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BXTEAOTS PEOM EEPOETS OP EDUCATION BOARDS. Auckland. Classes in manual instruction are held at Devonport and Eemuera Schools. Until adequate funds shall be voted for the purpose it is not likely that there will be any extension of the means of technical instruction. Application was made by the Board for a special grant towards the erection of a technical and training college upon a suitable site in the City of Auckland, but no provision was made by the Legislature last session for such a purpose. Wanganui. There has been a very fair attendance at some of the classes in the Technical School, especially those conducted by the science master, and the Board hopes that the public may ere long appreciate the value of the art classes which are now open to them. For the work done at the school the Board refers to the director's report. The inhabitants of Palmerston North collected and remitted to the Board the sum of £200 towards the cost of a technical school for that town. The Board promised £1 for £1 on this sum, and they understood that the Minister of Education would have subsidised this £400 by a grant of £1 for £1. That such has not been done is a great disappointment to the Palmerston people. The art classes are still conducted at Palmerston North by one of the assistant masters from the Wanganui Technical School, and it is now contemplated to establish classes upon the same basis at Hawera. In connection with "the Technical School, cooking classes have been held at the Wanganui Girls' School during the year. Wellington. The director of the Technical School deals fully with the year's work in his annual report. Instruction in cookery is now given in the town and country schools. The classes throughout have been well attended, and the central school has maintained its reputation by obtaining the principal awards in connection with the science and art examinations of South Kensington. Hawke's Bay. In the matter of technical education the Board has not been able to take any action. However anxious the members may be to assist in such work, the providing of school accommodation for the many outlying districts which are constantly pressed upon their attention puts consideration of it out oi their reach, the claims of new districts also being a constantly increasing charge upon the school fund. The Board are of opinion that some special and more adequate provision must be made by the Government to enable Education Boards to properly organize the conduct of technical classes. Maelboeough. Classes for instruction in shorthand were established, under the provisions of the Manual and Technical Elementary Instruction Act, at Blenheim and Eenwick, and have been highly appreciated. The number of scholars on the rolls for the year, at the two centres, was seventyone, and the average attendance was 598; and it was with the greatest regret that the Board received a circular from the department notifying the discontinuance of the grant for this subject at the end of the year. Much as the Board would like to avail itself of the provisions of the Act in other directions, the expense attending the establishment of almost any other class is quite beyond its means, which are already insufficient for the ordinary requirements of the district. At the time of writing the Board is in receipt of a report from two independent " experts," who were asked to examine these classes with the object of ascertaining the amount of progress made by the scholars, and the report was of so encouraging a nature that the regret of the Board at the cessation of the grant (without which the subject must be dropped) has been greatly increased. Several of the Board's teachers have been students in these classes, with the intention of qualifying themselves to teach the subject, if required, in the schools. Westland. The class for manual instruction connected with the Kumara School has been conducted efficiently during the year, as a separate report by the Inspector will show. In the last annual report the following sentence occurs: "As the feasibility of initiating such instruction has thus been amply demonstrated, it is the hope of the Board that* in connection with other schools, advantage will be taken of the opportunity provided by the Act recently passed to bring this important branch of education within the reach of the scholars attending." The Board regrets that in no other school district have steps been taken to secure the benefits of manual training. ■ ': NOETH CaNTEEBUEY. The manual-training classes at the Normal School have been continued throughout the year. The work of both teachers and boys has been good ; but, compared with the previous year, there has been a large decrease in the:numbers attending, pointing to the conclusion that, whatever interest the novelty of the instruction aroused on the initiation of the classes, the advantages to be derived from the instruction are not so generally appreciated as was anticipated. It must be