E.-2.

Te Kerepehi. —The new school at Kerepehi was visited on the 21st June, 1902. It has not yet been examined. The working average for last quarter was twenty-seven. There had been much sickness. Bakaumanga (examined 24th April, 1902). —The flower-garden is pretty, grounds are satisfactory, and the whole place is putting on an attractive appearance. There is insufficient provision in the time-table for English, in which subject there should be an effective lesson once a day at least. There is still a little room for improvement in the matter of cleanliness. The extras receive a fair amount of attention. Methods are still susceptible of improvement. Aim of lesson beforehand ; then choice of means; next execution ; lastly estimate of success achieved, the latter based on careful testing, form a good outline of essentials. These matters are hardly sufficiently attended to. Besults are fair to good. Senior children were not trained by the present master. Baorao (examined 29th April, 1902). —There is a well-kept garden, with satisfactory grounds except that the blackberry is troublesome. There is some want of fluency in the reading, and the English is not strong. The English lesson disclosed the fact that Maori is used in such work; and this use is now an anachronism. Generally, however, the teaching here is careful and clear, and results were not unsatisfactory. Kawhia (examined 28th April, 1902). —There is a gay little flower-garden here, moderately tidy. The grounds are satisfactory. The schoolroom, although tastefully decorated with pictures, was in point of tidiness and cleanliness only fair. There is a tendency towards "copying," a baneful obstacle to real progress. The teaching is intelligent and interesting, but is somewhat lacking in the constant careful testing-work that secures real progress. The work on the whole is unequal, some of it being very good and some decidedly below the average. Te Kopua (examined 26th April, 1902). —The garden was beginning to take on again the good form that it had lost. A fault in the time-table is that it provides that the preparatory class shall sit at silent work for consecutive half-hours. Answers in complete English sentences are not always demanded. Small as this school is it is a good'one, and it is hoped the people will not allow it to be closed. Besults were in the main decidedly satisfactory. Te Kuiti (examined Ist and 2nd May, 1902). —The school-room is clean and very attractive. Garden is pretty, well cared for, and useful. Order and tone are good, and the children are clean. Extra subjects are fairly taught. The school is a most valuable civilising agency, and the teachers are devoted to their work. The results are somewhat unequal, the same children doing excellent work in some subjects and poor work in others. It is hard to believe, with the teachers, that nervousness aeounts for this. Hauaroa (visited 9th May, 1902). —This new school is on the Upper Wanganui, at Taumarunui. When the school was visited it had only recently been opened. Some inspection work was done, but there was no material for a regular inspection. The prospects were decidedly good. It had been foreseen that this would be the case if the railway were pushed on to the neighbourhood of Taumarunui. It was judged safer to begin building in a small way, with a limited attendance in view, and with the intention of enlarging if necessity should arise. It has arisen, and much more speedily than was anticipated. Te Waoiu (examined 6th May, 1902). —The desks had been very much inked ; also, the garden and grounds were far from prepossessing. The master, who has been used to public-schools, is fast acquiring insight into the peculiar features of Native-school work. The results were decidedly good, especially as they were secured after only six months' work. There is some reason to think that the tone might be improved. Native-school children seldom fear the inspector, much less their teacher, as they seem to do here. Banana (examined 3rd July, 1902). —The order here is not quite so good as it might be; on the whole, however, the superabundant noise is the result of hard work and enthusiasm. The new class-room will, no doubt, mitigate this inconvenience to a very considerable extent. The school tone is excellent in every respect. The results of the examination were generally good; some of the work was decidedly pleasing, but the geography was not up to the mark ; the matter of the lessons had been good, but it had not all been driven home. Both of the percentages were satisfactory, and this always means that much hard work has been done. Whakarewarewa (visited 4th July, 1902). —It was found that the school as a whole had made an excellent beginning, and had become very workable. Nor did there appear to be any grounds for expecting future failure. Among noteworthy features the reading was very remarkable ;by means of a method of his own invention the master had managed to get really capital English reading in a very short time. Of course, there were limitations in several directions, but, for all that, the progress made was really excellent. The extra work —drill and singing, especially the latter —was exceedingly well done. Bounds and part songs were sung very creditably. Waiotapu (examined 4th July, 1902). —A creditable amount of work has been done in the garden, and there are also pupils' gardens. The frosts are very severe here, but the efforts to cultivate have been successful. The children are generally frank and outspoken, and on good terms with their teachers. The parents show interest; generally the tone is good. The master is untiringly industrious, and his school is very good and useful, just what a school at such an outlying station should be. The results were quite pleasing, and the visit generally was extremely gratifying and satisfactory. Although the school is very new the work in the extra subjects is quite presentable. Te Awangararanui (examined 9th July, 1902). —The children here are fairly well in hand, but the features usually accompanying irregular attendance were present—notably, inability to take part in current work. Parents show a mild kind of interest at examination time, but have not enough to make them send their children regularly to school. There was much that was pleasing in the results. Taking all circumstances into consideration, there is but little reason to be dissatisfied with the work of the teacher.

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