92

NELSON GOVERNMENT GAZETTE.

of this serious drawback, they have been able to increase
the number of good readers by nearly 100, and that
many of those upon whom I had occasion to reflect last
year as devoting too little time and attention to reading,
have set themselves manfully to work to remove this
reproach. Writing is also carefully taught, the number of
writers marked "moderate" and "good" having been
largely added to. The suggestions that I made as to
the desirability of the more advanced scholars practising
the making out of bills and writing without copy-heads,
have however been very partially adopted. The num-
ber of good arithmeticians has apparently remained
almost stationary, but a considerable advance has, in
point of fact, been made in this branch. The arithmetic-
papers that I set this year were not only rather
more difficult than in former years, but, I believe, better
adapted to the thoroughness of the teaching, as
I felt that the schools generally could bear a somewhat
stricter test than previously. Where the scholars were
sufficiently advanced, I have tried them in English com-
position, and found that in most cases the upper classes
acquitted themselves very tolerably in what has been
hitherto a comparatively neglected branch of an
elementary education.

Bridge-street (Boys), 1st Division: MR. SMITH.
-The slight falling-off in the number of boys attending this
school may be accounted for by the fact that several of the
town schools, formerly merely auxiliary to this division
of the Bridge-street School, now enter into direct com-
petition with it. The boys generally read more
distinctly than they did last year, and
they are remarkably expert at both mental and slate
arithmetic. The first class, on my last visit, reproduced
with considerable accuracy the substance of a short
narrative read aloud to them, and drew, from memory,
a tolerably faithful outline map of Africa. The hand-
writing is still by no means what it ought to be.

Bridge-street (Boys), 2nd Division: MR. SADD,
assisted by MR. BARNETT.-The most noticeable fea-
ture here is the extremely methodical character of the
teaching. No higher praise can be given to the
junior division of a school, whose special task it is to
form early habits of obedience and application, than to
say that the machinery of the school moves with the
regularity of clockwork. The drafts whom I have
from time to time promoted to the upper division have
been invariably well grounded. It struck me that much
time that might have been better bestowed in teaching
reading was wasted in the attempt to teach the two
lowest classes geography and grammar; this being the
only weak point in the system pursued.

Hardy-street (Girls), 1st Division: MRS. SAIT,
assisted by MISS JOHNSON.-I have previously borne
testimony to the excellence of both the reading and the
writing in this school, and need only say that no falling-
off has taken place in either branch during the past
year. Arithmetic is also very successfully taught. The
schoolroom is however sadly overcrowded, more than
eighty girls being present when I last examined the
school. I found that this state of things was owing, in
a great measure, to the admission of a large class of
very young and ill-prepared children, who had come
direct from private schools, without passing, as they
ought to have done, through the 2nd division of the
school. What effect this element of disorder must have
upon the discipline of a numerous and not particularly
orderly school may easily be imagined.

Hardy-street (Girls), 2nd Division: MISS GALLAND.
-This school continues to perform the task of training
children for the upper division very satisfactorily. The
order throughout is perfect, the writing is neat, and the
reading clear and distinct.

Hardy-street (Preparatory): MRS. COOKE and MISS
COTHER.-Nearly ninety children, the majority of
whom are under six years of age, attend here daily.
The teachers are zealous and thoroughly up to their
work; but a school of this description seems to me to
labor under several serious disadvantages, not the least
of which is the constant pressure put upon the teachers
by parents desirous of obtaining the admission of mere
infants, and of turning the school into a nursery. The
school-hours are also so long, that it is impossible to
fix the attention of the children, or to keep them fully
employed during the whole time; so that they naturally
become listless or disorderly long before they are dis-
missed. The half-time system has been tried at my
suggestion, and has failed; mainly, I suspect, because
it defeated the object of those who wished to be relieved
of the care of their children, at whatever cost to the
public or injury to the school, for so many hours daily.

Haven-road: MR. J. L. HODGSON, assisted by J.
BURN and MISS DEMENT.-This school, which has
been steadily gaining both in reputation and efficiency,
is now by far the largest school in the province under
the charge of a single master, the daily attendance
having risen to upwards of a hundred. The experiment
of employing a pupil-teacher in the same room with and
under the immediate direction of a master, seems to be
perfectly successful, and is well worth trying elsewhere.
An assistant in an adjoining room, also under the
supervision of the master, renders the teaching-staff
complete; so that the division of labor, which is unfor-
tunately unattainable in our small schools, can here be
fully carried out. Although only thirty-two, or less
than a sixth of the children who have attended during
the past year, have attained their 12th year, sixty-seven
are recorded in the annual return as good readers; the
number of writers and arithmeticians marked "good"
being also unusually large.

Hampden-street: MR. M'INTOSH, assisted by MISS
TUCKER.-I regret that the favorable anticipations that
I formed two years ago as to the future of this school
have not been fulfilled. Not only have the numbers
in daily attendance fallen off by a fourth, but the quality
of the reading and writing has deteriorated throughout
the school; and it is not too much to say that in no
branch does the school maintain its former standards,
with the single exception of arithmetic, which is still
exceedingly well taught. The discipline of the 1st
division is much better than it was; but in the second
division the teaching struck me as being lifeless and
unsystematic, no attempt being made, apparently, to
keep the children employed who were not actually
reading in class, the result being, as might be expected,
noise and confusion.

St. Mary's (Boys): MR. RICHARDS.-The 1st and
2nd classes read remarkably well, and show very care-
ful training both in arithmetic and geography, but the