95

THE NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT GAZETTE

(PROVINCE OF NELSON).

Published by Authority.

VOL. XXIV. NELSON, SATURDAY, JULY 24, 1875. No. 22.

Provincial Secretary's Office,
Nelson, July 24, 1875.

THE following Report and Returns are published for general information,

EUGENE O'CONOR,
Provincial Secretary.

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE INSPECTOR OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

To the Chairman of the Central Board of Education.

SIR,—A considerable addition has been made, during the past year, to the number of children attending our Provincial Schools, the Returns for 1875 showing a total of 4369 scholars against 3833 in 1874, an increase of 536.

Eight new schools have also been opened, all of which are subsidised, and are outside of education districts, seven being on the West Coast.

The Board has also undertaken to give subsidies to a school at the Karamea, and to a second school at Reefton. There are at present 63 schools partly or wholly maintained by the Board. So ample has been the provision for education lately made in the outlying districts, that I cannot see more than one neighborhood—Totara flat, in the Grey Valley—where a well-founded claim for an additional school can be made out during the next twelve months. In several instances, indeed, as at Waipuna and No Town, the Board has supported such mere skeletons of schools, that it becomes a question whether the conditions insisted on are sufficiently stringent as regards numbers. In both of these cases, however, the inhabitants have themselves made great sacrifices, and have contributed largely in the shape of buildings. The greatly increased attendance at Westport and Haven-road will necessitate additions being made to the school buildings at those places.

It is difficult for a reader who has no special knowledge of the subject to extract and combine the information scattered through the accompanying detailed reports of each school so as to get any distinct idea of the general result. I have, therefore, subjoined a summary that will help those interested in education to form a definite opinion as to the manner in which each branch of an elementary education is being taught in our Provincial schools, considered as a whole. The important subjects of Attendance and Discipline are also treated of separately.

Reading.—Although I have this year fixed the standard of good reading if anything somewhat higher than formerly, I am able to record 124 more good readers than in 1874. Special attention has, indeed, been directed to this subject by various means, among which I include the reading prizes offered by the Board. These have certainly stimulated good reading in the upper classes. Much more might be achieved, however, if parents would but second the efforts of teachers by encouraging their children to read aloud at home more than they do. I find that a large proportion of our scholars never open a book out of school. It is obvious that the reading of two or three sentences at most twice daily—which is as much as can be done in our large schools—is not, of itself, enough to ensure proficiency in an art in which excellence can be attained only by constant practice.

Writing.—The number of good writers is about the same as last year. This branch is usually well taught. I found carelessly written and ill-kept copy-books in not more than half-a-dozen of our schools. In many schools the penmanship may be termed excellent, when the age of the scholars is considered. I am glad to see that the practice of writing in exercise-books is becoming more common. Few of our teachers now attempt to teach any other subject during the writing lesson, which receives, as it undoubtedly requires, the undivided attention of the master or mistress.

Arithmetic.—Having reason to suspect that much of the arithmetic, especially in the upper classes, was too ambitious, and far from accurate, I have this year tested our schools by a set of papers divided into four grades. The teachers were allowed to distribute these according to their own estimate of their scholars'