E.—lb.

• Spelling: We had occasion in our last year's report to deprecate the loose methods of treatment to which this subject was subjected in some schools. We are glad to say that the schools we had in mind in mentioning the matter have for the most part recovered themselves. Writing: This is a subject concerning which much has been said during the year by men interested in it outside of. the teaching profession. We are glad of this, for we are enabled thereby to give point to our remarks to teachers on the importance of good penmanship. As we have already pointed out to the Board in a special report, it is with the utmost difficulty that we can get many of the teachers to face the drudgery of attention to detail implied in the successful teaching of writing. Teachers will readily admit that good handwriting can be secured not otherwise than by patient and persevering attention to the minutest details, but, having given theoretical assent, in practice they straightway turn their backs on their own admissions. We dread uniformity in education as being the enemy of progress, but in the case of handwriting we make an exception, believing that it would be of immense benefit to the community if all the children in the public schools were taught the same style, the onus of designating the best style being thrown on the Education Department. We would go so far, indeed, as to say that New Zealand handwriting, on account of its uniformity and excellence, should be as easily recognisable in other parts of the Empire as New Zealand postage-stamps—without in any way committing ourselves to any statement as to the excellence of the latter. Arithmetic : This subject, so far as the manipulation of formal sums is concerned, receives its full share of attention, and the various standard tests set by the Department were successfully met by the great majority of the pupils. We are, however, by no means yet satisfied with the amount of attention paid to mental arithmetic. If we only knew exactly the pressing requirements of men engaged in business and in industrial pursuits we should to that extent insist on an exhaustive treatment of the subject. Repeating a suggestion made in our last report, we venture the opinion that the Board should invite business-men to say whether, from their point of view, there are any serious gaps in the educational equipment of the young people whom they receive from the schools. Though we hold firmly by the principle that the primary purpose of the school is to make men and not machines, we at the same time think it most desirable that the school should be directly in touch with the life of the community, with its needs, its commerce, its manufactures, its primary industries. We have, indeed, a syllabus to guide us, but it should be regarded rather as the servant than as the master of our school policy. Composition: The range of the quality of the instruction in this subject varies more than in the case of any other standard subject. Some teachers demand and secure from their pupils, in addition to an adequate knowledge of English construction and idiom, some evidence of the elements of taste ; others are content with a collection of ill-assorted and not infrequently distantly related facts. It cannot be too often repeated that the first objects to be aimed at in the teaching of composition are accuracy of language and thought, and completeness and orderliness of statement. Quite so. But the fundamental difficulty does not lie here :it lies in the pupil's lack of material, of ideas capable of being expressed. The teacher may have every qualification for giving instruction in composition, but till his pupils' minds become stored with ideas he is helpless, unless, indeed, he imparts the ideas and the art of expression at the same time —a most laborious undertaking. When handwork has made greater progress, and when the area of the pupils' reading has been greatly extended, composition will become a part of school-work at once less difficult and more educative. Glass Subjects. —ln not a few of the smaller schools grammar has fallen on evil days ; it is crushed out; metaphorically speaking, trampled on. We need not say how much we regret this. History and geography would, we believe, fare much better if they were made part and parcel of English. Presumably, pupils will read biographical books and books of travel after they leave school; history and geography books as such, never. Concerning the average elementary science lesson and object lesson we are often, like the prophet of old, tempted to ask, " Can these bones live?" Without wishing to be irreverent, we answer, " Yes," when teachers are imbued with the spirit of the newer education and go directly to things and to nature for their information and inspiration. Drawing, we are glad to say, continues to improve. Books containing copies are gradually giving place to blank books, and the subject is becoming proportionately more interesting and educative. Additional Subjects. —We may remark that, while the number of schools taking singing tends to increase, the number of schools in which the subject is really taught tends to decrease. This way of treating school song is as inexplicable as it is inexcusable, and, constituting as it does a breach of the spirit and letter of the regulations on the subject, as well as an omission that makes the social life of the community distinctly poorer, must really be improved on. In the formation of cadet corps in connection with the two chief town schools we find the realisation of a scheme we have advocated in these reports for years. We hope to be able in our next report to state that companies have been formed in other parts of the district, and that the town companies have been formed into a battalion. As to physical training, we may say that in view of Mr. Hanna's appointment we confidently expect that the subject will be taken up more extensively, and that there will be unmistakable improvement in the quality of the instruction. Manual Training. —Great progress was made in this branch of school-work during the year. In almost all the infant departments some form of handwork was successfully taken up, and in several schools, notably the South (Standards I. to IV.) and Middle (Standards I. to VI.), the upper classes did work of capital quality. In this district manual training is now beyond the apologetic and experimental stage. Should any be still sceptical as to the value of this new departure as a means of elementary training, they would do well to study the proceedings of the educational section of the last meeting ofj the British Association.■•■ Said Professor Armstrong : " For a long time past we have been drifting away from the practical, and those who are acquainted with

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