32

£.—9

which show at a glance the comparative position of each class in each subject. In one column I state the average percentage obtained by each class, in a second the work done during the session, in a third the hours per week spent on the subject, in a fourth the number of pupils present at the examination, and in a fifth the number in the class. In the first of the tables will be seen in brief a comparison of the work of the whole school on its two sides. Percentages for Whole School. Boys. Girls. Total. Latin 46i ... 53 ... 50 French 54-|- ... 5.4* ... 54f English 49 ... 47 ... 48 History 53 .... 46| ... 50^ All four subjects ~ 50f ... 50J ... 50|J. M. Bbown, Professor of English and History, Canterbury College. The Chairman, Board of Governors.

3. Peofessob Shand's Eepokt. g m . Dunedin, Ist December, 1883. I have the honour to report that on the 21st and 22nd ultimo I examined the High School in the subjects assigned to me, namely, mathematics, arithmetic, and geography. The higher classes in all the subjects were examined by means of written papers, the same papers being set for the two sides of the school. As it was not possible for me to be present in all the rooms in which the examination was carried on, the Sector placed each of the classes under examination in the charge of a member of the staff who was not the master or mistress of that class. In this and every other respect the arrangements made were entirely satisfactory, and the perusal of the papers has given me no grounds for believing that any communication or copying took place among the pupils. The mathematical classes number seventeen boys and thirteen girls, all but one of whom were present at the examination. Nine boys and four girls are beginners, who have read only twentyfour propositions of the First Book of Euclid and the elements of algebra. I examined them orally, taking boys and girls together. In Euclid all the girls and most of the boys answered fairlywell, though a few of the boys are backward; and in algebra, with one or two exceptions, they worked the examples set to them with satisfactory quickness and accuracy. The boys in Class 11. have read the first two books of Euclid, and as far as simple simultaneous equations in algebra, and the girls of Class 11. a little less. In algebra the boys showed up excellent papers, Gabites and Cook obtaining 87 and 85 per cent, respectively of the marks, and the average of the whole class being 75 per cent. The girls were a good deal less successful, as they obtained, after an allowance was made for the difference in their reading, an average of not more than 41 per cent. In Euclid, on the other hand, the girls did quite as well as the boys, both acquitting themselves very creditably. When the due allowances were made, the average of the girls was found to be 61 per cent, of the marks, Miss Cooper leading with 84 ; while the average of the boys was 60| per cent., Cook being the first ( with. 76. The highest mathematical class contains—on the boys' side two pupils, and on the girls' side three pupils. Both of the boys and one of the girls have read as far as the limits prescribed for the competition for University scholarships, and the papers set to them contained questions up to these limits. As the results of the examination of this class will be of particular interest to the Board of Governors, I give in full the percentage of the marks obtained by the pupils : — Class lll—Mathematics. Euclid. Algebra. Trigonometry. Boys.-A 67 ... 81 ... 69 B 61 ... 79 ... 71 Giels.-L 62 ... 64 ... - M ... ••• 43 ... 50 ... — N '.'.'. ... ••• 50 ••• 64 ••• 40 These figures seem to me to be highly satisfactory. In arithmetic I examined the two lowest classes on both sides orally. Class 1., both of boys and girls, did fairly well, but Class 11. did not come up to my expectations, being, indeed, very little better than Class I. The paper set to Class 111. was well answered by a few of the boys, Guscott leading with 92 per cent, of the marks : the class, however, has a bad " tail," the influence of which brought down the average marks to 425. The girls were more equal, none of them being so good as the best boys nor so bad as the worst. Their marks in the same paper reached an average of 45|, which is a fair result, seeing that they did not profess to have done quite as much as the boys. A paper ranging over the whole subject of arithmetic was set to Classes IV. and V. on both sides of the school: this paper was very well done by the boys, two or three of the best virtually clearing it, and it was also well done by the girls. The following are the average percentages :—Class IV.: Boys, 69; girls, 52J. Class V.: Boys, 93; girls, 68. Classes 111. and IV. on both sides I also examined orally, giving them examples to be worked on their slates, with a view of testing their quickness and accuracy. Class 111. did rather poorly ; Class IV. much better, but still not quite so well as in their written papers, probably for the reason that they are less accustomed to this stylo of examination. In geography all the classes were examined by means of written papers. One paper was set for Classes 1., 11., and 111., on both sides of the school. The easy questions which were within the reading of the two junior classes were fairly answered by them, the girls being quite as good as the