Fourth Class.-" The reading, spelling and grammar were generally satisfactory. I was not equally satisfied with the explanation of the poetry; few of the boys could apprehend questions put to them in English, or explain the passages without the medium of Bengali, but I think boys should not commence English poetry, till able to explain it through English. I concur with the master in opinion that the transition from No. 2 Prose Reader to No. 1 Poetry, is too rapid, and that the latter might well be postponed for another year. The 1st No. Poetry is almost if not quite as difficult as No. 2, and one or other might well be omitted from the course, or a new reader compiled from both numbers."

Tabular Statement of the examination in English Reading and Explanation and in Bengali.

The examiner in mathematics reports as follows:

"The first class Hooghly Branch School consists of 22 students. They passed a pretty creditable examination, not so good perhaps as might be expected, from the age of the students and the time they have been studying in the class. Seven students of this class were allowed

to pass the junior scholarship examination. Rajnarain Chuckerbutty, who has been four years in the class, barely did sufficient to recommend him for promotion. Tripooranauth Mittre, 20 years of age and 4 years in the class, again failed to obtain promotion. Doorgachurn Chuckerbutty, 20 years of age and 5 years in the class; Dwarkanauth Paul, 19 years of age and 4 years in the class; Brojonauth Mittre, Neelmadhub Sircar and Unnodaprosaud Mittre did not attend the day I examined the class, because, as I heard, they were displeased with the head master for not recommending them to pass the junior scholarship test examination; the two first students have already allowed chances of promotion to slip, and the three last apparently have such an high opinion of their acquirements that I do not think they will improve much by being allowed to remain in the class; so I would recommend them all to be struck off. Chundercoomar Mookerjee attended the examination, but did not attempt to do any thing. Shurbashook Chatterjee and Goneschunder Mittre were sick. The head master spoke favourably of them. "The second class consists of 24 students. There is a slight improvement in this class since last year, but I think it is still considerably below the position it ought to occupy, and I am sorry I cannot recommend any of the students for a prize, and only one, Gopaulchunder Mookerjee, for promotion. But in passing this unfavourable opinion of the class, I do not in the least intend it to be inferred that any blame is to be attached to the master; he has had very unfavourable materials to work on; the lads generally are old and unpromising, and have been a long time in the class. I do not think any master will ever be able to bring these lads up to the junior scholarship standard, as most of them have already passed their culminating point, and the result of every annual examination will only be attended with greater disappointment. "The third class, I am happy to say, passed a very creditable examination this year. There are some very promising lads in this class.

66

The fourth class is decidedly the best in the school. Great credit is due to Babu Dwarkanauth Chuckerbutty for the state of his class. “The fifth class is in a good state, but not quite equal to the fourth." The examiner in geography forwarded the following remarks: First Class." Only 15, out of 22 boys, were present when I examined this class in geography, of the others, 5 were absent, without assigning any cause, and 2 reported themselves sick.

"The manner in which the majority acquitted themselves, was tolerably well.

Second Class.—" This class did not pass a favourable examination. The pronunciation of names was not generally good. There were also some ludicrous geographical blunders made. Bavaria and Bohemia were described as cities of Germany, and Norway and Sweden as the capital of Turkey.

"The examination of the third class, and of the two sections of the fourth, was quite satisfactory."

Dr. Sprenger forwarded the following report along with the usual statement of the nuScholarship Examina- merical results of the examination of the Mudrissa.

tion:

"I received several anonymous letters from the pupils of the Hooghly College, complaining that the pupils and Mouluvees spared no pains to deceive the examiner in the written examination. Though these assertions did not appear to me to deserve the least credit, I thought that the suspicions, however founded, would be as injurious, and would contribute as much to render the object of the liberality of the Government in awarding scholarships futile, as if the examination were in reality carried on unfairly; I, therefore, proceeded on Thursday night, the 9th October, to Hooghly, where I arrived on the following evening, with a view of holding viva voce examination both of the candidates for scholarships and of the other pupils of the Mudrissa. "On the 11th I examined the candidates for junior scholarships, in the Nafhatool Yaman, a collection of elegant extracts in Arabic, and in the Sharah Vikayah, a work on theology. In the former I was told the pupils had read five chapters, but on examining them it appeared that they were prepared only in the most difficult passages which were likely to form the subject of the written examination, and that they had

passed over the whole of the prose part. They had calculated quite correctly. I had indeed taken the questions in the written examination from those parts which they had studied. In the part which they did study they were far out of their depth, and they can only have learned them by rote. The system to omit the easier portions of the book, in hopes that they will not be examined in them, is very objectionable, and I found in the vivâ voce examination that most of the pupils could not explain the easiest sentences.

"Only about one-half were able to translate the passage of the Sharah Vikayah in which they were examined, and I must therefore report unfavorably on their progress, particularly as the results of the vivâ voce examination are confirmed by the answers to the written tests.

"No less than 39 pupils presented themselves for the vivâ voce senior scholarship examination on the 13th instant. They were examined in Hareeree, and the result was on the whole the same as of the written examination."

The annual general examination of the Mudrissa was held

Annual General Examination of the Mudrissa.

by Dr. Sprenger, on the 14th and 15th October. The examiner's report is as follows:

Second Class, Section A, Junior Department." The class of Mouluvee Rumzan Ali, comprises 11 pupils. They are all very nearly of the same age, about 15 years. They look intelligent and are apparently well behaved, and if carefully instructed, they are likely to do credit to the institution. Ten pupils presented themselves for examination. They had read 90 pages of the Sharh Molla or Grammar, one-half of a small treatise on Logic called Myzan, and 94 pages of the Khirad Ufroz, a Persian reader, consisting chiefly of translations from the English. The quantity which they read is no doubt small, and to teach Logic in this class appears to me premature, and in order not to encourage this study in the junior classes, I did not examine them in it. They all understood the Persian reader, which, in fact, is much too easy for them, and most of them had mastered the subtilties of the Sharh Molla, and their examination was very creditable. I beg leave to recommend Shah Bhek, Abdool Kadir and Walyyooddeen for prizes."

Second Class, Section B, Junior Department." There are 14 pupils in the class of Mouluvee Furraghut Ali, none of them apparently above 16, and none below 12 years of age. Their principal study is the Anwari Sohayly in Persian, of which they have read 49 pages, but 6 of them studied also 29 pages of the Kafyah or Arabic Grammar, 5 learned 35 pages of the Hidayat oon Noho, which is a paraphrase of the preceding work. If the object of these two books is to learn precepts of Arabic Grammar, one of these two books, I should say the easier, would be sufficient, and there would be no necessity of dividing the class into two sections. Besides these two books they had read some pages of the Khirad Ufroz and of Akbary's aphorisms on Grammar. In the whole I found them well prepared. Abdool Ghunee is by far the best pupil of his class. Besides him I beg leave to recommend Abdoor Razzaq and Ilahee Bukhsh for prizes."

Third Class, Section A, Junior Department." In this class of Mouluvee Moohummud Taquee there are 14 pupils, one of whom, Habeeb

oollah is since 1845 in the College, and since 1847 in this class, and to judge from his appearance he is not less than 18 years of age. The others are young and have entered the College one, two or three years ago. The students learned to read (but did not learn by heart) the Hindustani translation of the History of India, two elementary treatises on Grammar and the Akhlaqi Mohsinee, of which they have advanced to page 51. This class too appears to me to be broken up into too many subdivisions and occupied with too many subjects. I would recommend that a prize be awarded to Bazlal Hossein."

Third Class, Section B, Junior Department.—“ In the class of Mouluvee Toluttuff Hossein there are 13 pupils, whose principal study is the Boostan. They had read the first chapter of it, and understand it very well. Besides they had read some pages of Miss Bird's Geography in Urdu, but none could answer one question. They said to remember the contents of the book was not the object of their reading. They were also examined in Arabic conjugations and irregular verbs, and they acquitted themselves creditably. Hasan Riza and Moohummud Ibrahim appear to me to be deserving of prizes. I put the name of Hasan Riza first, though he is not so far advanced as Ibrahim, because he is younger, and has been only one year in the Mudrissa."

Fourth Class, Section A, Junior Department." The 10 pupils of Mouluvee Nusseerooddeen read only the Arabic conjugations, and I cannot compliment them on their proficiency in them, but the pupils are very young. By far the best pupil, who well deserves a prize, is Lokenath Ghose, a Hindu."

Fourth Class, Section B, Junior Department.—“In the class of Mouluvee Moohummud Modessur are 10 pupils. They are instructed in the Persian grammar and in the Gulistan. Every pupil is in a different stage of progress. The credit is due to the pupils who have distinguished themselves in the examination. Their names are Abdool Hye, Nisar Ali, Gholam Yaseen and Mirza Uzohur Ali."

Urdu Class.-"The Urdu class contains 18 pupils, 3 of them are Hindus the other 15 are Mussulmans, most of them are very young. They had been taught 118 pages of the Tales of a Parrot. They read with great fluency and understood what they read. They also had been taught arithmetic as far as multiplication. I should recommend that in future the elements of Geography be also taught, and that no pupil be admitted into any other class of the Mudrissa who cannot give an examination in the subjects taught in this."

Mr. Kerr examined the Anglo-Persian Anglo-Persian class of the Mudrissa, and submitted the following report:

Class.

Fifth Class," The pupils of the 5th or youngest class can read easy sentences and explain in Hindustani what they read. The examiner was struck with a certain peculiarity in their mode of reading. A boy after reading well for some time would suddenly stop. After being again set agoing, he would go on, like a watch wound up, most fluently for some time, and then stop again. All this shewed that sentences and fragments of paragraphs had been committed to memory. Where the memory failed there was a dead stop, but so long as it performed its functions the process of reading went on smoothly and fluently. Some