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students retain pleasant memories of Dr. Cahill's connection with the college, and Mr. Purdie has by his lectures on botany awakened an interest in natural science from which many indirect benefits will be reaped in due course. Mr. Parker, M. Merlet, and Mr. and Miss Holmes, my old colleagues, have worked no less energetically and successfully than heretofore. In conclusion, I would ask the Board to consider what steps, if any, can be taken to increase the supply of male students, and also to weigh the advisability of giving a diploma of some kind—a formal certificate of training—to students on the completion of their course. It is done in other institutions of the kind, and the term training " college " seems to imply some recognition of this sort. I shall be happy to offer suggestions on these points, if desired. I have, <fee., The Chairman, Education Board. Charles C. Howard, Principal.

CHEISTCHUECH. Peincipal's Eeport. Sir, — Normal School, 3rd February, 1885. I have the honour to submit my report for the year ended 31st December, 1884. At the beginning of the year the number of students in attendance was 9 males and 30 females— total 39; and at the close it was 9 males and 31 females—total 40. Seven presented themselves for the matriculation examination in December; while in January of this year 18 presented themselves for the E certificate, 14 for the D certificate, 4 for the C certificate, 1 for the B.A. degree, and 2to complete their certificates. As in former years, every advantage has been taken of the lectures at Canterbury College, and several of the students have taken good positions in more than one of the classes. Every year's experience convinces me the more of the advisability of enabling the students to attend the lectures there. Many of our former students continue to pursue their studies at Canterbury College ; some, who are in positions in or near the city, attend the evening classes, while others at a distance are very regular in attendance at the Saturday classes. The attendance of teachers at the college classes cannot but have a good effect upon the schools in which they teach, and the wisdom of the Government in granting cheap fares to such teachers cannot, I think, be questioned. The attendance of the students has been very good, and their attention to study and punctuality highly satisfactory. Whether they will all be successful in obtaining certificates remains to be seen, but they certainly deserve success. During the present session more pupil-teachers have attended than formerly, no doubt owing to the Board's granting maintenance allowance to all who chose to attend and comply with the conditions ; and, as it is possible that every year will increase their number, a few remarks on their condition generally when they enter may not be out of place. In these remarks Ido not desire to cast any reflections on the teachers by whom they have been instructed, for I am convinced that as a body no class of men and women seek to perform their several duties more faithfully than they do. Still I may be permitted to call attention to certain points which seem to me defective in their training. It is quite possible that the faults are due rather to the amount of work demanded of our pupil-teachers, and to the syllabus of examination, than that they show any want of care on the part of their instructors. And first I would refer to the training they receive in the art of teaching. It. is of the utmost importance that this training should be methodical and thorough. There is no necessity for the study of works on method and school management, at least during the first two years of their apprenticeship. What is required is that the pupil-teachers know the methods adopted in the school, and practice them regularly. I am frequently told by them when they enter the training department that, during the four years they have spent in learning the art of their profession, they have been employed in the infant school only, or in some other division of the school only. Surely such a course cannot be called training I These young persons are apprentices, and should therefore have experience in every department of the work, beginning with what is simple and ending with the more difficult. To tell them to teach is not enough ; they must be shown how to teach. The teacher would find it to be advantageous to all concerned were he frequently to give model lessons in the presence of his pupil-teachers, and to arrange that they in their turn taught certain subjects before him and their fellow pupil-teachers. In other words criticism lessons should be given at regular periods, when the head-master would be able to point out defects and to show how these could be avoided. To leave pupil-teachers without careful instruction and guidance in the art of teaching is a fatal mistake. The able teaching of some of those who studied with us during this and former years, showed that their masters were alive to the importance of the duties with which they were intrusted ; but more than one ex-pupil-teacher seemed to have acquired the knowledge possessed rather from a desire on his or her part to overcome difficulties met with, than from the example set or direct instruction received. When speaking to some teachers on this point, I have been told that if they so trained their pupil-teachers there would bo nothing left for myself to do. lam not afraid of that. After we have all done everything we can do, much still remains to be done. The wide field of education has not yet been fully explored. Child nature is not yet thoroughly known, and the order of the development of our faculties and the best method to secure full development can still be made the subject of careful and arduous study. Again, the subjects these young teachers study, and the manner of study, require some notice. I fail to see why so much time is spent in the study of grammar, history, and geography from textbooks. Before the pupil-teacher can be appointed he must have passed the Fifth Standard, and in our large schools candidates enough are coming forward for employment who have passed with credit the Sixth Standard. To do so demands a fairly extensive knowledge of these subjects, and surely it is not necessary (at least I never found it so) that their time should be so largely occupied