NEW ZEALAND

GOVERNMENT GAZETTE,

(PROVINCE OF WELLINGTON).

Published by Authority.

All Public Notifications which appear in this Gazette, with any Official Signature thereto annexed, are to be considered as Official communications made to those persons to whom they relate, and are to be obeyed accordingly.

HENRY BUNNY,
Provincial Secretary.

VOL. XXI. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1874. No. 38

Report of Inspector of Schools.

Wellington, 15th November, 1874.

Gentlemen,—I do not think it will be necessary or desirable to make two examinations in the work of the standards every year; but there are special reasons for bringing before you a second report this year on the working of our schools, as they have not been reported upon for several years before my first visit, and the launching of a system of standards has made this second examination called for.

I had hoped at the beginning of the year that the serious drawbacks under which the education of the Province was struggling on, would have been, in part at least, removed by this time; that new schools would have been erected in places where all kinds of make-shifts are resorted to; that a more liberal scale of payment to teachers would have been devised; a Pupil Teacher system set on foot; a part payment by results or by the degree of the teacher’s certificate inaugurated; that at least three annual scholarships to cover cost of board at the Wellington College would have been instituted; and that such other active measures would have been taken as would have tended to put this Province on something like a fair vantage ground to compete with the educational progress of the South Island Provinces. Scarcely anything has been done in the direction pointed out, but rather a check has been experienced in consequence of the uncertainty which prevailed for many months as to whether your Board would be able to meet current expenditure. Schools are still held in most unsuitable buildings, or, if the buildings be suitable, the desk and fittings are of the most primitive pattern. I very much regret that your Board has not been in a position hitherto to effect the necessary changes, and can only hope that larger grants of money will be forthcoming to put the schools in a complete state of efficiency.

I have much pleasure in reporting most favourably on the work done in the schools during the past half year. The introduction of the system of Standards has had a greater effect in creating a spirit of emulation in teachers and scholars than I anticipated. The subjoined table of figures, showing the results in the several schools and districts, should speak with an eloquence greater than words. There has been a clear increase of fifteen per cent. in the number of the children who have passed Standard I., and an increase of seven per cent. in the number who have passed Standard II. At present only 1 ¼ per cent. of the whole can pass Standard III., this being my first examination in that Standard. The whole increase in the averages cannot, however, be put down to the actual work done during the past six months, as many children on my first visit could pass in one, two, or even three sections of the Standard, but were plucked in the fourth section in consequence of that subject being neglected in the work of the school. One good effect in the working of the Standards has been the complete sweeping away of all that is frivolous or useless in elementary school work—such as Book-keeping, Astronomy,