E.—2

4

the literary attainments are not high as yet, but rapid improvement seems to be taking place. At the last examination 3 girls passed in Standard 111., 9in Standard 11., and lin Standard I. There are thirty-three Government scholars here. The Protestant Native Girls' School at Hukarere, Napier, is very good throughout. Of the 20 girls examined, 1 passed Standard IV., 4 Standard 111, 4 Standard 11., and 6 Standard I. There are 20 Government scholars here. At the Native College at Te Aute, Maori boys receive an excellent education, and are well looked after in every way. The upper part of the school is, relatively, considerably stronger than the lower. Any one that is inclined to think little of the intellectual capacity of the Maori should see the upper class of this school at work ; his opinion would probably be greatly modified. At the last examination the 10 Government scholars obtained passes as follows: Standard IV., 5; Standard 111., 3; 1 had previously passed Standard IV. ; 1 was absent. A rather difficult general paper on higher work was set for the boys belonging to the senior class. The answering was, on the whole, satisfactory; some of the boys did exceedingly well. Souih Island and Stewart Island. —There is no District Superintendent for the southern schools ; communication with most of them is so easy that the services of such an officer are not required. Of the South Island schools, those at Otago Heads, Waikouaiti, and Kaiapoi are the best. The school at the Neck, Stewart Island, is also very good indeed. Excellent results were obtained at Rapaki; there are, however, one or two things that require amendment there before it can be considered as one of the very best schools. Port Molyneux is very good. At all the other schools except three very fair progress had been made. The results obtained at Mangamaunu, Onuku, and Riverton are rather disappointing. Mangamaunu and Eiverton will almost certainly do better next year. Onuku suffered somewhat seriously through the new regulation that requires Europeans to pass a standard higher than the one with which they are credited, hecause they have the advantage of the Maoris in knowing English, which the Maoris of course have to learn. A great many of the children at Onuku are Europeans, and, consequently, the introduction of this regulation greatly lowered the number of passes. The new school at Colac Bay made a very creditable appearance. Wairau School is small, but it is doing good work. Waikawa suffered greatly through irregularity of attendance during a portion of the year ; but, in spite of this, came out very well at the examination. Owing to tempestuous weather I was unable to visit Ruapuke. As a whole the South Island schools are further advanced than those of the North. The fact that the knowledge of English possessed by the southern Natives is far greater than that of those in the North would lead us to expect that this would be the case. Nevertheless, some of the northern schools are really very good, and not far behind those in the South. Teachebs. At the end of 1881 there were employed as head-teachers in Native schools 54 masters and 6 mistresses. There were also 5 mistresses or assistants, and 47 sewing mistresses. Most of the teachers take great interest in their work, and show aptitude for teaching. There are, however, a few who ought to seek some more congenial employment. Unless a teacher has really friendly feelings for the Natives, and takes a strong professional interest in teaching their children, his work must be extremely dreary and irksome. In this connection I would point out that it is very desirable that a regulation should be made which would render it possible to dispense with a native-school teacher's services on the mere ground that he is not successful, and to do so without inflicting injustice or unnecessary hardship upon him. When a man becomes a native-school teacher he places himself in a very bad position for obtaining employment in any other capacity if he should unfortunately prove to be a failure as a teacher. He is to a large extent shut out from the world. He loses such business connections as might be the means of getting him new employment if he went into and failed at any other occupation. Besides this, the peculiar kind of life that a native-school teacher has to lead unfits him to a certain extent for diiferent work. Tet it is much to be regretted that a school should go on languishing year after year under an unsuccessful teacher, when a man quite fit for the work and anxious to take it could easily be obtained. The difficulty would be got over, I think, if a teacher in such circumstances received three months' notice that his services would be no longer required, and were paid two months' salary for every year of service up to three years, and one month's salary for every year's service beyond three years. Committees. Twenty-seven of the schools have really good hard-working Committees. In other districts the Committees vary from pretty fair to totally useless. As a rule, to which there are some exceptions, where there is a good Committee there is a good school. Perhaps the most efficient Committees are to be found at Waiomatatini and Peria. These two Committees have for several years been untiring in their efforts to promote the success of their schools. In many other districts, however, the Committees have rendered very valuable assistance. I think it is very desirable that a little more power should be given to Committees. I find that in many districts the Natives are entirely in favour of having Maori education made compulsory. Of course special legislation would be necessary for this. As in the case of European schools, the introduction of compulsory regulations should be placed in the hands of the Committees. It might also be necessary to make the collection of fines, &c, part of their business. I sometime ago forwarded a rough draft of a Bill that would, in my opinion, deal with the whole matter satisfactorily. Recoeds. The teachers have now got pretty thoroughly into the way of keeping the different registers ; serious errors in these are rarely found. In some cases a little more attention to neatness would nob be quite thrown away. Attendance. In some few schools the attendance is extremely irregular ; in all the others it is fairly satisfactory. The giving of regular-attendance prizes is having a very salutary effect now that the children know that the prizes are given strictly according to rule, and that they may depend on getting them if they earn them. In order to come to a just conclusion with regard to the attendance at Native schools, it has to be borne in. mind that most Maori children have to work for their own living, and that at planting