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school walls have been ringing with the lusty vigour thrown into the older favourities, " Eule Britannia " and " Bed, White, and Blue " ; and young hearts have given vocal expression to their martial aspirations in the vigorous rendering of the newer favourites, " Sons of the Empire," " Sons of the Sea," and " Soldiers of the Queen." Sewing continues to be well taught. In some schools the mark " excellent " has been awarded, and in all but a very few the mark has been "good." A summary of the results in additional subjects is as follows : Good, 18 ; satisfactory, 31; fair, 15 ; moderate 2 ; inferior, 1. In our reports on each school we have dealt fully with the quality of the standard subjects, neither glossing over defects nor withholding the praise due to merit. We have no direct means of knowing whether in reading, spelling, arithmetic, and composition, or in the class and additional subjects, our schools are better or worse than those of other educational districts. Indirectly through various channels we gather from time to time such information as gives us good grounds for believing that our standard of work as a whole will bear comparison with that reached by our neighbours. In writing and freehand drawing there have been opportunities for comparison ; in the former our schools hold their own, in the latter they do not. In general our freehand figures are on too small a scale, and are laboured in execution, lacking in smoothness and freedom of outline. It is good for us to know wherein we fall short of what others have accomplished; with the knowledge comes the resolution to succeed as others have succeeded. We have frequently advised our teachers to seize any chance they have of visiting other schools which have a good reputation. A keen observer will always profit by such a visit. Following on the same lines, we should like to see an arrangement made by which the Inspector of one district might accompany the Inspector of another district on his annual visit to two or three schools. We have much pleasure in reporting favourably on the order and discipline of the schools, and on the manners and general behaviour of the scholars. We have, &c, The Chairman, South Canterbury Education Board.

Examination Results for Roman Catholic Schools.

OTAGO. Sib,— Education Office, 28th February, 1901. We have the honour to present the following general report for the year 1900 :— Nearly all the schools were inspected, and all except one were examined : a snow-storm on the Carrick Eange rendered it inadvisable for the Inspector to attempt reaching the Nevis School. It will be examined and inspected in March, and until further notice Nevis and Makarora Schools will be examined in February or March. In addition to examining and inspecting the public schools, we examined ten Catholic schools, 133 competitors for the Board's scholarships, sixty-one pupil-teachers, and seventy candidates for pupil-teacherships. On the Ist January new regulations for the inspection and examination of schools came into force. Many of their provisions being professedly tentative, to secure a fair trial for them Inspectors and teachers discussed them in conference at various centres throughout the district, as well as privately during the inspection visits. The new regulations were designed to give to teachers a large extent of freedom in the classification of their pupils. The examination for passes, except in the Sixth Standard, were placed wholly in the hands of the head-teachers. The regulations clearly imply, if they do not prescribe, that the examinations are to be held periodically throughout the year, and that promotion is to depend not solely on the results of one final examination, but, as we urged in conference, on the average results of these periodical examinations. In almost all cases these examinations will

Classes. Presented. Examined in Standards. Passed. I Average Age of Pupils in each Class. 1 Yrs. mos. Above Standard VI. ... Standard VI. ... V. IV. III. II. I. Preparatory 15 41 71 96 93 86 88 214 40 67 87 89 81 80 1, 60 77 76 70 75 14 1 13 4 12 9 11 5 10 2 8 11 Totals 704 444 385 11 9* *' Mean of average 'ge-