H.—ld

1878. NEW ZEALAND.

EDUCATION. REPORT OF THE INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF SCHOOLS UPON THE WELLINGTON COLLEGE.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

No. 1. The Inspector-General to the Hon. the Minister of Euucation. Sir,— Wellington, 18th July, 1878. The Governors of the Wellington College having requested you to appoint some person or persons to examine into and report upon the working of the College, you were pleased to appoint me to conduct the inquiry, and I now have the honor to submit the following statement: — I am much indebted to the Governors and to their Secretary, who have placed at my service, for the purposes of this inquiry, all papers that were likely to be of use to me ; and I desire to acknowledge my obligations to the Principal (Kenneth Wilson, Esq.) for the courtesy with which he received me on the occasion of my visit to the school, for the readiness and fulness of his replies to my numerous questions, and for the arrangements he made to give me an opportunity of seeing the school at work. I find that it has been the aim of the Governors to make provision both for secondary education and for the higher education of the College or the University. The institution has apparently been moulded into its present form by the endeavour to compress the two stages, the secondary and the higher, into the ordinary period of school life, and to carry on the work of both stages at the same time, in the same school, and with a staff of instructors scarcely exceeding the number which would be required in an ordinary grammar school. The only teacher upon the staff whose services would not be necessary for the work of a grammar school is the Professor of Natural Science (T. Kirk, Esq., P.L.S.). The only work done by the College out of school hours, is the work of the evening classes and of a Saturday class, as follows: —The Mathematical Master conducts an evening class for mathematics attended by four persons, and one for classics at which three attend ; the Modern Language Master has a class for French and one for German, attended by three and two persons respectively ; and the Mathematical Master has an arithmetic class, composed of three girls, which meets on Saturday. The Principal is prepared to give lectures in English ; and evening classes to be taught by the Professor of Natural Science have been proposed, but at present no students avail themselves of these arrangements. I learn that of the persons attending the evening classes only one is an undergraduate member of the University. There are also four undergraduates whose names are on the books of the College, and who are nominally keeping terms, but who do not attend lectures, aud who receive no instruction from the College. With the exceptions which I have now stated, the operations of the College are confined to the work of the school. In the school there are two boys who have matriculated to the University : one of these is in the Sixth Form, and the other in the Upper Fifth. The work of the Sixth Form is designed to constitute a preparation for the passing of the examination for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the University of New Zealand. In this form there are at present two pupils, of whom one is an undergraduate. The Upper Fifth, in which is one undergraduate, consists of five boys who are preparing for the Senior Cambridge Local Examination; and the Lower Fifth, with eight boys, is preparing for the corresponding Junior Examination. lam informed that the practice is to enter for these Cambridge Examinations as many boys from the Fifth Form as are deemed likely to secure a " pass." The Fifth and Sixth Forms are under the direct care of the Principal; but all the boys in this upper part of the school receive instruction in physical science from Professor Kirk, who spends nine hours a week with them, and in mathematics they are divided into classes according to their attainments, and taught by the Mathematical Master. Greek, which is an optional subject as an alternative with German, is taught by the Second Master, and French and German are the special province of the Modern Language Master.