Primary Education.

The system of elementary education embodied in the Education Act, 1877, did not, so far as Canterbury was concerned, introduce any novelty; being in its essential principles only a continuation the system which had been gradually established under the of peril of the Provincial Education Ordinances of 1864, 1871, and The subsequent increase in the number of schools and of children under instruction is attributable, not to any extraordinary stimulus to the application of improved administrative machinery, but to the steady growth of population, and to the care with which the provision of the means of education has been made to keep pace with the growing requirements of the people.

Canterbury is now divided into two educational districts under separate Boards, and the district of North Canterbury includes parts of Marlborough and Nelson. Omitting the latter, and taking the provincial district of Canterbury (i.e., the country between the rivers Hurunui and Waitaki), there were in 1863, 38 schools (28 of them

The number of teachers employed in the 208 schools is 645, viz., 417 adult and 228 pupil teachers. The expenditure on teachers' salaries is at the rate of £55,341 per annum, and the allowance for incidental expenses, £6,552; making the total cost of maintenance £81,893.

An important feature of the educational system in the North Canterbury district is the Normal School. This institution was opened on the 19th February, 1887, and has proved highly successful, There are now in our schools upwards of 240 teachers who have been trained in the Christchurch Normal school, while of 45 other ex-students who have retired from the service the great majority had previously done some years of useful work.

A valuable link between the primary and secondary schools is supplied by the scholarships, of which the Board of Education every year offers seventeen for competition, open to boys and girls attending the Board's schools and tenable for two years at any of the public high schools within the district. The large competition shows how well these scholarships are appreciated. Since 1866, when they first offered, 244 scholarships have been awarded, and the number of individual holders is 176. The practical usefulness of the scholarships is strikingly shown by the results. Aided by them a great many pupils of primary schools have been able to obtain the advantage of the superior instruction, and pass on to the University, where many of them have gained high distinction.