Appendix C 1

E.-2.

XXV

educational district. Cook and Waipawa have since been so divided that now there are eleven counties, with a population of 36,784. Within the counties there are seven boroughs, containing a population of 31,732. Thus the education district has increased from 19,000 in 1878 to 68,516 in 1911. .The five schools in the Cook County in 1878 now number thirty-eight, irrespective of Catholic and private schools, and the 304 children belonging to the schools in 1878 had increased to 3,300 in December, 1912 ! In every school district new buildings have been provided, and in addition there is a highly endowed high school and rooms for manual and technical training. The population of Cook, Waikohu, and Waiapu Counties, including the Borough of Gisborne, was 19,343 in 1911. or greater than the total population of the educational district in 1878 ! Wairoa County increased its population, including the Borough of Wairoa, from 375 to 2,973, and its school population, exclusive of the Catholic school, from 63 in 1878 to 370 in 1912. There are, I regret to say, no facilities yet provided for secondary-school work nor for manual and technical training in the county, but provision cannot be much longer delayed, as the district, being an isolated one, is entitled to special consideration. The Hawke's Bay County contains thirty-three Board schools, four Catholic schools, two high schools, and a technical school, a district high school, and a number of important private schools. The attendance at the Board schools is nearly four thousand. The population of the county, including the Boroughs of Napier and Hastings, was 26,937 in 1911, or about eight thousand more than were in the whole of the east coast in 1878. Some idea of the difficulties that the Education Board had to contend against in making school provision even in Napier may be gathered from the following quotation, taken from the annual report in December, 1878: Owing to the want of funds " one of the hired buildings, with an average attendance of nearly two hundred and fifty children, had to manage for more than seven months with a single desk capable of accommodating fifteen children ! A class-room 11 ft. by 11 ft. belonging to the same school was used for the instruction of between forty and fifty infants." The Waipawa County of 1878 now consists of six counties. The thirteen schools of that date have increased to fifty-seven, and the school attendance has risen from 412 to 3,500 pupils. There is one high school and two district high schools in the counties, and provision is made in three schools for special instruction in science and manual training. The total population of the counties is 19,263. which includes the three borough towns of Waipawa, Dannevirke, and Woodville. From this necessarily brief review of the progress of education in the district since the year 1878 it will be seen that a good deal of real and permanent progress has been made throughout the whole district. There is not a school in the district but has been built or enlarged during the past thirty years, and School Committees, parents, and teachers have unitedly assisted the Board's efforts to foster the spread of education. The district controlled by the Board contains seven-hundredths of the population of the Dominion. In 1878 the density of the population was 3-258 persons to the square mile. At the end of 1912 the density had increased to over eleven to the square mile, a number of important inland towns having sprung up in the meantime. The education district now stands fourth in the Dominion for density of population, and certainly first in the value of its productions. Compared with the population of New Zealand, the North Island contains 55-93 per cent, of the total, while the exports are 59-79 per cent. This district exports 20-2 per cent, of the gross exports of the North Island, whilst the population is 12-4 per cent, of that of the North Island. No district has a greater future, and one's fervent hope is that education —primary, secondary, and technical —will keep even a little ahead of its material progress, so that its citizens may be duly trained to fulfil their duties in a manner befitting their country and their origin. I have, &c, H. Hill, The Chairman, Hawke's Bay Education Board. Chief Inspector of Schools.

MARLBOROUGH. Sir- Education Office, Blenheim, 25th February, 1913. I have the honour to present my general report on the schools of Marlborough for the year 1912.* Number of Schools. —Including one side school, ninety-nine public schools were in operation during the year. Seven of them were closed at the time of the annual examination in December. The schedules of ages and numbers in attendance refer to the remaining ninety-two. Inspection. —Ninety-seven schools were visited, with a few exceptions, twice during the year ; the other two —Pinohia and Cowslip Valley—were open only for brief periods. Additional visits were made to observe teachers' Saturday classes, and classes of special session, to test the progress in classmanagement of pupil-teachers and probationers, and to examine Standard VI at various centres. Observations made at First Visit. —Schemes of work : In several schools the schemes of the previous year continued in use ; this is never found where the teacher is progressive : each year brings a fresh outlook on the subjects, and new methods are adopted to suit added experience. In some subjects, such as geography and history, teachers do not lay sufficient emphasis on definite courses. The Department has contented itself with suggestions, and has not laid out a definite course to be followed in all schools; but this simply leaves each teacher to draw up, and that early in the year, a clear and precise line of advance, so that the work culminating in Standard VI may be adequate. He is given liherty of choice within a certain range, but he must make that choice and adhere to it, and show by the outcome that the choice was good. In these subjects there is frequently much diffuse teaching. Any lesson in history and geography that does not leave in the mind a clear grasp of some important topic —a clear advance on past achievement—is ineffective. The teachers are therefore enjoined to give much thought to the draftbg of their programmes. Seven schools were specially commended for

* Reference to individual schools have in most instances been omitted as of purely local interest.

iv—E. 2 (App. c.)