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in providing so many schools within the
means of every one. Does it not seem a
startling fact that out of a population of
5175, there are 920 children under 15 who
cannot read, and a very large proportion of
these are in Napier, where there are no less
than six schools supported by Government.
Certainly some change is required, and the
most effectual one in my estimation would
be an educational rate, which, in my last
report, I briefly alluded to, and now urge
most strongly for the serious consideration
of the Provincial Council. Whothor this
ought to be a house, capitation, general
property, or income tax, I shall not attempt
to decide, but merely remark that one on
general property would fall too severely on
the large landed proprietors, and that a
small house tax, or low income tax,
would place the provincial schools on a
sound footing. Suppose the Council, in-
stead of voting a sum at the rate of £1500
a year (which was the amount on the last
estimates), voted half that sum, an addi-
tional amount of £1500 could be obtained
by the very limited tax twopence-halfpenny
on the pound on all incomes between £40
and £350, in the following manner.

Suppose there are 50 persons in receipt of £350 a year
ditto 100 ditto 200 do
ditto 250 ditto 150 do
ditto 400 ditto 100 do
ditto 600 ditto 50 do
ditto 100 ditto 40 do

Making in all £144,000. This would give,
at the rate above mentioned, £1500 a year;
the landed proprietors, paying on an income
of £350, would only pay a tax of £3 12s.
11d.; and the less prosperous individual, at
£40, would only pay 8s. 4d.; and for this
latter sum a family of any number could do
education.

I may be considered premature in ad-
vocating any extended scheme of education;
notwithstanding, I beg to record the follow-
ing remarks for your Honor's consideration.
I would first suggest that one government
school in Napier, Waipawa, and Wairoa,
should be capable of giving a limited few
the opportunity of a superior education to
what is generally termed elementary, which
merely comprehends reading, writing, and
arithmetic; and these, even when effec-
tually taught, constitute but a branch of
education, being merely intermediary ac-
complishments, the acquirement and culti-
vation of which tend in a certain degree to
improve the intellect.

It is admitted by all that the object of
education should be the development of the
physical, moral, and intellectual powers.
With regard to the former, it is not neces-
sary to offer any remarks; nothing more
than a sound and vigorous body being re-
quired as an essential component of a
sound condition of the mind itself.

What man becomes, depends in a great
measure on the discipline to which he is
subjected in youth; as his infancy is, so will
be his youth; as his youth is, so will be his
manhood; and as his manhood is, so will
be his maturity. If youth be passed in
idleness, ignorance, folly, &c., how can one
hold his way in the world side by side with
the intelligent, the worthy, and virtuous?
On the other hand, if infancy be devoted to
the reasonable expansion of the physical
and intellectual powers, how simple will be
the task of the teacher afterwards.

The duty that man owes to himself re-
quires that he should improve his faculties,
and should avail himself of all the oppor-
tunities given for that purpose. The hours
then, which are permitted to slide by with-
out any improvement, are lost; in so losing
them, he breaks the law of the Creator.
Apply this to the avocation, mechanical or
scientific, in which he may be called upon
to labor in after life: when he sees himself
surpassed by others, and left far in the rear;
when he is called on to measure the cost
against another; when he sees that
comparisons are made between him and
others greatly to his disadvantage, he may
feel (and most men do feel) that they are
thus depreciated, and to some minds the
suffering from such causes is extremely
acute.

I think this a most fitting opportunity to
draw the attention of parents to the sad
consequences resulting from irregular at-
tendance of children at schools. In many
instances, the children are not more ad-
vanced than they were twelve months ago,
and I feel confident that it is mainly owing
to their very irregular attendance. It mat-
ters not how superior the master or mistress
may be, I defy them to have a creditable
examination if parents do not perform their
share in obliging children to learn their les-
sons at home and attend school regularly.

The training of our moral nature is that
branch of education which the great majo-
rity of those who have reflected on the sub-
ject consider by far the most important.
That it must be clear to every candid person
that no system of education, which, in a
national system, would call for the most at-
tention. To every class a right and moral
development is of the utmost importance,
both to themselves and the society of which
they form a part.

It may be true that intellectual develop-
ment is not expressly moral development,
but it must be clear to every candid person
that the refinement and expansion of mind,
obtained from intellectual culture are favor-
able to the moral nature. The religious
training of the children is so amply pro-
vided for by the Sunday schools in con-
nexion with the various churches, that all
sectarian difficulties are dispensed with.

Intellectual education properly begins
with the infant, and the period from two to
five years, it is presumed, has been spent
in an infant school. The effect which such
a preparation has in facilitating the subse-
quent operations of the teacher is so great,
that every effort should be made to give
children the advantage of it.

Progressing onwardly, I will suppose that
the pupils have made sufficient progress in
the elementary portion of education, and
I propose that those who have proved them-
selves of superior ability should be intro-
duced to the sciences. They have hitherto
been conversant with the external features
and objects and the ordinary uses to which
they are put; now they may be gradually
introduced to the scientific principles, and
a connected and systematic view of nature.

I here come to the most important step
in education—Algebra and Geometry. The
first of these must be considered as one of
the most important departments of mathe-
matical science, on account of the extreme
rapidity and certainty with which it enables
us to determine the most involved and in-
tricate questions. Geometry may be said to