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NELSON GOVERNMENT GAZETTE.

receive but one examination a year. At the principal examination, due notice of which is given to the teachers, each scholar, with the exception of those in the alphabet class, is carefully tested in every subject taught, the result being recorded at the same time in a form prepared with that object. A tolerably close approximation to a true picture of the school is thus arrived at. But there are several disturbing influences, such as irregular attendance, frequent changes of teachers, and the youthfulness of the scholars, which must be taken into account. The present ought also to be compared with the past state of a school, and with the state of other schools in similar circumstances, before a final judgment can be arrived at. The subjoined summary of each school may therefore be regarded as my final opinion, modified by the foregoing circumstances, and assisted by the notes taken during each examination, and by observation of the teachers' method of conducting school when under inspection. I have given the numbers present at each school on the occasion of my last examination.

Bridge-street : Boys, 1st Division (45 present)—Mr Smith.—This school, besides absorbing large drafts from its 2nd division, has been fed, latterly, to a small extent, by the more advanced scholars from Haven-road and Hampden-street schools. This is a step in the right direction. Independently of the advantage that a master whose attention is concentrated upon two classes must possess over teachers, a portion of whose energies must be bestowed on the supervision of seven or eight classes the spirit of emulation is necessarily keener among a large body of boys of the same age and standing than in establishments where competition is practically restricted to a few. Thus Mr Smith, while maintaining that special superiority in both mental and slate arithmetic for which his scholars have so long been celebrated, is enabled also to teach successfully the elements of Latin and Algebra. Leaving out of account the winners of the Governors' scholarships, to whom such a preparation is of the greatest service, I am convinced that even a superficial acquaintance of the languages is a valuable possession to take away from school. The estimation in which this excellent school is held by parents is shown by the large proportion of boys over 14 years old who are allowed to remain.

Bridge-street : Boys, 2nd Division (97 present)—Mr Sudd, assistant, Mr Burn.—Good organisation and thoroughness in the teaching are the most striking characteristics here. Whatever is attempted is done with all superfluities that would interfere with the main object of this division—that of preparing well-grounded drafts of scholars for the upper school—being rigidly excluded. The qualifications that enable a teacher to subordinate himself so entirely to a comparatively thankless task, though exceedingly rare, are hardly sufficiently appreciated.

Hardy-street : Girls, 2nd Division (63 present)—Mrs Sait, Miss Johnson, assistant.—In point of attainment I find this school fully up to the high standard of former years. Reading and writing are still, as heretofore, the strong points, though the girls throughout pass a better examination in arithmetic than on several former occasions. I cannot help noticing, however, that the keen competition for scholars that now exists among our town schools, whatever advantages it may possess, is undoubtedly injurious to the tone of this and of other schools. The knowledge that good alternative schools are within easy reach, and that the withdrawal of scholars is very subversive of the income and the reputation of a teacher, is very subversive of discipline, and, to a certain extent, has placed the teacher at the mercy of the caprices of the taught, who are practically constituted the judges of their school under the present arrangements; for I find that, as a rule, parents interfere but little in the choice of a school, so long as their

children are fairly taught. It ought to be put out of the power of a scholar, whose name has once been placed on the roll, to enter another town school at the close of a quarter, as is now frequently done, for some trivial reason, or for none. In justice to the teachers not less than a year's trial of a school should be permitted.

Hardy-street : Girls, 2nd Division (60 present)—Miss Galland.—The children here continue to be well taught, and are kept in excellent order. The adoption of my suggestion that an assistant should be employed in the spare room, both to relieve Miss Galland of the numbers by which she is oppressed, and to remove a few of the most forward children from the preparatory school, would be for the benefit of both establishments.

Preparatory (125 present)—Miss Cother, assisted by Miss Witney.—Though there can be no question of the energy and ability of the two young teachers to whom is entrusted the almost impossible task of teaching and keeping in order so large a number of children—two-thirds of whom have not completed their seventh year—I must reiterate my conviction that the teaching staff here is wholly inadequate to the work expected of it. The upper class here compares unfavorably in every respect with the upper class in the 2nd division at Haven-road, the conditions as to age and standing being almost identical in both classes. The explanation of this is that the number of children under the charge of the assistant at Haven-road, though large, is not absolutely beyond the teacher's powers.

Hampden-street : (96 present)—Mr Sunley, assistant Miss Johnstone.—The scholars in the first class read well, write correctly from dictation, and show a fair acquaintance with the higher branches of arithmetic, but all the other classes are inferior to the corresponding classes in the 2nd division of the Bridge-street school, both in point of discipline and of attainment. The writing especially is generally slovenly, and the spelling bad. This backwardness may be partly accounted for by the imperfect training that has been given, until lately, in the junior division. Under the present energetic mistress of that department many of these defects may be expected to disappear, though it is clear to me that the elder boys at least would do well to complete their education at Mr Smith's school.

Haven Road : (128 present)—Mr J. L. Hodgson, assistants Miss Dement and Miss Burns.—The reading and dictation of the two first classes, and the writing throughout the school are excellent. The girls also in the upper classes are in every respect equal to scholars the same age in the best of our girls' schools. But the suggestion that I have made as to the desirability of transferring the most advanced boys at Hampden-street to the 1st division of the Bridge-street school applies with equal force here. Both of the assistant teachers do their work exceedingly well, the orderliness of the 2nd division, now taught exclusively by Miss Burns, being especially praise-worthy. I am unable, however, to record any improvement in the rate of attendance, nor can I offer any explanation of the fact that with a staff of efficient and popular teachers, a roomy and well-appointed building, centrally situated, and approached in every direction by excellent roads, the attendance for the year has been only 68 per cent, while it is above 80 per cent. in the Bridge-street schools, in no respect more favorably placed.

St. Mary's : Boys, (72 present)—Mr Richards, assistant Mr Severne.—I have again to express my satisfaction with the conduct of this school. Arithmetic, both mental and slate, geography and writing are particularly well taught. The