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down rules for the management of the schools
and determining the plans of instruction to be
followed in them; and lastly a Central Board
composed of members elected by the Local
Committees, to which is given the expendi-
ture and distribution of the funds, with a
general power of control and supervision by
means of an Inspector over the whole.

There is hardly any part of this system
which has not been more or less objected to,
but none of these objections appear to have
obtained such general support as to justify
any material alteration in the present arrange-
ments; whilst on some points formerly in
dispute the experience of the last five years
has been practically decisive.

The Committee appointed to inquire into
the subject during the last Session of the Pro-
vincial Council left untouched all the princi-
ples which I have above enumerated as essen-
tial; and their recommendations have been
to a great extent adopted by the Board in
such a form as not to contravene the pro-
visions of the Act.

Bearing in mind the possible contingency
of a failure in the Provincial Revenue, or its
appropriation to other purposes, and the
assurances which have been given me in
some districts that the inhabitants, if they
had the power, would gladly raise addi-
tional funds for objects which the Board
had not the means of carrying out; I suggested
to the Committee that it might be worth
consideration how far the rate could be made
local, instead of general, with the power of
varying its amount according to circumstances:
leaving the distribution of the Provincial
Grant alone to the Board: and these remarks
have been appended by the Committee to
their Report. In one respect also the consti-
tution both of the Committees and the Board
might be modified with advantage, by assimi-
lating it to that of the Road Boards, where a
certain number only of the members retire by
rotation, and are replaced annually.

The general defects of local management
are well known, but they have a strong ten-
dency to cure themselves, especially when
that management is open to independent
observation and remark; more slowly per-
haps but more effectually than could be done
by more direct and decisive interference. By
confining suggestions on their proceedings to
matters of real importance, and leaving the
ultimate decision to the Committees, them-
selves, such recommendations have a chance
of being more impartially weighed, more
thoroughly considered: and if finally adopted,
adopted from a conviction that they are really
desirable.

In some cases the Committees, satisfied to
know they have the powers of control and
management vested in them, do not practi-
cally exercise them; unless when complaints
are made to them; in others, and the number
is increasing, there is an effective superin-
tendence, and a desire manifested to raise the
standard of the education which is given to
their children.

Every well conducted school tends to pro-
duce improvement in others; and several
instances are within my knowledge where
instruction formerly considered satisfactory
is now thought insufficient: not from any
falling off in the teacher, but from a better
knowledge of what education really can do,
and from an increased desire to procure the
advantages it confers. The most effective
means to attain this result is to improve the
position of the teacher: and the Board has
endeavoured to promote this object to the
full extent of the means at its disposal. Com-
fortable dwellings have been built for the
masters, except in a few cases where an
allowance for rent has been made instead;
the salaries have to some extent been improved
either directly or indirectly; by gratuities
for efficiency, by grants graduated according
to numbers and attendance; and by affording
the aid of female assistants, who in most in-
stances are the wives of the masters, and in
almost all relieve them from the charge of
those \"interesting embarrassments,\" the chil-
dren under six years of age.

I think it is undeniable that the state of
education in this Province is improving
every year. More is taught and better taught
than before; the number of schools in which
a sound education is procurable, sufficient for
all the practical requirements of after life is
on the increase, and in spite of the drawbacks
and hindrances which still exist, I think
there is reason to look for a steady and pro-
gressive improvement in future.

In the present Return the number of
schools is 28, but three more have since been
opened, making 31 in all. For these, 21
school-rooms have been built: almost all 16
feet to 18 feet wide, and varying in length
from 24 to 72 feet; and six others enlarged
or thoroughly repaired.—18 4 or 6-roomed
masters' dwellings have also been erected,
and in addition to land given for educational
purposes, 12 sites have been purchased vary-
ing in extent from half an acre to 3 acres;
the whole at a cost of £7,252 3s. 11d. The
schools have also been furnished with seats,
desks, maps, black boards, and other necessary
apparatus: the masters have been supplied
with the most approved works on education;
and the children, through the liberality of
the Committee of Privy Council of Education,