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In conclusion, I would point out that throughout the district education is prospering and progressing well. Now and again there are traces of defects and failings where one could wish otherwise, but they are exceptions to the rule, for, as a body, it may be said that the teachers employed in the Board schools are earnest and faithful in the discharge of their duties. The upper division of the Gisborne District High School continues in a healthy and prosperous condition under Mr. Mann's guidance, and in most of the school districts the Committees manifest interest in the wellbeing of the schools. Donations for school purposes are somewhat rare, but, to the credit of the Caledonian Society of this town, it should be recorded that the scholarships given by them for open competition to the pupils of Hawke's Bay, and the gold medal annually granted to the dux of the Sixth Standard, have greatly helped to stimulate educational effort in the larger schools of the district. I have, &c, H. Hill, Inspector of Schools. The Chairman, Board of Education, Napier.

MAELBOEOUGH. Sib, — Blenheim, 11th January, 1892. I have the honour to present my first annual report on the public schools of the Marlborough Education District. At the close of the year 1890, when I entered upon my duties in this district, there were thirtysix schools in operation. Seventeen of these were " Board's " schools with an average attendance of from seventeen upwards, and nineteen were " aided" schools. At the end of the year under review the number of schools had increased to forty-three, of which number twenty-four are "aided" schools, many of which would be more correctly described as " family " schools. The peculiar configuration of that part of the district comprised in the Sounds County renders the maintenance of this class of schools absolutely necessary unless a considerable number of children (in the aggregate) are to be permitted to grow up in total ignorance. Amongst the intricate ramifications of Queen Charlotte and Pelorus Sounds a considerable population is scattered, each family occupying a separate bay or valley, and almost completely isolated from its neighbours, as if living on a separate island, with no means of communication with each other or with the outer world except by water. In hardly any case is it possible for more than one family to assemble for school purposes in one place, for, even if the weather always permitted a safe passage from one place to another, the distances are too great, to say nothing of the attendant risks, to allow children to go by themselves, and the adult members of the family are too closely occupied with the heavy work incidental to the occupation and settlement of bush farms to spare the time that would be required to take the children to and from a distant school. I therefore still hold to the opinion I have expressed in former reports elsewhere, that, notwithstanding the objections urged against very small school's, this and other Boards are doing no more than their duty in placing within the reach of these enterprising and industrious settlers the means of providing for their children, at all events, the first rudiments of primary education. Excepting a few cases where circumstances favourable to the inhabitants have thrown in their way the services of really capable teachers, the majority of these small schools are presided over and taught by persons whose qualifications for the office would be hardly sufficient to warrant their appointment to larger schools; or by young persons who have themselves but recently quitted the ranks of the taught to assume the office of teachers. But even in these cases the almost entire immunity which they enjoy from the greatest plague of the ordinary school-teacher—irregular attendance —enables them to accomplish what they undertake with a fair amount of success, and, on the whole, the money expended in assisting these remote settlers to provide their children with some of the benefits of our education system is perhaps as usefully employed, and will be productive of as much real permanent benefit to the commuuity, as the same amount expended in the more populous districts in unfitting a considerable portion of the rising generation for other than " genteel " occupations. Besides the visit for examination purposes, all the Board's schools and most of the aided schools were visited for inspection during the year. On the whole my first impressions of the district were distinctly favourable. In many of the Board's schools I found the work in the hands of thoroughly qualified, earnest, energetic, and painstaking teachers, who would be able to " hold their own "in comparison with those in any other part of the colony. In a few cases I found that, either from an imperfect acquaintance with modern methods of teaching and organization, or from a deeply-rooted attachment to old-fashioned and obsolete ideas, combined sometimes with an imperfect acquaintance with some subjects of the syllabus, the children are not deriving the minimum amount of advantage from their attendance at school which their parents, the Board, and the country have a right to demand. In the tables attached to this report it will not be difficult for the Board (especially in the light of former reports) to recognise the schools referred to, and to promptly apply the only remedy. With regard to the state of the school work generally throughout the district, I found that, from a variety of causes, the departures from the Government syllabus were considerable, the most noteworthy instances being in the subjects of history and drawing. Directly this came to my knowledge I issued a circular to teachers informing them of my intention to carry on the examination as nearly as possible in accordance with Government regulations. Notwithstanding this caution, the mean percentage of marks for history in the whole district was only 28, while drawing was, with the exception of geography, the least satisfactory of the "pass "-subjects. t- ■',: * * * * * The Board is no doubt fully aware of the fact, though it is too generally lost sight of, that passing the standards is not the only or by any means the chief aim of the true educator, and that

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