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It has been brought under my notice that three boys belonging to Form IV of the Boys' High School were not present at the French examination, as they were then undergoing examinations for the University It is to be presumed that these were the best, and that their work would have made the report of the form, which consists of eight boys only considerably better 18th December, 1883. Chas. Tueeell.

.5. Ebpobt of the Examinee in Science Sib,— Ohristchurch, 17th December 1883. I have the honour to report on the science work of the Boys' High School. The following are the subjects examined in First and second physics, chemistry physiology botany physical geography Both the first and second physics show evidence of good teaching, and all the work of a somewhat long syllabus appears to have been carefully gone through, as all the questions have been answered accurately many times throughout the class but taken as a whole the marks are not high. I should imagine that this is due to the fact of the work not having been sufficiently reviewed. The part of the subject that appears weakest on the whole is that relating to the elementary ideas of force, the law T s of motion, of inertia, &c. The questions on. the general elementary principles of heatj light, and sound are, as a rule, well answered and throughout the papers there are many pleasant evidences of the pupils having been taught to use their brains and think for themselves. The chemistry papers are hardly so satisfactory as the physics. In speaking of this to the teacher, he told me that the difficulty they laboured under in this matter was the want of a laboratory It would bo very desirable if a small shed could bo fitted up as a laboratory, as this would not only be very useful for a few of the more advanced boys to work in, but it would render it easy to prepare a few class-lecture experiments both in chemistry and physics. One or two experiments to each chemical and physical lecture give both interest and reality to the subject. But in every school experiment success is of prime importance, for the discipline of the class, and a laboratory to keep and get ready apparatus is a great help in this respect. A few of the boys have answered the questions sot in physiology in a remarkably able manner, and throughout the class the work is well done. A few of the boys show, however, that they remember the diagrams more through the eye than the mind. But generally the work is very creditable to the school. A few boys only took botany, which, as a whole, is fairly well done , there is rather a tendency of some of the boys to guess the answers. The work in physical geography covered the whole of Page's text-book, and, considering the amount of the work, was very well done. A question on the origin of the trade-winds was answered better on the whole throughout the class than is usual with University students, but questions relating to evaporation and clouds, &c, were not anything like so well done. Taken as a whole, the science work of the Boys' High School is on a very satisfactory footing, and fair progress has been made during the year I have, &c, The, Chairman, Board of Governors, Canterbury College. A. W. Bickebton.

6. Bepokt of the Examinee in Mathematics and Geogbaphy. Sib, —■ Canterbury College, 19th December, 1883. I have the honour to report that I have examined the Boys' High School in mathematics and in geography In geography, the best results were shown by the First and Fifth Forms , the work in the Third was satisfactory , that in the Fourth was hardly so good, the work done by the Second Form was neither large in amount nor good in quality In arithmetic, the Lower First did well the work in which it was examined—namely, the first four rules, simple and compound. The Upper First did, in addition to these, practice and elementary vulgar fractions the work of this form was well done, two boys obtaining full marks, and several being very high. The Lower Second did not come out so well, there are six who obtained high marks, but the remainder fall away very rapidly from these. The form, as a whole, is weak in fractions, and more attention is needed to the way in which the work is put down. In the Upper Second the arithmetic was excellent, nearly all the boys obtained high marks, and the papers, with scarce an exception, were remarkably neat and good in every particular In the Third Form the arithmetic was fairly well done the prevailing fault was want of accuracy, but more attention is also needed to the manner in which the work is done. The Fourth and Fifth Forms had the same paper in arithmetic, and though it was decidedly hard it was satisfactorily done. Most of the papers, too, in these forms, were neat and good in style. In Euclid, nearly all the Second Form are beginners. In both divisions, however, more attention is necessary to explain to the boys the logical nature of the argument in the early propositions. In the Third and Fourth Forms the Euclid was satisfactory both, however, should attend more carefully to the definitions, and in the Third the constructions should be given more fully the Fourth was good in this particular The one boy who did the Euclid in the Fifth Form (for some boys were away from both the Fourth and Fifth at the University entrance examination) did his paper exceedingly well. In algebra, the papers set were rather hard, and therefore the results do not appear to be quite so good as might have been expected. The Upper Second are mere beginners ; the Third and Fourth Forms did the work fairly, but in both more attention must be given to the use of brackets, to factors, and to fractions. I think that, perhaps, both of these forms, as well as the Fifth, have gone on a little too fast. In trigonometry, not very much has yet been done in the school. Speaking generally of the mathematical subjects, I may say that a considerable advance has been made during the year both in the amount and in the quality of the work done in the school.