of books and apparatus.

Oxford Church of England School ... August 20 ... Present, 30. Satisfactory, except as to the copy books.

Proposed Harewood School at Oxford ... August 20 ... Present, 24 ... Being aware of an application for aid to this school, I visited it while in the neighbourhood.