81

H.—l.

Male Students. There has been a fair attendance of male students, and the progress made in gymnastics is satisfactory. Mr. Mayo, Mr. Binnie, and Mr. Cumbervvorth deserve special praise for their perseverance in the practice of gymnastics. Deill-shed and Gymnasium. The drill-shed is now complete, and is found to be very useful for drill purposes, and is also used for school purposes. When completed, the gymnasium will meet every requirement, and will go a long way towards making gymnastics a thorough success in Canterbury. Gymnastic Appabatus. The apparatus generally is in fair repair. Material injury to apparatus sometimes happens through want of a single screw or nail. This should be attended to by the master, who, from colonial experience, should be able to drive a nail or re-adjust a screw. I have, &c, James Q. Walkeb, Gymnastic and Drill Instructor to Public Schools. The Chairman of the Board of Education.

OTAGO. 1. ME. PETEIE'S EEPOET. Sic,— Education Office, 15th April, 1878. I have the honor to submit the following report for the nine months ended 31st December, 1877. During the above period I made seventy-seven surprise visits, and subsequently examined in detail eighteen schools, including the grammar schools, and most of the larger schools in the district. The time available for inspection has been curtailed even more than usual by the examination of teachers and pupil-teachers, the preparation of proposed regulations, and the consideration of various matters connected with the high schools, the classification of teachers, &c. As three months of the year 1876-77 were included in my last report, and as the results of examinations of schools during these are not comparable, from a slight difference in procedure, with those of the last nine months, I have left them out of account in the statistics given below. (See Appendix.) The following table shows the total number of pupils examined by Mr. Taylor and myself, and the total number of " passes " in each of the undermentioned subjects : —

The lower column of the table shows the percentage of " passes " (approximate) in each subject. The next table shows the same results, keeping each standard separate :—

* The lower column in each pair shows the percentage of passes. This table gives a pretty accurate estimate of the efficiency of the instruction in the five subjects in which alone the pupils were tested individually. In reading, and in writing, the proportion of " passes " is very satisfactory ; but the high results are to some extent due to the vagueness of the standard applied in judging of them. In spelling, the percentage is on the whole very fair, although the results in the Third and Fourth Standards are relatively and absolutely low. The percentages in arithmetic and grammar cannot be considered much more than moderate. In arithmetic, the examinations in Standards I. to IV. have been of a routine character, and required merely ready

Subjects. Reading. Spelling. Writing. Arithmetic. Grammar. umber Presented fumber of Passes 4,085 100 3,810 93 2,997 73 3,844 94 2,676 66 2,107 67

Ni 1KB 0- PA8SEI IN Standard. Presented. Reading. Spelling. Writing. Arithmetic. Grammar. I. II. III. IV. V. VI. 917 *100 1,010 100 970 100 748 100 331 100 109 100 849 93 930 92 903 93 699 93 323 98 106 97 762 83 731 72 628 65 521 70 264 80 91 83 876 95 918 91 898 93 720 96 323 98 109 100 730 80 640 63 615 64 454 61 181 55 56 51 679 67 686 71 474 63 196 59 72 66