XI

E.—l

Tarawera stand pre-eminent, in this respect." The Wellington Board "takes the opportunity of recording its appreciation of the value of the services rerdered by the various School Committees. To their interest and zeal for the welfare of their respective schools the improved attendance and tone are largely due. The Committee of the Mount Cook schools, m conjunction with a Committee of the Board, have established a night-school for boys over- school age. The attendance during the. winter averaged about a hundred. The school was well equipped with teachers. A course of science lectures was delivered by Dr _ Hutchinson gratuitously, and, so far as could be judged without inspection, good work was done The fee for the winter term was 2s. 6d." The Otago Board reports as follows " The recent Order in Council, altering the mode of auditing accounts of School Committees, and empowering Boards to appoint an auditor, is, the Board believes, a step in the right direction. The Board appointed its Chief Clerk auditor for the district, and arranged that the School Committees should forward their books, accounts, &c, to the Board's office. It is pleasing to report that the Committees, with one or two exceptions, willingly fell in with the new order of things, and rendered the auditor every assistance m carrying out his work. The report of the auditor is, on the whole, satisfactory, and shows that a large majority of the School Committees are expending the moneys placed at their disposal m an economical and useful manner " Inspection of Schools. The reports furnished by the Inspectors of Schools to the Boards to which they are responsible are printed in a separate paper (E 1b), and are well worthy of attentive perusal. They contain very decided evidence that the quality of the instruction given in the schools is steadily improving, and that there is a corresponding advance in the extent and thoroughness of the pupils' attainments. At the same time the reports contain some frank criticisms of defects that have not yet been removed, and of inefficiency in some cases that requires to be very firmly dealt with. The impression derived from a careful study of the statements made by the Inspectors is that the real progress achieved is considerably greater than that which is indicated by a comparison of the tabulated returns with those of former years. The following is the summary of the statistical results of the standard examinations held during 1883 : —

TABLE J.—Numbers and Proportions of Passes in Standards.

It will be seen that rather more Jian one-half of all the scholars—so-2 per cent, being the exact proportion—were presented for examination m the various standards, and that 37-4 per cent, of all the scholars passed. This proportion of passes to attendance has not yet been exceeded the proportion two years before was equal to it, but there is reason to believe that m some districts the examina r

Passed Standards Education Districts. Boll (Dec, 1883). Presented. Passed. I. II. III. IV V. VI. Total. All 92,476 j 5O2 p.o. of rollnumber 74-4 p.c. of number presented [ll-2 \) Per cent, of Eoll-Numboi 9'8 7-3 4-9 2-7 I Jx. 1-3 37-4 Auckland Taranald Wanganui Wellington Hawke's Bay Marlborough Nelson North Canterbury South Canterbury Wostland. Otago Southland 17 120 2,060 5,446 6,840 3 697 1 486 4,55.0 17 797 3,920 3 040 20,545 5,975 8,327 909 2,836 3,696 2,085 796 2,320 7,920 2,041 1,463 10 933 3,113 5,449 609 2,514 2,774 1 598 717 1,941 6,470 1,494 1 264 7 909 1 827 Per c< 73-6 5S-6 89-3 89-0 79-6 85-7 9o-2 95-0 90-7 95-4 92-0 82-5 int. of Number presented in oa 68'0 53-8 , 60-4 61-7 I 73-4 70-5 J CO-9 74-0 i 90-0 84-9 I 85-6 93'8 83-0 60-0 ! 66-0 63-0 79-1 73-1 72-6 64-3 91-8 90-0 I 90-5 83-3 88-6 85-7 i 71-3 71-0 84-0 74-0 ,' 69-0 76-0 79-9 61-0 I 55-0 63-6 87-7 80-6 j 84-2 85-7 77-0 60-0 ' 62-0 58-0 67-4 44-7 I 32'4 41-5 iaoh Staj I 63-5 i 72-7 97-9 86-0 89-5 92-1 75-9 77-0 80-9 70-0 82-0 45-2 .ndard. 65-4 67-0 88'6 75-0 76-6 90-0 83'6 82-0 73-2 86-4 72-0 58-7 Totals for 1883 Totals for 1882 92,476 87,179 46,439 42 388 ! 34,566 30 639 I 86-5 86*3 78-2 64-8 I 64-7 j 66-7 76-1 63-6 ■ 61-5 61-2 ! 78-2 76-1 79-4 72-1 74-4 72-3