E.-2

10

Tikitiki. —Considering that the school had been closed for three months just before the new teacher took charge, some six months before the examination, and that a large proportion of the school-children are very small, there is reason to be satisfied with the results generally ; but in English, and especially in reading, there is need for very great improvement. Waiomatatini. —The new teachers are gaining the respect of the parents and the affection of the children. The results are better than could have been expected in view of the fact that a change of teachers has taken place, and that many of the children have been for a long time absent from the school. It is plain that very good work has been done. Tuparoa. —It appeared that there had been some friction between the teacher and the members of the Committee. No doubt this will prove to have been only a temporary inconvenience. The results of the teaching, as shown at examination, were very satisfactory. The English of Standard I. was particularly good —the children not only knew the standard English well, but were not often to be caught, even in " traps " which one generally thinks it unfair to set. Akuaku. —The departure of Mr. A. G. Hamilton for Tonga involved a very serious loss to the service. He was one of our very best organizers and teachers. The work that he did at Akuaku was in itself sufficient to entitle him to a very high place among our teachers. Every officer in the Department will be glad to hear that Mr. Hamilton's success at Tonga is as great as it was at Akuaku and Onuku. The school did well at the examination. Tokomaru. —The results of the examination were satisfactory, and very decidedly so when the large proportion of small children in the school is taken into account. There were some indications of weakness in the discipline ; but with a little care and much steady purpose this difficulty would be quite easily overcome. Wairarapa and the South Island. Papawai. —The influenza epidemic prevented the Department's officer from taking the examination at the usual time. It is not impossible that somewhat larger results would have been secured if the examination had not had to be postponed until after the vacation. The percentages were small, both of them, but the passes gained were not weak. On the whole, the school did pretty fairly at examination. Considerable trouble to the teacher and to the Department was caused during the year through the teacher's neglecting to strictly follow the Department's instructions relating to school records. Waikawa. —The master is becoming much more at home in school work than he was formerly, and is getting useful ideas as to the best direction for that work to take. As a consequence, the teaching tells much more decidedly than it did. Had the attendance not been very irregular the school would have made a very good show at the examination. Wairau. —The results were low. In estimating the work done at examination one has to bear in mind that several of the best children had attended very irregularly. There were, unfortunately, no strong passes. Eaiapoi. —The relations between the teacher and the elder Maoris, and between the teacher and the pupils, are very good. The children take great interest in the examination and their success in it. The order is good ; but sometimes a little too much is seen of the effort employed in maintaining it. The results obtained were pleasing, both percentages being high. Rapaki. —The master has a very taking way with his pupils, and, besides, teaches them with very evident appreciation of the nature of children's capacities. There was, on the whole, good reason to be satisfied with the work of the year. Eeally strong passes will no doubt become more numerous as the teachers gain more experience of this kind of work. The school and the teachers impress a visitor very favourably. Wairewa. —Without wishing to disparage the late teacher's work in any way, I feel bound to say that the new teachers appear to have brought about a wonderful change in the Native children and their relations to the school. No formal examination was held, seeing that the school had, before the beginning of the then current quarter, been closed for nearly two years. Onuku. —The percentages obtained were fair. It is rather difficult to characterize the methods in use, seeing that they range from " good " in the teaching of geography to " poor " in the teaching of English. The master thinks that if he had a better hold of the children through the action of a compulsory-attendance law the results could be made much higher. Waikouaiti. —The results of the examination were moderate, which is quite the usual thing when change of teachers takes place ; especially if, as in the present case, there has been a considerable interval between the closing and the reopening of the school. The inspection, however, passed off very satisfactorily, and I feel justified in predicting that the new master will be a very successful Native-school teacher. Port Molyneux. —There seems little reason to expect that this will ever again be a Native school in the strict sense of the term, but a real increase in the Maori attendance is promised for next year. The work done has a wide range, and is nevertheless good. It is much more equal than it was last year, and appears to me to be very satisfactory. Golac Bay. —Great attention has evidently been paid to suggestions made last year, and the result is thoroughly satisfactory. This school now has a fair claim to a high place among the Native schools of New Zealand, and it is in some respects hardly to be excelled. The Neck, Stewart Island. —There is considerable difficulty in keeping up the attendance here; or, rather, there had been during the year preceding the examination, the parents of the children having been absent from home, on sealing and other expeditions, even more frequently than usual. The work done is in several directions considerably beyond the code requirements, and very good of its kind; but it should be pointed out that a much closer adherence to the letter of the standards would not only place the school much higher on the list, but would also hardly fail to be productive of benefit to the pupils, seeing that the standards have been very carefully thought out, and, besides, embody the results of the tolerably wide experience of the Department.