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SOUTH CANTEEBURY. Sib,— Education Office, Timaru, 28th February, 1892. I have the honour to present my report on the schools in this district for the year 1891. The number of schools in operation during the year was fifty-seven, being an increase of five over the number for the previous year. Visits of inspection were paid to fifty-four schools, and the usual standard examinations were conducted in all the schools, and the results of the examinations forwarded to the teachers before the close of the year. The following table shows the results of the examinations for the whole district: —

The number of pupils presented on the examination schedules was 4,975, of whom 66 had already passed the Sixth Standard; 1,656 were in the preparatory classes ; and 3,253 were entered for examination in one or other of the standards. Of the 3,253 in standard classes, 3,039 were at school on the day of examination, and 2,322 passed the standard for which they were presented. Of those who were not successful, 131 were " Exceptions " and 616 " Failures." The percentage of failures was 20-9, as against 20-4 for last year. The average percentage of marks for class-subjects was 56—a slight increase from last year—and the average of marks for additional subjects fell from 53 to 51. In the appendices to this report will be found the results of the examination of each school. In the column in which are recorded the percentages of failures it will be found that in thirty-seven schools, with 3,715 children on the rolls, this percentage ranges from 0 to 30; in ten schools, with 925 children, from 31 to 40; and in the ten remaining schools, with 335 children, it mounts from 41 to 88. This last percentage was obtained in a side-school with ten children taught by a young woman who had no training whatever. With regard to the schools whose percentages lie between 31 and 40 it is but fair to state that nearly all are in this unsatisfactory position for the first time. To be in such a list more than once would be discreditable, and it would not be going too far to say that those schools which are there now for the second time are not in competent hands. In seven of the ten schools which showed worst in the matter of failures the results were due to the inefficiency of the teachers, and in the others they were due partly to inefficiency and partly to changing of teachers. During the year a change of the teacher in charge took place in thirteen schools, and in eight of these the general results of the examination fell short of the average of the district as a whole. These changes occur more frequently in small schools taught by men than they do in similar schools where women have charge. This would be a strong plea for the employment of women in preference to men in our small schools if at the same time it could be shown that they are as successful teachers ; and the following results will go far to prove that this is really the case : In twelve schools under the charge of women, with the school-rolls ranging from sixteen to fifty-three, and with a total roll-number of 366, the percentage of failures was 18-0, the percentage of passes 48-3, the average percentage of marks for class-subjects 55, and the average of marks for additional subjects 54. In twenty-seven schools under masters, with the school-rolls ranging from eighteen to sixty-three, and with a total roll-number of 1,086, the corresponding results were 25-9, 42-6, 55, and 41. In matters, too, which cannot be set forth in percentages and duly tabulated—in the order they maintain, in the discipline they exercise, in the power of influencing their pupils towards what is good and true in word and act —the women are not a whit behind the men. Of course, there are exceptions : we have weak women and strong men —one or two of the former, and ten or a dozen of the latter—as those who are particularly interested in this matter may easily discover by a perusal of the details of the examination for each school. New regulations for the inspection and examination of schools and an amended syllabus of work come into force this year ; and, as the time I have been in the position of _ Inspector under your Board just covers the period during which the examinations have been carried out under the old regulations, I think a favourable opportunity offers itself of comparing some of the results obtained in 1891 with those of 1886. The following table will be of use in making the comparison ;—

Standard Classes. Presented. Absent. Excepted. Failed. Passed. Percentage of Passes on No. examined, omitting Exceptions. Average Age of those that passed. Yrs. Mos. ibove Standard VI.... Standard YI. V. „ IV. „ III. II. I. 'reparatory 66 194 394 596 730 715 624 1,656 9 26 39 43 41 26 10 23 24 40 25 9 44 111 161 181 79 40 131 234 372 466 570 549 74'8 67-8 69'8 72'0 87-8 93'2 13 11 12 10 12 0 11 2 10 0 8 11 Totals 4,975 184 131 616 2,322 79-0 11 6* * Mean of ave: :age age.