Defective organisation and discipline result from neglect of rules; from work done upon impulse rather than on principle; from the capricious cultivation of special subjects and pupils, to the neglect of others, either equally or more important. Their characteristics are alternations of laxity and severity; of high pressure work and exhaustion; of burning energy and supineness; of excessive silence and disorderly work; of brilliant results and fluctuation; and a standard of attainment below the average, yet excelling in some subjects, while falling far short in others.

Next to the general aspect of a schoolroom, the Time-table, the Registers and the Copy Books, are the best indications of the good or bad organization of a school; if these be neat, and shew traces of the teacher’s care and punctuality, the case is hopeful and encouraging; but if otherwise, further examination, although a painful duty, is scarcely necessary.

A well-digested Time-table, adapted to the wants of the school, indicates the energy and perseverance of the teacher; an unsuitable Time-table, or a slovenly one, or the absence of one, are the reverse indications.

In the school-register, the steadiness of the attendance, borne out by facts, as often coincides with a steadfast fulfilment of duty as it varies with the reverse of it. The absence of pupils satisfactorily explained, indicates the discipline. The neatness, accuracy, and fidelity with which the registers are kept, are a criterion of character. Habitual negligence in registration conduces to incorrect and fallacious returns. Want of punctuality as to the daily registration of attendance destroys the reliability of the registers, and of the returns made up from them. Neglect of the daily, weekly and other totals, tends to baffle inspection, and causes that accumulation of work, at the end of the quarter, under the hurry of which there is a constant liability of unintentional mistakes in the returns.

A mistaken idea about the "number on the books" often causes a discrepancy in the Quarterly Returns. This number can only include those who have been present at all during the quarter. To include more names swells the gross attendance, increases its disproportion to the average daily attendance, and ostensibly affords a very unsatisfactory result.

It would much conduce to correctness in the registers and returns if the registers were inspected and countersigned at monthly or other periodical meetings of Local Committees.

ATTAINMENTS.

There is considerable improvement in both Biblical and Secular Knowledge.

The former is much more generally diffused than when it was first brought under Government inspection; even the youngest children know the first and most important truths of Bible History.

In testing the improved accuracy in Secular Knowledge, more stress has been laid upon the sound knowledge of rudiments than upon an extensive acquaintance with each subject. It is to be hoped that the greater care taken by Teachers to correct early errors, and generally to ensure greater accuracy in the onset, will tend to a more intelligent knowledge, and, consequently, to a better recollection, of each subject taught.

To criticise the merits and defects would needlessly lengthen this report. It may suffice to say that the course of instruction given in the schools, ensures to every regular attendant of ordinary ability a sound knowledge of those things most desirable for him to know by the time it is proper for him to leave school.

The sum of these attainments to ordinary pupils will be a good general knowledge of the truths of Sacred History; a capability to read every-day English with tolerable ease, fluency, and expression, and with a freedom from the grossest defects of diction; to spell correctly words of ordinary difficulty; to write a bold, legible hand, capable of rapid improvement, and of a ready adaptation to commercial or other pursuits; to understand the principles, and to work rationally and correctly, the Arithmetical rules, up to Rule of Three and Practice; a general knowledge of the outlines of Geography, with a more particular acquaintance with that of England, and possibly of the United Kingdom and the Australian Colonies; a knowledge of the outlines of English History; and perhaps a transient and imperfect knowledge of English Grammar.

This standard is exceeded by a very few pupils who leave the Ordinary Schools at or after twelve years of age. Few even attain to it. Most fall far short of it, from the early age at which they leave, and from their very interrupted course of attendance.

The schools which have exceeded this very moderate standard are identical with those which have attained a higher average of accuracy according to a numerical test in the subjects most capable of one.

The same examples in Arithmetic, inclusive of the compound Rules, having been offered to the whole school in every instance, and the same exercise in difficult spelling to at least one-fifth of each school; the higher averages of accuracy have been attained in nearly the following order: