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shown in Westport, Motueka, Motupiko, and Millerton school districts. It is worthy of note also that the number for the colony as a whole has for the second time shown an upward tendency. With the exception of Cronadun, all the schools that were named last year as showing an exceedingly irregular attendance have made marked improvement. Fifteen of the household schools recorded for the year 100 per cent, of attendances, and of the others the following were the best: Sandy Bay, 97 per cent.; Ferntown, 96 per cent.; Gordon, 95 per cent. ; Win's Valley, 94 per cent.; Progress and Brighton, 93 per cent. ; Neudorf, 92 per cent. ; Denniston, Burnett's Face, and Land of Promise, 91 per cent. Seven others showed 90 per cent., making in all a total of seventeen which have reached that limit, as compared with ten last year. On the other hand, the following show an attendance of less than 70 per cent, of the roll: Baton, 66 per cent.; Cronadun and Glenroy, 68 per cent.; and Fern Flat, 69 per cent. The average attendance for the year has been 4,809, as against 4,734 in 1901. Epidemics of measles and scarlatina greatly reduced the attendance during the last quarter, but in spite of this the attendance for the year was so much improved that the percentage it bears to the roll number (84-4) is the highest it has yet attained, being somewhat higher than the average for the colony in 1901. This improvement is a hopeful sign, because Nelson has hitherto been much below the average for New Zealand. Otago 86-7 per cent., and South Canterbury 86-5 per cent., held pride of place last year. Twenty-three of our schools still show less than 80 per cent., which is the minimum contemplated by the School Attendance Act. This leaves ample room for improvement and for vigilance on the part of teachers and Committees alike. As a result of the Inspector-General's visit to the local fruit-growing centres, in which the attendance during the summer months is so injuriously affected, certain proposals have been made by the Department. They would, if carried into effect, be of decided benefit to the staffs and salaries of those schools where the attendance for a quarter is abnormally low. They will also be a benefit to education by checking the growing tendency 'to close the schools unnecessarily—a practice that deprives many children of opportunities for making progress. In his report for 1901 Inspector Hill commends the action of a Committee who have regularly presented a silver medal engraven with the name of the recipient and the year in which it was gained to each child in the school that has made a full attendance for the year. The Committee at Waimangaroa, who have always taken a keen interest in the welfare of their excellent school, adopted a somewhat similar course in supplying ornamental certificates. Teachers generally, we fear, do not take sufficient advantage of every opportunity to encourage regularity. So few apply for the good-attendance certificates issued by the Department that apparently these are not always presented when deserved. On the 31st December there were in the employ of the Board 161 teachers, classified as follows : Head teachers—Certificated or licensed, 37. Assistants—Certificated or licensed, 34 ; uncertificated, 5. Sole teachers —Certificated or licensed, 46; uncertificated, 39. Totals—Certificated or licensed, 117; uncertificated, 44. For 1901 —Certificated or licensed, 115 ; uncertificated, 37. The number of assistants has increased for the year by eight. Four of the new appointees are uncertificated, as no fully qualified applicants could be found for the mistress-ship of certain schools in small remote centres. In one case, by permission of the Department, two pupil-teachers have been employed instead of a mistress. It would be well if greater latitude were allowed to meet local exigencies. The partial adoption of the colonial sale of staffs has so far reduced the number of pupilteachers from forty-eight (as reported last year) to thirty-nine, and at the end of 1903 the number will in all probability be further reduced to twenty-one. Of the pupil-teachers at present employed, nine are fully certificated, and ten others have either matriculated or obtained a partial certificate. Only twenty-five candidates sat for the pupil-teachers' entrance examination in June last, and eleven passed. Spelling was again their weakest subject, and the repeated failure of so many of our young people in attempting dictation tests from work previously unseen, although their prepared work is satisfactory, leads one to the conclusion that their general reading cannot be very extensive. The following general summary of results for the district has been extracted from the annual return. For the sake of comparison the corresponding totals for 1901 are also given.

Classes. Number on Roll. Present at Inspector's Annual Visit. Passed. Average Age of the Pupils in each Class. 1902. 1901. standard VII. „ VI. V. IV. „ III. II. I. Preparatory 215 452 587 672 685 693 624 1,770 195 443 577 649 667 674 600 1,596 326 438 495 540 603 529 Yrs. mos. 14 9 13 9 13 0 12 0 11 1 9 11 8 11 6 11 Yrs. mos. 14 2 13 0 12 1 10 11 9 9 8 10 6 11 Totals For 1901 5,698 5,661 5,401 5,333 2,931 2,943 11 4* 11 4* * Mean of average age.