[Appendix C-

E.—2.

The new science room at Marlborough High School was found extremely useful for teachers' classes, the course in physical measurements being conducted there on Saturdays, and the practical work in dairying, as prescribed for the D certificate, being effectively carried out at the summer school. .. -' Miss Grace conducted, for nurses, a class in cookery. As both Blenheim and Picton will probably advance rapidly when the South Island Main Trunk line is completed, it would be well to be provident in securing sites for technical schools at each centre. With a similar object in view the authorities at Christchuroh recently secured 11 acres —an example that deserves imitation before the land becomes too costly. Singing.-—Where singing is well taught there is generally a bright and cheerful spirit. If the children are few, singing in unison and scale exercises form the programme; and, provided the songs are sweetly rendered and the words well chosen, one feels that effort in this direction is well worth while. In a very fair number of schools part singing is taught, in others the round is the nearest approach. Ear-tests should be more extensively used. To make the songs a permanent possession, the words should be memorized. At the summer school Mr. Robert Parker gave a very valuable course in vocal music well suited to the needs of the teachers. Physical Instruction, Games, Health, and Temperance.—ln fifty-six schools drill was considered efficient, and in nineteen others passable. The larger schools usually do well. Younger teachers may be reminded that physical exercises are best liked when the meaning and purpose of each is first explained to the pupils. The Chaytor prizes continue to stimulate interest in shooting. The teachers assembled at the summer school had each (male and female) an opportunity of practising at a Hazard target, and the ease with which schools could be supplied with one, provided a small local subsidy was raised, was fully explained. Sergeant-major Routledge proved a most successful instructor. The temperance charts are much used in many schools as texts on which to elaborate lessons on health. All the larger schools have football and cricket clubs, which compete in inter-school matches. There are also several tennis-courts and croquet-lawns. Tone, Moral Instruction, Discipline.—These are all closely related, for the object of every good teacher is so to train the youth that law may become internal rather than external. One who is actuated by duty- serves a much more severe master than one who acts under the sanctions of external law. The skilful teacher knows how, by- adding the right ideational elements to the free springing impulses, the latter may be made to pass up into the former. As a mere study in psychology, developments along this line should be interesting, and so make what is usually considered only an aid to good teaching better understood as an integral part of its product. In general, as is noted elsewhere, the schools maintain a very satisfactory tone, and it is comparatively rare to find that this tone is confined to school boundaries. Yet a few teachers may be reminded that instruction in the courtesies of life is not beyond their duty to their pupils; at one school are found good hearts in crude settings, at another there is a general polish and refinement. I had occasion to mention to one teacher my special appreciation of his work in this respect. The children appear to be, for the most part, punctual and of commendable personal neatness. Standard VII. —The following subjects were taught in Standard VII in one or more schools : Latin, physiology, elementary botany, geography, history, elementary mathematics, drawing, arithmetic, agriculture. The Teachers' Institute endeavoured to promote the educational interests of the province by arranging for special addresses on matters closely related to school work. The subjects were : "The Decimalization of Money," "Geology in Relation to Geography," "Mathematical Geography." Pupil Teachers and Probationers.—A report on these appears in the appendix [not printed], printed]. Scholarships.—There were forty-seven candidates from nineteen schools. Ten of the candidates were over age, having entered owing to some obscurity in the wording of the Act. Thirteen schools were represented by the twenty candidates, who gained over 400 marks. Among the latter were fifteen candidates under fourteen years of age, one of whom, however, failed to attain the minimum in arithmetic. Of these fifteen, there were five from as many sole-teacher schools. On the whole, the result is satisfactory, especially in view of the amount of time lost last year through flood and epidemic. It may be observed that the weakness noted last year in instrumental drawing is again evident. Countiv schools, where the pupils cannot reach the woodwork-room, are liable to be handicapped in dealing with this subject. With a view to helping the teachers, a Saturday class in instrumental drawing was formed, and also a class in geometric drawing at the summer school. Three or four teachers sent up the whole of their Sixth Standard without selection ; this tends to give needless work to the Department and its Examiners. Native Schools operating under the Board.—Wairau Pa, Waikawa Pa, Okoha, Otonga, and Onahnku are really Native schools, and the children on the roll are more or less migratory in habits. Where fairly settled conditions occur, as at Onahuku, progress is very satisfactory. In some of these schools the work is much hampered by the backwardness of the parents in providing the ordinary school material —slates, pencils, copy-books, ore. The year 1911 was marked by the death of Mr. W. B. Parker and Mr. A. J. Litchfield, ex-members of the Board. Both gentlemen had long taken the keenest interest in the progress of education in this district. I wish to place on record my sense of their active sympathy and co-operation. D. A. Strachan, M.A.. Inspector. The Chairman, Education Board, Blenheim, -

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