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and accurate working, and a correct knowledge of the processes employed ; and in these standards I think that much better results should be forthcoming. In Standards V. and VI. the sums set demanded the exercise of some intelligence, in addition to accurate working and a good acquaintance with processes, and in these the low percentage of " passes," though far from satisfactory, is less surprising. A larger share of time than usual has been devoted to surprise visits. I have thereby been able to gain a more minute and accurate acquaintance with the every-day working particularly of the rural schools,'and to see the causes of many defects that have been laid bare by the usual examination visit. I have also been able occasionally to suggest important changes, and I hope improvements, in the organization and time-tables, as well as in the methods of teaching. lam happy to be able to report that improper classification is becoming a rare thing. In no matter has improvement been so general and so conspicuous as in this, and, should the sound judgment which is at present used in determining promotions continue to be exercised, there will soon be great reason for satisfaction and even gratulation. The majority of the larger schools continue to be well organized, and the skilful teaching power is, with few exceptions, well distributed. The statement of " passes," printed at the end of this report, will sufficiently indicate the merits of the best-mana<.e<! schools, and enable me, in the remarks that follow, to dwell on some prominent shortcomings I have observed, rather than attempt to give a general estimate of the present state of elementary education in the district. Reading. There has been little improvement to note since last year. What I have seen in several schools confirms the high estimate I had formed of the value of simultaneous reading, after the teacher's model, in forming a style marked by readiness, distinctness of utterance, and natural expression and grouping of words. I have observed with regret a very general neglect of the valuable lessons in the reading books on the pronunciation of words in syllables. These are not intended for a spelling exercise, but for practice in clear, distinct, deliberate articulation of the syllables of words, as a preliminary to their pronunciation with the accent on the proper syllable. Were these lessons used for the purpose for which they are intended and made up, the common fault of want of distinctness and deliberateness in reading and in uttering single words would, no doubt, become much less prevalent. COMPBEHENSION. In a considerable number of schools comprehension of all lessons read, and of poetry repeated, has received careful and diligent attention; and the increased pains bestowed on the subject have been apparent from the intelligence which distinguished the answers of many of the pupils. Notwithstanding, there are still many schools in which the comprehension of lessons read and of poetry learned is extremely defective, and where little care appears to be taken to make the classes feel that they fail to understand what they read, or to impress upon them the necessity for inquiring, through dictionaries, and their teachers and friends, the meaning of words and expressions that are uncommon or beyond the range of their every-day vocabulary. In this matter the fault seems to lie with the teachers, for, as the natural curiosity of children is on the side of improvement, I think nothing short of serious neglect could produce results so indifferent as are often encountered. Spelling. Spelling continues to be one of the best-taught subjects in the school course. Though the percentage of failures is still much higher than I could wish it, yet the failures have not been so aggravated as in former years. In many cases the papers that failed were but little inferior to those that passed. On the whole, I think there has been fair progress in the subject. I may here intimate that I purpose to discontinue testing the spelling of the Second Standard orally, except in cases where there is good reason for inability to write. This change seems necessary, from the fact that whole classes were able to spell orally almost any word of two syllables proposed, while very many failed to write down with tolerable correctness a short sentence from the First Header. In nearly every school transcription is much practised by this class, but it is sometimes so carelessly superintended that the exercise is as good as worthless. Weiting. The copy-books, and the written exercises of the upper classes in many schools, and particularly in large ones, continue to be very creditably done. But the work of the lower classes, and in many rural schools that of all, is much less satisfactory. The number of schools in which writing can be said to be taught on a methodical plan or system is comparatively small. The most usual practice is to provide a pupil with a copy-book with engraved head-lines, a pen, and ink ; he is roughly shown how to hold the pen, and is then left to form a hand as best he may by hap-hazard imitation of the head-line. Deviations from the size, shape, aud slope of the model are not checked with care, and the faults unmarked are too often repeated until the hand grows inured to them, and their eradication becomes a difficult and tedious task. This picture is no caricature or exaggeration, but a truthful account of what happens in not a few schools. Even where writing is superintended with regularity and care, individual letters are often allowed to be formed in a faulty way, page after page, and book after book. These errors are overlooked, I believe, because many teachers are satisfied with regular and uniform writing, without critically examining its quality as penmanship. Of the two methods of teaching writing in use in the district—viz., from models written on the black-board, and from written or engraved head-lines —the former almost invariably produces the best results. No doubt this superiority is due as much to the skill and ability of the teachers who adopt this method as to any inherent merit it possesses. The faults that frequently attend the second method seem to arise entirely from neglect to use the black-board for pointing out and illustrating what is wrong, and for giving systematic instruction in the best ways of forming and linking