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somewhat lax, as is usually the case where children do not attend long enough or regularly to acquire confirmed habits of obedience and order.

Spring Grove, Boys.—Mr. Rennell, Master. This school is still fairly conducted, though advancing years are beginning to tell upon the teacher, who has been many years in the service. The teaching is not sufficiently collective, and is on the whole somewhat old-fashioned, but the patience and evident zeal of the teacher go far towards redeeming these failings.

Spring Grove, Girls.—Miss Thompson. Few of our schools reflect more credit on their teacher than this. Though numerously attended, 35 being the daily average, the girls are thoroughly well taught in every branch, the reading and writing being particularly good. The arithmetic also goes much beyond what is usually expected from a school taught by a female teacher. The scholars are quiet and well behaved.

Lower Wakefield, Boys' School.—Mr. Squire, Master. No more than 14 boys are daily taught at this school, the number on the school register being 32, giving only 40 per cent. as the comparative average. These figures sufficiently explain how it is that there is not one boy in the school whose writing can be termed good, and only one who is able to solve a simple question in Practice. In other respects the state of the school is equally deplorable, while the fact that several children living near and formerly attending this school travel a considerable distance to another Provincial School of a superior class goes far towards exonerating the parents in the neighborhood from the charge of not valuing the means of education provided for them. Few indeed, are the cases, however remote the district, where a really able teacher is not appreciated.

Lower Wakefield, Girls' School.—Miss Hinde, Mistress. Of this school I wish to say no more than that in the thinness of the attendance and the quality of the instruction given it is a faithful copy of the Boy's School.

Wakefield School.—Mr. Phillips, Master. Wakefield has hitherto always been fortunate in its teachers, and the present master bids fair not only to maintain but considerably to advance the reputation of the school. There is a spirit and a methodical energy about the style of teaching, which go far to ensure success, while the scrupulous neatness and perfect order of both children and school-room, and the noiseless and respectful manner with which the school is entered and left, contrast strongly with the slovenly arrangements and tumultuous rush on departing that I have already commented on in some other schools.

Fox Hill.—Mrs. Rawlings, Mistress. I am unable to account satisfactorily for the very thin and irregular attendance at a school which, though not pretending to give more than an elementary education, is well conducted, and up to the point aimed at, does its work well. The surrounding population is fully equal to that of other districts where I have found the schools well filled, yet the total number on the roll is only 18, the daily attendance for the last year not exceeding eight.

Eighty-eight Valley.—Mr. Ladley, Master. Here, as at Fox Hill, the attendance is much smaller than the number of children in the neighborhood would warrant me in expecting, the average attendance being barely 9. The school has been established more than a year, and cannot be expected as yet from the scholars, most of whom were beginners when the school opened, but it strikes an observer, that a shade more animation on the part of the teacher, and some attempt to render the daily routine more varied and interesting would be for the benefit of both teacher and taught.

Waimea West, North Division.—Mr. Thorburn, Master. The daily attendance at this school is above the average, and the work, on the whole, very fairly performed, the number of good readers is also larger than usual, but the teaching, especially in arithmetic, seemed to me not sufficiently collective.

Waimea West Village.—Mr. Thompson, Master; Mrs. Eban, Assistant. The frequent change of masters has greatly retarded the progress of this school, but under the management of the present teacher, who thoroughly understands his business, and is well supported by his assistant, a marked improvement has already taken place, particularly in the discipline of the school, which was formerly notoriously bad, much, however, remains to be done before the school can take rank, educationally, with the better class of our schools.

Upper Moutere.—Mr. Cook, Master. Though all the children at Sarau are of German origin, and the teacher has consequently to contend with the same difficulties that are met with at Ranzau, the school on the whole takes a very respectable place, while the mutual good feeling that exists between