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erer, mention the singular fact that in several of the
smaller schools, where the teachers prefer setting the
copy-heads themselves, the writing is invariably of
more than average merit.

Arithmetic.—A marked improvement has been
made in this department during the last four years.
In 1864 I could find only 63 children who were able
to work simple questions in vulgar and decimal
fractions. Last year there were 106,—there are now
162, making a clear addition of 50 per cent during
the year. And an almost equal amount of progress
has been made in the earlier branches of arithmetic.
Nearly a third of the school-time is now usually
devoted to this most important subject, which was
formerly made somewhat too subordinate to other
less indispensable studies.

Geography.—The number of children learning
geography has been slightly on the decrease for
several years, but there are still 649 names under this
head. I do not think that the extension of this
branch to a large number of scholars is at all desira-
ble, but it appears to me that geography, as usually
taught in our schools, is neither calculated to interest
the pupils, nor to leave any permanent impression on
their minds. I should be glad to see oral instruction
before the maps supersede the committing to memory
of dry catalogues of names, which suggest absolutely
no ideas to the scholar. It would be a step in the
right direction were the teaching confined, as much
as possible, to the broad outlines of geography,
leaving the details to be supplied by subsequent
reading. Map drawing, even if roughly done on
slates, ought also to be more generally practised than
it is.

Grammar.—I have recorded under this head such
scholars only as could point out the parts of speech
in a sentence, and could give some account of their
respective uses. 660 children were able to comply
with these requirements. I think that, on the whole,
grammar is better taught than geography, the books
generally used being, very properly, of the simplest
and most elementary character.

History.—It appears to me that a mistake has
been made in treating History as a separate subject,
except in the case of a few of our larger and more
advanced schools. It would be a better plan to let
our school histories as ordinary reading books, a few
questions being put by the teacher at the close of
each lesson. The teacher's time, already sufficiently
occupied where five or six classes have to be attended
to, would thus be economised, and the loss to the
learner would be comparatively slight, as frequent
examinations have shown me that it is almost impos-
sible to under-estimate the amount of real historical
knowledge possessed by an average scholar of ten or
twelve years old.

From the foregoing data, the Board will, I trust,
find no difficulty in arriving at the conclusion that a
vast improvement must have taken place in our pro-
vincial teachers during the last three or four years.
And although considerable differences exist (as might
be expected in so numerous a body),—still, it may
ablest and our least capable teachers,—between those
who are not quite bad enough to be dismissed, and
those whose services are barely remunerated by the
highest rate of pay the Board can offer,—still, it may
fairly be said of them, as a whole, that they perform
a difficult and most important service zealously and
well. Some who had almost everything to learn at
first entering upon their duties, have since trained
themselves into excellent teachers, while not a few
who possessed some previous experience, have greatly
improved by increased practice and a more extended
observation. And I can cheerfully testify to a general

willingness on the part of the teachers to act upon
any hint from myself as to a better system of disci-
pline or instruction. Where I have wished especial
attention to be directed to any subject that I thought
neglected, I have usually found a marked improve-
ment in that branch on my next visit. The great
advance that has been made in arithmetic and writing
of late is an illustration of this general readiness to
attend to reasonable suggestion; the standard that I
proposed four years ago, in those two subjects, which
many teachers at that time despaired of attaining,
having now been reached in the majority of our
schools.

I formerly held an opinion, shared by many, that
the establishment of a system of secondary schools,
subordinate to, and affiliated with Nelson College,
was both desirable and practicable. Subsequent ex-
perience has, however, convinced me that the time
for any such extension of our system is yet far distant,
for the following reasons:—

It is an indispensable condition that such schools
should be self-supporting, as to apply for an addi-
tional provincial grant for such a purpose would be
out of the question. But the teachers of our primary
schools are, with few exceptions, both willing and
able to carry the education of their scholars to a point
considerably beyond what has already been attained,
were only time allowed them. The early age at
which the children who form our most advanced
classes leave school, is a constant and well-founded
subject of complaint on the part of the teachers. So
long, then, as the extreme limit of the teaching power
of our primary schools is not touched, the providing
of a still higher kind of education, the entire cost of
which must be defrayed out of school fees, is not to
be thought of. However the fact may be deplored,
it can hardly be doubted that the vast majority of
parents in this province do not care, and are actually
unable to have been at the cost of such kind of education
than is afforded by our present schools.

It is worthy of remark, that the discipline of our
schools is almost uniformly good, anything approach-
ing to a disorderly school being rarely seen now-a-
days. And this general orderliness may be deplored,
about, so far as I am able to judge, without the em-
ployment of undue severity. Isolated cases are still
found of where an unnecessary amount
of punishment may have been inflicted; but the
tendency of public opinion is at present so strongly
opposed to harshness of any kind, that no teacher,
who valued his place, would venture upon a frequent
repetition of this kind of offence.

The foregoing brief review of the chief points in
our provincial system that shall seem to require notice
would be incomplete without showing what is the
average cost of educating each child in our schools, a
most important element in forming a correct estimate
of the success of any scheme.

I find that each scholar cost £4 in 1864-5, £3 10s.
in 1865-6, and £3 9s. in 1866-7, showing a gradual
decrease of expenditure during that period, and this
this calculation includes an outlay of £703 on new
sites and buildings, the whole of which ought not,
in strictness, to be charged against the one year in
which it happens to be spent. As comparatively
little additional expenditure will be required, for
some time, within the present educational districts,
either to build new schools or to increase the existing
staff of teachers, it might be thought, at the first
glance, that the cost per head would diminish as these
districts increased in population.

But the claims of the settlers beyond the limits of
the present educational districts cannot be much
longer postponed. Already a new district has been