94

NELSON GOVERNMENT GAZETTE.

was found necessary to appoint an assistant. Reading
is, as heretofore, remarkably well taught, and the hand-
writing is much improved. But little has been done
in arithmetic, which is still very slow and inaccurate.
The discipline is also somewhat lax.

Spring Grove: MR. AND MRS. EDMUNDS.—The
experiment of amalgamating the boys and girls schools,
an arrangement by which 6 classes are substituted for
12, has proved thoroughly successful, the work being
now properly divided is better done than it was under
the old system, and the school is much more orderly.
The number of good readers and writers is unusually
large, and the writing and arithmetic deserve special
praise.

Lower Wakefield: MR. AND MRS. CHATTOCK.—
This is a thriving and well-conducted school, whose
present high standing is due entirely to the exertions
of the present master. The penmanship and the spel-
ling are particularly good. I am sorry to find that
not only here, but in several other instances, the class
register, which has been introduced into many of our
schools, has been practically disregarded in the distri-
bution of prizes. It is mortifying to find a rational
and carefully considered system of determining the
merits of each pupil with an approach to absolute
certainty superseded by the hap-hazard viva voce
examination, just when the teachers themselves
were beginning to understand and acknowledge the
superiority of the new method.

Eighty-eight Valley: MR. ROBY.—After being
closed for more than four years, this school has been
re-opened lately, under more favorable auspices. Most
of the former scholars having forgotten the little that
they ever knew, this may be treated as practically a
new school. The teacher is quite new to his work,
but has begun well, and is full of zeal.

Upper Wakefield: MR. AND MRS. POWELL.—The
teaching in this school is very methodical, and the dis-
cipline is excellent. Compared with other schools, this
does not take a high place educationally, though fair
progress has been made during the year, the writing
especially having improved greatly.

Foxhill: MISS HINDE.—The attendance has slightly
improved during the past year, the daily average being
16. Two years ago it was barely 10. The children
appear to me to be carefully taught, but the school
hours are badly kept, some of the scholars not making
their appearance until a full hour after the opening of
the school. The percentage of attendance continues
to be very low.

Waimea West, North Division: MR. THORBURN
assisted by MISS THORBURN.—Although the propor-
tion of children above 12 years old attending this
school is unusually small, very satisfactory results are
attained. The reading is better modulated and more
subdued than formerly, while the writing and arith-
metic continue to be remarkably good. In confirma-
tion of my observations on the school at Appleby, it is
worth mentioning that several of the most advanced
pupils here come from Waimea East, passing Appleby
school on their way.

Waimea West Village: MR. OLDFIELD, assisted by
MRS. HANSEN.—Here, as at the North Division, very
few children remain after their twelfth year. Some
improvement has been taken place in the reading, but
writing is still very bad, and contrasts very unfavor-
ably with the neat penmanship of the neighbouring
school. The discipline of the school is much im-
proved.

Upper Moutere: MR. AND MRS. COOK.—The peri-
odical withdrawal of the best scholars for confirmation,
as at Ranzau, has retarded and will, I fear, continue to
retard the progress of this carefully taught and well
managed school. The opening of a new school at
Neudorf will diminish the attendance at Upper Mou-
tere school, but will tend to increase the efficiency of
the latter, which has been greatly overcrowded, espe-
cially during the summer months. Notwithstanding
these disadvantages the reading is generally better
than it was last year, and the number of good writers
has also increased.

Lower Moutere: MR. ROBSON.—The proportion
that the good readers bear to the total number on the
roll is higher here than in any country school in the
Province. In every other respect the school takes a
high place, the general neatness of the work turned
out impressing a visitor most favorably. Some of the
children have made considerable progress in drawing.

Motueka, 1st Division: MR. BISLEY.—As compared
with the rest of our country schools, this ranks second
to the Richmond boys' school alone, having the great
advantage of being supplied, at half-yearly intervals,
with drafts of well-trained children from the lower
division. The master is almost unrivaled in his power
of giving collective lessons on different subjects in such
a manner as to rivet the attention of the whole school.
Reading and arithmetic are the strong points here.

Motueka, 2nd Division: MISS HALPIN.—It would
be hard to point to another instance in which the
harassing and exceedingly difficult task of teaching,
or—to use a more appropriate word in this case—of
training the junior division of a school is so well per-
formed. Without the slightest approach to harshness,
forty children, half of whom are under seven years, are
thoroughly well grounded, and are kept constantly
employed; no sound louder than a whisper being heard
during school-hours. Teachers of other junior divisions
would do well to visit this school that they may learn
the art of combining effective teaching with perfect
order.

Pangatotara: MR. BROWN.—This school labors
under the serious disadvantage of being placed in a
district intersected by swamps and streams that are
often impassable. Nor does there appear to be any
well-defined centre, as in other districts, around which
the bulk of the inhabitants cluster; the population,
though tolerably numerous in the aggregate, being
scattered over a wide extent of country. Little more
can be said in favor of the present site of the school
than that it is perhaps the least unsuitable spot that
could have been selected. Under these circumstances
it is hardly to be wondered at that the children attend
little more than half the school-time. Nor is it sur-