H.—lA.

68

Attendance.—The number of school districts in North Canterbury at the close of 1879 was 102 r and the number of separate schools, including the practising department of the Normal School, was 120. Four of these, viz., Broughton, German Bay Side, Waiau, and Westerfield, are aided schools. The total number on the rolls was 15,230, and the average attendance for the quarter 11,381. The following table shows the number of schools maintained or aided by the Board, with the number of children and the average attendance for the two years since the present Act came into operation :—

At the end of March, 1878, the number of children in the schools of the whole Provincial District of Canterbury was 15,107, with an average attendance of 10,964. The above figures show that the numerical loss sustained through the division of the district has already been repaired, and that the number of children attending the schools of North Canterbury alone is equal to the number which, less, than two years ago, belonged to the schools of both North and. South Canterbury. Moreover, it should be observed that this remarkable increase owes nothing to the effect of any new or suddenly applied stimulus. It is not here as in some parts of the colony, where the free education offered by the Educacation Act of 1877 brought into the schools crowds of children who had previously been left almost or altogether uneducated. In Canterbury, the system introduced in 1877 was no novelty. The financial provisions of the Act of the General Assembly were founded on the principles that governed the Provincial Ordinance of 1873, and in this part of New Zealand its application did but continue a state of things which had been fully established four years before. The steady increase in the attendance in the Canterbury schools during the last two years is, therefore, not at all attributable to any favourable change of circumstances, but is solely the result of ordinary causes, the growth of settlement and population. The following table, which has been prepared for the purpose of comparison, exhibits the progress made in the number of schools, and the attendance, in North Canterbury, for successive years from 1863, when the Board of Education was first established, to 1879. It includes only so much of the Provincial District as lies north of the Rangitata, and now forms part of the education district of North Conterbury, omitting on the one hand all the schools of the South Canterbury District, and on the other, the three schools at Kaikoura and Waiau : —

* Aid to denominational schools ceased on 30th September, 1873. Normal School. —Mr. Howard's engagement as Principal of the Normal School terminated in the beginning of July. The Board invited applications for the appointment, by advertisement, throughout New Zealand and the Australian Colonies, and from among sixteen applicants, selected Mr. W. Malcolm, head master of the Tokomairiro District High School, Otago. Mr. Malcolm's engagement dates from the Ist January, 1880. During the second half of the year 1879, the Normal School was under the charge of the senior tutor, Mr. E. Watkins, whose report for that period is given in the appendix. In August a tender was accepted for the additions to the building referred to in former reports as a work of urgent necessity, which will be ready for occupation in about two months from the date of this report. The Kindergarten and infant schools will then be capable of receiving their full development, and it will be possible to carry into effect several considerable improvements, which it is hoped will add in a marked degree to the efficiency and usefulness of the institution. Inspection—-The annual reports of the Inspectors are given in the appendix. During the year 1879, 12,018 children were examined ; 7,260 being presented in standards. Of this number 6,450 passed; an average of 88*84. The average age at which each standard was passed, is as follows:—■ VI, age, 13*6 ;V, 13*1 ; IV, 12*6 ; 111, 11-6; 11, 10-4; I, B*9. These examinations were the first under the new standards, and in estimating their results, allowance must be made, as explained by the

Quarter ended 31st December. District Schools. Aided Schools. Total of Schools. On Roll. Average ■„ Attendance. Percentage. 1878 1879 106 116 4 4 110 120 13,647 15,230 10,076 11,381 73*83 74*72

Quarter ended 31st December, District Schools. Denominational Schools. I Aided Schools. Total of Schools. Number on Roll. Average Attendance. Percentage. 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 2 7 9 12 14 18 23 26 35 56 73 79 80 98 100 104 114 31 22 23 25 29 80 29 29 2rS 12 * 33 29 32 37 43 48 52 55 63 68 73 79 80 99 102 107 117 1,605 1,718 1,989 2,194 2,614 2,761 3,149 3,411 3,924 5,439 7,238 9,524 10,473 12,144 12,464 13,516 15,046 1,030 1,164 1,331 1,507 1,805 1,871 2,214 2,444 2,904 3,694 4,631 6,366 6,935 8,295 9,068 9,975 11,245 64-17 67*75 66*92 68*68 69*05 67*76 70*31 71*65 74*00 67*91 63*98 66*84 66*21 68*30 72*75 73*80 74*73 1 2 3 3