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CANTERBURY. The present building was originally erected in the year 1877 for the purpose of being used as a Girls' High School ; subsequently it was arranged to establish therein the School of Art, and to remove the Girls' High School to a more commodious site. In 1893 it was found necessary to add two more class-rooms. The table annexed will show the number of students in attendance at the school during the first term of each year, since its opening in 1882 : — Morning Evening Saturday Morning Evening Saturday Class. Class. Class. Class. Class. Class. 1882 ... ... 28 63 Nil. I 1890 ... 28 69 Nil. 1883 ... ... 45 ■ 67 „ 1891 ... 30 75 66 1884 ... ... 51 49 „■ 1892 ... 31 69 81 1885 ... ... 28 62 „ 1893 .... 28 85 80 1886 ... ... 19 51 „ 1894 ... 32 115 95 1887 ... ... 18 58 „ 1895 ... 38 102 75 1888 ... ... 21 60 „ 1896 ... 38 98 77 1889 ... ... 31 75 „ 1897 ... 32 101 97 During the present year correspondence has taken place between the Board and the Department of Education with a view to obtaining financial assistance for the school, under "The Manual and Technical Elementary Instruction Act, 1895." The report of the Art Master is as follows:— " As regards the attendance of students and the result of the work the past year has been one of the most successful iij the history of the school. " Morning Class. —This class has again made a further advance. Compared with the two previous years the numbers are as follows : — First Term. Second Term. Third Term. 1894 ... ... ... ... ... 32 35 32 1895 ... ... ... ... ... 38 32 38 1896 ... ... ... ... ... 38 34 37 "In 1887, the year in which I took the headmastership of the school, the numbers were : First term, 18; second term, 9; third term, 17. " The work has been based on the same principles as during the last three or four years—viz., division into four branches. In the first, or elementary, stress is laid more particularly on the study of form by means of outline, both pencil and brush being employed for this purpose. In the next two gradually the study of tone and colour is introduced combined with form ; and in the fourth more advanced work is given from the cast, still life, and life. Various modes of expression are employed, the point, ' stump,' and brush, both in water-colour and oil-colour, being used for representing objects on aflat surface, whilst the modelling tool and fingers are mainly used for representation in concrete form. The medium in and with which he shall work is largely left to a student's own choice, as it is found that a preference is soon shown for that one in which by nature he is best fitted to excel. For instance, a student whose object it is to preuare himself for illustration work naturally chooses the point, both pen and pencil, and also occasionally the water-colour brush. The modelling class, under Mr. Kidson, has been held on Wednesdays from 11.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The work so far has been of an elementary nature, the copies being simple casts of ornament and portions of the figure. The class for painting landscapes from nature, under Mr. Walsh, has gone out every Tuesday during the first and third terms, while Miss Munnmgs has had charge of an elementary class in the same subject, going out on the same day as the others. Life classes, for the study of the draped model, have been held on Mondays and Fridays from 10 to 1, and for the study of the nude on Thursday. These have been under the charge of the headmaster, and have been more largely attended than ever before, excellent work having been produced both in black and white and colour. Entrance into the life classes is by competition, held at the end of every term. As only an average of two can be admitted each term, the competition is severe, and, considering this, the result is very satisfactory and encouraging. The faculty for memorising forms, as well as the imitative faculty, has been cultivated with good results. The benefit of this system is beginning to show itself in the more advanced work. A series of drawings was shown in the annual exhibition illustrating the extent to which memory drawing can be carried. " Evening Class. —Compared with the two previous years the numbers attending have been as follows : — First Term. Second Term. Third Term. 1894 ... ... ... ... ... 115 108 93 1895 102 105 102 1896 ... ... ... ... 98 98 104 "In 1887 the numbers were as follows: First term, 58 ; second term, 73 ; third term, 72. " The students in this class are mainly drawn from trades and industries associated in any way with art, and so the instruction is more specially arranged to meet the wants of these. Besides elementary drawing it has comprised architecture, decorative design, modelling from the cast and from life, light and shade from the cast and still life, and drawing and painting from the human figure both nude and draped. Although the attendance of the night class of students is much more satisfactory and encouraging than formerly, there is still much to be desired in this respect, and until the employers more effectively co-operate in securing the attendance of their apprentices by realising the benefit accruing to themselves as well as to the community in general by the increased skill and taste of the workman we fear that the influence such an institution as the School of Art should exert on the industrial well-being of the district will not be what it might and should. Whilst referring generally to the work of this class I would again emphasize the necessity for a,