NELSON GOVERNMENT GAZETTE. 107

It will be understood, therefore, that when I speak of the
best method of teaching any subject, I mean only the best for
the class of scholars with whom we have to deal, under certain
conditions which may be assumed to be unalterable.

Reading.—Far more attention is now paid to reading aloud
than formerly, the result being that in the majority of our
schools the elder children read with tolerable fluency and dis-
tinctness, and, in some instances, with feeling and proper
emphasis. It is to be regretted that the class-books in use
should be written, almost without exception, in a style much
flated and in language so remote from that ordinarily used by
the children as to render the lesson unintelligible to
them, even after the teacher has done his best in the way of
explanation. I attribute to this cause much of the lifeless and
monotonous reading that still exists. The poetry is also
usually badly selected. Indeed, a sensible man, understanding
children, who would take the trouble to compile a thoroughly
good set of reading-books for elementary schools would be a
public benefactor.

Writing.—Considering how indispensable the accomplish-
ment of writing a quick and legible hand is now-a-days, and
how almost every avenue to either public or private
employment is barred against him who has not it, I am
glad to be able to record that writing is on the whole, success-
fully taught in our schools. I use the term \"successfully\"
having regard to the aim of our teachers, which is to turn out
as many scholars as possible who can at eleven or twelve years
old write pretty quickly what can be read easily. Vere Foster\'s
copybooks, expressly adapted for this end, and now extensively
used in Nelson, appear to me to have largely contributed to
this desirable result. More elaborate systems, such as
Darnell\'s, though probably better calculated to teach a more
finished style of penmanship, require apparently a longer
apprenticeship than we can afford, so that in most cases the
learner leaves school before the course is completed. Several
of our teachers have adopted, with excellent results; a combi-
nation of both systems.

Arithmetic.—This branch is also very well taught for the
most part, though I should like to see in some of the smaller
schools, and especially in those taught by ladies, more use
made of the blackboard, and less reliance placed in the learn-
ing of rules, which if the principles upon which they are
founded are not clearly understood, are speedily forgotten. In
a few of our more advanced schools the arithmetic, though
exceedingly good of its kind, appears to me hardly practical
enough. Much of what is given in even the best works on
arithmetic is absolutely useless in after life, and might be
omitted with advantage, and it is questioning whether the
time spent over cube roots and circulating decimals might not
be better spent by the more advanced scholars in acquiring
some tincture of English literature.

Geography.—I am far from being satisfied either with the
method of teaching this subject usually followed in our
schools, or with its results. Instead of beginning with the
broad outlines, leaving details to be supplied by after-reading
and observation, the common practice would seem to be to
take up a fragment of the subject, and to enter into needless
minutiæ. I find that the scholars, as a rule, have very con-
fused ideas as to the relative positions even of the continents
and oceans, and think it sufficient to reply to a simple ques-
tion on these points, \"that they have not got as far as
America or Australia.\" Here again, the text-books in use,
being written from a point of view in which great prominence
is naturally given to the geography of the British Isles, to the
almost total exclusion of what more nearly concerns us, are
very misleading and ill-adapted for the use of our teachers.
In default of books specially adapted to our use, I should be
glad to see more reliance placed upon oral teaching before the
wall-maps, and upon map-drawing, neither of which is even
yet sufficiently attended to.

Grammar and English Composition.—It is gratifying to find
that our teachers, having apparently given up as hopeless the
attempt to systematise and reduce to precise rule the endless
irregularities and anomalies which have been happily termed our
\"grammarless tongue,\" now confine themselves to teaching
just such plain rules as will enable the scholars in the first
classes to parse a simple sentence correctly. For the rest, they
trust mainly to the facility in composition acquired by writing
letters on given subjects, or by reproducing from memory the
substance of the day\'s lesson. Greater progress has been
made in this branch than in any other during the last year. It
is probable that the yearly competitions for Provincial scholar-
ships, in which English composition takes a prominent place,
may have had some share in producing this improvement.

History.—I have thought latterly, that we require a style of
teaching history exactly opposite to that which I, have
recommended for geography. For the baldest outline of
English History, from the Roman conquest to the present
time, embraces so vast a field that I find the children have
retained no distinct impression as to the events of any par-
ticular reign. I intend therefore, as an experiment, to examine
the upper classes on my next visit on the history of a compara-
tively short period—from the accession of James II. to the
death of George II., taking Miss Corner\'s work, the only one
generally used in our schools, as a text-book.

In order to supply the deficiencies of the tables purporting
to show by means of figures the comparative educational
proficiency of the schools, I subjoin the usual brief estimate
of the present status of each school. The information sup-
plied by the tables alone, unless they are read by the light of
the report, would be insufficient in many cases—in some,
misleading.

Bridge-street: Boys, 1st Division—Mr Smith.—As this school
supplies the majority of the candidates for the annual exhi-
bitions to Nelson College, and as the boys generally remain
much longer there than at any other Provincial School, the
master is fully justified in aiming at a higher standard of
instruction than can be attempted elsewhere. The boys who
leave for College are thus fully prepared to avail themselves
of the two years final training that they will receive there.
Not only are both mental and slate arithmetic of far more than
average merit, but the elements of Algebra and Latin are now
a part of the school course. The teaching is sound and
effective in all the other branches.

Bridge-street: Boys, 2nd Division—Mr. Sass assisted by
Mr. Barnett.—The training in the lower department is quite
as good as it was last year, the reading throughout the school
being decidedly better. The arithmetic and dictation of the
upper classes have also improved, the whole of the first class
being now able to solve questions in Proportion and Practice,
and to write from dictation with comparatively few mistakes.
The discipline continues to be excellent, the school rules being
observed most carefully.

Hardy-street: Girls, 1st Division—Mrs. Sait, assisted by Miss
Johnson.—The most striking feature in this school is the
uniform excellence of the penmanship, the proportion of
writers recorded as \"good\" being nearly half as large again