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report op the examination in latin. Sir,— I beg to report that I have acted on the instructions of the Board of Governors, by examining the two High Schools in Latin. I conducted the examinations of both schools by means of written papers, with the exception of Classes 1., 11., and 111. of Boys' High School, which I judged it sufficient to examine viva voce, partly on account of the elementary character of the instruction given in those classes, and partly on account of the.youthful pupils' want of facility in written exercises. I have to acknowledge the courtesy of the rectors and teachers of the respective schools, who gave me every needed information, and kindly supervised the examinations in the classrooms in which I could not be present personally. The plan I adopted was to select one or two portions of books read in the class during the year, and to question the pupils on the parsing and derivation of the words, on the syntax, and on the geographical, historical, or other allusions occurring in the passage or passages selected. I hardly ever questioned the pupils outside the portions so chosen. My intention was to sink shafts into the work done by the respective classes during the year, and thus to sample their work. I attached values, as fairly as I could, to the questions asked in each paper, and summed up the collective value of the answers given by each pupil. The following is the tabulated result of the examination of the Girls' High School: —

The paper set for the beginners was very easy, being taken out of the beginning of Part I. of Smith's Principia ; and this accounts for the exceptionally high percentage of marks gained in it. The other two papers were meant to be more testing; andithe good percentage made in them may be taken as an indication that the teaching of Latin in the Girls' High School is accurate and efficient. I was pleased to find a remarkable equality of fair attainment about the papers : they were all pretty well up to the mark; there were no conspicuous failures. I was also glad to notice that attention is paid to the connection between Latin and English, a point which I took occasion specially to test, with results which were very satisfactory. One of the chief uses of Latin to girls who have no occasion to study the language for professional purposes lies in the key to the proper meaning of English words which a knowledge of Latin puts into their hands. It is to be regretted that such a small number of girls (twenty-five only presented themselves for examination) care to acquire the language which is the introduction to the study of their own mother tongue. Boys' High School. As already mentioned, I examined Classes 1., 11., and 111. viva voce. My great object was to discover whether a solid foundation was being laid for future progress, by accuracy in the knowledge of declensions and conjugations. I had every reason to be satisfied that this elementary instruction was being cared for. The only class in the Lower School that left a somewhat unfavourable impression upon me was the Upper Third, which, with the exception of a few boys at the top, seemed to drag. The results of the written examinations of the classes above the Upper Third admit of being tabulated as under, and speak for themselves.

These percentages are very satisfactory. I have noticed with pleasure that a large number of the boys must make conscience of their work, otherwise they could not have answered so well as they did. I might single out for special commendation the paper given in by the Sixth Form, in which they translated into English a piece of Latin they had never seen before, and, conversely, translated into Latin a passage of English prose. This paper was rerrfarkably well done, and would do credit to the pupils of any school. There is just one point in respect of which I should like to sound a note of warning. I think I noticed a tendency to make the translation of Latin into English a shade too free —not enough respect being paid, in my opinion, to scrupulous accuracy. I noticed that this was frequently done in the interests of idiomatic English, for some of the boys who

Class. Number of Pupils examined. Highest Percentage of Marks gained. Lowest Percentage of Marks gained. Average of Whole Class. beginners Sixth Form (Juniors) ... Sixth Form (Seniors) ... 9 8 8 95 89 1)1 75 68 60 89-3 79-1 78-5

Class. Number of Pupils examined. Highest Percentage of Marks gained. Lowest Percentage of Marks gained. Average Percentage for Whole Class. jower Fourth, Division 2 ... jower Fourth, Division 1 ... Jpper Fourth ... fifth Sixth (class work) iixth (unseen Latin and version) 25 15 21 21 11 II 96 89 84 89 94 88 42 41 37 45 38 M 76-1 74-8 59'7 69-2 69-9 76-8