Kaiapoi Wesleyan School ... December 6 ... Present 71 ... The building is unsuitable, it being the chapel fully stocked with pews, &c.; the school is conducted at considerable inconvenience as to the position and arrangement of the classes. Set apart for a schoolroom, with a little alteration, it would be an excellent one. The increased attendance and improved efficiency are very satisfactory. Several younger children of great promise are coming up the school.

Kaiapoi Church School ... December 7 ... Present 91 ... The excellent character of the school is well sustained.

Upper Heathcote School ... December 8 ... Present 35 ... This school always does better upon a notified examination. This time, without notice, it appeared at a disadvantage. There was no Map of New Zealand, the one lent had been removed. The Bible knowledge was very defective. With the exception of the Arithmetic, which is creditable, there was an unusual degree of inaccuracy in every subject in all the classes except the first. The errors become habitual for want of efficient correction.

Lyttelton Wesleyan School ... December 9 ... Present 51 ... The lower classes have joined the higher in collective lessons on the Books of Kings, books beyond their comprehension; in the meanwhile they have forgotten earlier Bible History. The Secular knowledge is highly creditable, except the Writing, which is not successfully taught. There are no specimens of really good penmanship.

Riccarton School ... December 10 ... Present 59 ... The lower classes are backward, and the Elementary knowledge is deficient. The first class failed in Arithmetic; they cannot attain accuracy in the higher rules without being well grounded in the ordinary ones; their Mapping and other attainments would be creditable, if supported by greater accuracy in Arithmetic, and by a satisfactory state of the lower classes. Full time, great pains, and much care have been bestowed; their more equable distribution may render this an excellent school.

St. Michael’s ... December 13 & 15 ... Present 126 ... The organisation has been improved by the employment of two assistants, thus making a complement of four adult teachers. A higher standard of efficiency, at least commensurate with that of similar schools, may be reasonably expected. There seems at present too great a reliance on the proficiency of a few children in each class. The Reading is rough, slovenly, and incorrect. Several of the best readers (Dutton, R. and H. Wright, and Sanders) are from other schools. There is great improvement in the neatness of the copybooks, and the style of the written examinations.

Papanui, St. Paul’s ... December 17 ... Present 95 ... Satisfactory.

Lyttelton, Church of England, December 20 ... Present 40 ... Some good arithmetical papers were shown; they had been done by the first class, without stint as to time; the proficiency, neatness, and accuracy were remarkable; the boys, however, when required to work against time, fail as to speed and accuracy, essential acquirements in practical Arithmetic. The attainments of the lower classes are inferior in accuracy to those of similar schools.

Governors Bay North School ... December 21 ... Present 17 ... The attendance is small; the attainments are, as they ought to be, in an inverse ratio. Those of the younger children afford a remarkable contrast with those of children of the same age in larger schools with less adequate teaching power. The superior acquirements of the more advanced classes are well supported by the