106

NELSON GOVERNMENT GAZETTE.

year who s turned twelve the number of good writers and
arithmeticians has increased. The penmanship is, indeed,
excellent. The reading is correct enough, but utterly wanting
in expression. Good order is kept.

Upper Wakefield.—Master (lately Mr Chamberlain) now
Mr Combes; miss Tunnicliff, assistant—(49).—Good work
has been done here during the past year. The scholars in
the first classes read very fairly, explain the meanings
of words readily, and are well grounded in geography and
grammar. The arithmetic of the upper classes, formerly
very defective, is also improved. In the lower division of the
school I found that the children read and spelt very well, but
failed utterly in arithmetic. The upper classes are no longer
disorderly, the juniors being still, as heretofore, well
disciplined.

Foxhill.—Mr H. Ladley, master—(26).—Twice as many
children were in this school when I last examined as were
present the day before. The master and his scholars are
also beginning to understand one another better, as no change
of teachers has taken place during more than twelvemonths.
Reading and arithmetic are fairly taught, and the upper
classes write fairly from dictation. The copy-books are,
however, with one or two exceptions, slovenly.

Motupiko.—Mrs Fugle, mistress—(17).—Great pains have
evidently been taken, and successfully taken, here, to remedy
the defects that I pointed out last year. The writing is now
neat throughout; the arithmetic, though less ambitious, more
accurate than it was, the figures made by the children being
so good as to deserve special mention. The drawl in reading
is also much diminished. I find that though the comparative
merits of the scholars are carefully recorded in a class-book,
no prizes are allowed by the Committee. I trust that so
important a help to zeal and emulation will no longer be
withheld.

Waimea West, North School.—Mr Thorburn, master—(37.)
—A marked improvement has taken place in the teaching of
the lower classes here since last year. Writing and arithmetic
are also well taught throughout. But the scholars in the
first class, who comprise some than a third of the whole
school, read with bad intonation, and have but an imperfect
acquaintance with the barest outlines of geography and
arithmetic. They also are outrageously noisy and unmannerly.

Waimea West Village.—Mr W. Ladley, master; Miss
Ladley, assistant—(45).—This schoolroom lately in care of
school by Mr Larchin is being effectually carried out by his
successor. The older scholars are beginning to read "both
prose and poetry well; the writing is generally neat, the
arithmetic good and accurate, few attempting questions that
they do not solve correctly. Good order is kept, the only
apparent drawback to the complete success of the school
being still the irregularity of attendance, especially during
the March quarter, when the school might almost as well be
closed.

Upper Moutere.—Mr Cook, master; Miss Cook, assistant—
(35).—There are several schools in the Province where the
scholars are almost exclusively of German parentage, but no
master has hitherto succeeded so well as Mr Cook in the
difficult task of teaching children of this class. The reading
throughout is fluent and distinct, the writing of the upper
classes neat and legible, in arithmetic, questions as far as pro-
portion and practice are worked with tolerable readiness, and
the writing from dictation is creditable. More than this ought
not to be expected under the circumstances. The universal
good-humor, combined with perfect discipline, with which the
work of the school is carried on, impresses a visitor very
favorably.

Neudorf.—Mr Desaunais, master; Mrs Desaunais, assistant
—(45).—It is satisfactory to be able to record that a much
better rate of attendance for the past year has enabled the
teachers to produce better results. The improvement in the
reading that I noticed last year continues, and the writing is
neat throughout. Thus the scholars are not further advanced
in other respects may be partly explained by the fact that
only five children over twelve years old have attended during
the past year.

Lower Moutere.—Mr Robson, master; James Robson,
pupil teacher—(50).—Although the crowded state of the
schoolroom renders the task of keeping order unusually
difficult, the talkativeness of which I complained in my last
report is no longer audible. The teaching is still thorough in
every branch, the large proportion that the readers marked

"good" bear to the total on the roll—nearly one-half—being
especially noteworthy. Nor are the neat, legible figures
made by the children likely to be unobserved by an examiner
whose eyesight is sorely tried by the hieroglyphics that
frequently do duty for figures.

Motueka.—Mr Bisley, master; Miss Guy, assistant; Miss
Lock, pupil teacher—(77).—The discipline and organisation
of this school are fully equal to what they have hitherto been.
The reading, which was formerly somewhat inaudible, is of
a better character. The manner in which the oral teaching of
geography is combined with that of history, so that the two
studies are made to mutually assist each other, is well
is well worth imitating elsewhere. Few of our teachers
contrive to infuse any living interest into either of these
subjects, which as formerly taught, might for all practical
purposes, just as well be left out of the school course.

Ngatimoti.—Mr Sutcliffe, master—(27).—This little school
has been steadily improving for several years, both in
numbers and attainments. The writing is neat, the slate
arithmetic fair, and the mental arithmetic above the average.
The discipline and organisation of the school are also
creditable. There is a peculiarity about the reading here
that is of long standing. All the scholars, with the exception
of some three or four in the first class, read with an odd
rising inflection at the end of each sentence. The effect
upon a stranger is excessively ludicrous, and no pains ought
to be spared to bring about a reformation in this respect.

Dovedale.—Mr Sterling, master—(21).—The average rate
of attendance here for the past year has been much higher
than formerly, one quarter showing a rate of 70 per cent. A
corresponding advance has been made by the scholars in
every branch. It is to be hoped that after the good effects of
regular attendance have now been made so manifest, this
school will not be allowed to relapse into its former condition.
Few of the larger, none of the smaller schools in the province
can compare with Dovedale in the excellence of the hand-
writing.

Pangatotara.—Mr Deck, master—(34).—This school is
evidently carefully taught and well disciplined. The defects
are the indistinctness of the reading, and the inaudible tone
in which the children answer a question, even when they are
not in doubt what to say. These faults are inveterate and
not easily curable. Geography seems to be the strong point
here, great attention having evidently been paid to this
subject. The scholars write neatly, are fairly proficient in
arithmetic, and have few mistakes in dictation. The removal
of the school to a more central site has somewhat increased
the attendance already.

Brooklyn.—Miss Mickell, mistress—(21).—I was less
favorably impressed with this school on my last visit than on
previous occasions. The arithmetic was not so accurate as
formerly, the copy-books were carelessly written and kept,
and the want of emulation was beginning to tell unfavorably
upon the elder scholars who would do better at a larger
school.

Riwaka.—Mr Ponsonby, master—(21).—It is not to be
expected that a small district like Riwaka can long continue
to support two public in addition to one private school. If
the children now taught more or less efficiently at these
establishments were collected in one central school, as with
the improved means of communication now available they
might easily be, Riwaka might again attain the high educ-
tional position that it held some years ago, when nearly
fifty well-trained children were in daily attendance at its
single school. It is enough to say that I found the school
more better than a wreck, though the present master is
struggling hard to bring about a better state of things.

Takaka.—Mr Dixon, master—(24).—The recent appoint-
ment of a new master has had the not unusual effect of
temporarily increasing the numbers, and raising the rate
of attendance at this backward and hitherto ill-attended
school. But long-continued regularity on the part of the
scholars and unremitting attention on the part of the teacher
will be needed to restore Takaka from its present position
at almost the bottom of our Provincial schools—a position
which it has held, with little intermission, for the last eleven
years. The geography and mental arithmetic of the first
class are respectable and the redeeming features of the
school. The reading, throughout, is nothing better than a
monotonous drawl.