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held at Collingwood and in the Wairau, where the proposal to constitute those places educational districts was unanimously adopted; proposals which it was almost the last act of the late board to confirm and put in practical operation.

From the causes I have alluded to, the "Education Loan" also has not been available for the uses intended until very lately; and but little progress has therefore been made in remedying the various deficiencies which it was granted to supply; and looking to the fact that the local committees had nearly completed their term of office, it has been thought as well to defer any considerable expenditure until the new committees had met and carefully reconsidered the whole subject. Where no change of opinion has taken place, the proposed expenditure receives a double sanction; and where any alteration in this respect has occurred, it is obviously desirable that the design and its execution should be in the hands of the same persons. We may expect, therefore, that, in the course of the present year, very much will be done towards improving the state of the school-houses, some of which were insufficient for the increasing numbers in attendance, and others in a very dilapidated condition, requiring extensive repairs; and also in providing that accommodation for the masters, the want of which has been the greatest hindrance to obtaining the services of competent teachers, or retaining them after their engagement. "As is the master, so is the school;" and it may be added, as a general rule, as the remuneration, so will the master be. The first effect of these improvements will, however, be to render the positions of the different masters less unequal than they have hitherto been; as, with apparently equal salaries, some have been provided with houses and land, whilst others have been without either of these advantages. This subject has been several times pressed upon the attention of the Central Board during the last year; and a circular notice having been sent to each of the local committees, it has been left to the newly elected board to make some definite arrangements for the future. Although the board possessed this power under the provisions of the act, yet it has been hitherto exercised; but the differences were so striking, even where the duties both in quality and amount were the same, the dissatisfaction of the less salaried masters so evident, and the demands from the various local committees for equal grants so well founded, that the interposition of the board became unavoidable. In settling this question, two principal points will have to be considered; the amount of disposable funds being first ascertained; viz., the requirements of the school and the qualifications of the master.

Our schools may conveniently be divided into three classes; the first consisting of those where all the branches of a good English education are well and efficiently taught to a sufficient number of scholars; the second, where some of these are wanting, either from the master's inability to teach them thoroughly, or from the want of scholars sufficiently advanced to avail themselves of his instructions; the third, where the backward state of education in the district admits, for the most part, of elementary instruction only. The classification of the masters must evidently follow that of their schools; not as necessarily determining the extent of their acquirements, but as fixing the remuneration for the qualifications which are really required and called into active use. Circumstances now and then occur which render it desirable for men highly educated and thoroughly qualified in every respect to accept a post below their capabilities; whilst it would be very unwise on that account to reject their offered services.

The Nelson Town School is at present the only one where the instruction given, the number of scholars, and the regular attendance, entitle it to rank in the first class; and where the improvements still in progress may before long justify us in looking upon it as in some sort a normal or school for all the rest. There is among many of the country masters a real anxiety to improve the condition of their schools, and often expressed regrets that the irregular attendance and the general indifference to everything beyond the mere rudiments of learning, act as serious impediments and discouragements; and these are great drawbacks; but in spite of these, where the master's heart is in his work, the effect is always visible in the improvement of the children, their increasing numbers, their more regular attendance, and the general satisfaction of the neighbourhood.

The improvement in the public feeling on this important subject will be mainly due to the exertions of the masters themselves; for no parent, however careless or prejudiced, can long resist the evidence afforded by the increased intelligence and improved behaviour of his children, or the striking contrast which distinguishes the educated and the well-trained from the ignorant and the neglected.

The two years which have passed since the present system was first put in operation have sufficed to establish it in its leading principles, to ascertain the favourable opinion of the majority, and to give to its supporters greater confidence in its permanence, expectation of its improvement, and assurance of its ultimate success. Four new schools are either already determined upon, or under consideration; the principal difficulty in the way relating to the