Report of Inspector of Schools,

Superintendent’s Office,
Napier, August 1, 1866.

THE following Report of the Inspector of Schools is published for general information.

JOSEPH RHODES,
Deputy-Superintendent.

Havelock, July 20, 1866.

SIR,—I have the honor to submit this, my first Report of the Schools of the Province, in the inspection of which I have, by your Honor’s direction, been recently engaged.

It at first occurred to me that my acceptance of the office of Inspector of Schools, to which your Honor was pleased to nominate me in succession to Mr. Campbell, would be followed by many inconveniences to the public service, to which the concomitant advantages accruing to the system of school management would not prove an equipoise.

Similar appointments are not usually grateful to those most intimately concerned. It is not more unnatural for schoolmasters to yield an unwilling resignation to the active supervision of one of their own body than for a slave to depreciate in anticipation the proverbial tyranny of a negro overseer about to be raised from his own rank of servitude. Many circumstances conspire to render the position of a School Inspector so appointed professionally unpopular. His suspicious acquaintance with errors or deficiencies common to many schoolmasters; his known rigorous adherence to some specific principles of school teaching, and perhaps an inconsiderate disregard or disapproval of those adopted by others; the reticent jealousies lurking in the breasts of any of his brethren who are ungenerous enough to feel mortified at his elevation; all these, and a thousand other incidents that I could enumerate, stamp an Inspector so selected with unenviable disfavor and mistrust.

It is gratifying for me to be able to report to your Honor, however, that, in my late official visits to their respective schools, the masters uniformly manifested a cordial desire to co-operate with me for the general welfare of the cause of education, and evinced a spirit of friendly assistance, indicative of their zeal and diligence in the discharge of their arduous and important duties. This testimony to the feelings by which the teachers are swayed, may, of course, be accepted subject to the limitations which the remainder of this report will evolve.

St. Mary’s Boys’ School.
Teacher, Mr. Mulherne.

This was the first school I inspected, and I am compelled to admit myself to be less satisfied with the result than with that of the examination of any school I have subsequently visited. Thirty-one boys were present; their appearance and manners disorderly, inattentive, and careless. They were distributed amongst five classes, and the reading of the whole was indistinct, and void of proper style, cadence, or punctuation. The copybooks were disgracefully unclean, and the specimens of handwriting executed in my presence (and together with specimens from the other schools transmitted herewith) strongly attest how much this branch of instruction has been neglected. The proportion of boys offered for examination in arithmetic was small, and only two successfully attempted examples in compound multiplication. A viva voce examination in geography and grammar was attended with no more creditable result.

In justice to Mr. Mulherne, I must mention that this anti-progressive condition of affairs is probably owing, in a great measure, to causes exterior to the defined province of a teacher, and over which he can only exercise a limited control.

First.—The place at present used as a schoolroom is inadequate to the requirements of even a quarter of those it is obliged to accommodate.

Second.—The irregularity of attendance of the boys is most destructive of school progress. I ascertained that many have not infrequently been removed for very long periods.

Third.—The number of scholars (52 on the school books) is far in excess of the maximum number that the most efficient and skillful teacher can undertake to instruct without monitorial or other aid.

Mr. Mulherne, although a very earnest man, has had an experience in tuition not extending over two years. He appears, however, to be assiduous, and cheerfully received any suggestions intended for the interests of his school.

Unsparing as may have been the censure I have pronounced upon the Roman Catholic Boys’ School, so, on the other hand, perhaps am I inclined to be prodigal of my praises of the neighbouring establishment for girls. Thirty-nine were present at my examination; their manners were graceful, pleasant, and decorous; they performed the exercises assigned them with facility and despatch, and answered a rapid succession of questions in geography and grammar with ease, accuracy, and intelligence. The lady instructors evince a superior capacity for the work of education, and their bearing towards the children is at once firm, dignified, and conciliatory.

My thanks are especially due to the Very Rev. Father Forest, for his kindness and courtesy in accompanying and assisting me at my inspection of both schools.

St. Paul’s Denominational School.
Teacher, Mr. Haswell.

On the 19th June, the day of my inspection, 26 boys and 2 girls attended. The reading of the several classes was...