Nelson Provincial Gazette – 1864 – No. 19

Page 67

✨ Provincial Government Notices

NEW ZEALAND
GOVERNMENT GAZETTE
(PROVINCE OF NELSON).

Published by Authority.

All Public Notifications which appear in this Gazette, with any Official Signature hereunto annexed, are to be considered as Official Communications made to those Persons to whom they may relate, and are to be obeyed accordingly.

By His Honor's command,
J. C. RICHMOND, Provincial Secretary.

VOL. XII. NELSON, MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 1864. No. 19.

Provincial Secretary's Office, Nelson,
August 15, 1864.

HIS Honor the Superintendent directs the publication of the following Report and Returns, for general information.

ALFRED GREENFIELD,
Chief Clerk.

REPORT OF THE INSPECTOR OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

To DONALD SINCLAIR, Esq., Chairman of the Central Board of Education.

SIR,—The Returns now laid before the Board show a slight increase in the number of Scholars attending the Provincial Schools as compared with last year, the present Return being 1,956, against 1,877 in 1862. As I proposed in my last Report, I have myself filled up those portions of the Returns which show the different branches of education taught, and the degrees of proficiency of the scholars, after a careful examination of all the children in each school, in conformity with an uniform standard. It affords me much pleasure to be able to say that our Schools, on the whole, have stood this test (which is more trying than any that they have previously undergone) very well. The number of good readers, as tried by my own standard, instead of that of the teachers, is somewhat in excess of last year's return. In Arithmetic, the number of children able to work the compound rules, and proportion and practice, has increased beyond my expectation, while a fourth column that I have added to ascertain how many possess a still higher degree of arithmetical knowledge shows 63 pupils having a fair acquaintance with vulgar and decimal fractions. In Grammar, Geography, and History, the application of a more rigorous test has caused a slight falling off in point of numbers, though I think that these branches are at least as well taught as heretofore. The most serious falling off is in Penmanship, as I have been unable to record more than 116 good writers against 261, the number given last year.

Finding it extremely difficult to make many general statements which should be equally true of a number of schools, which seem to possess almost as many degrees of merit as

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