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way of pro rata capitation earned during the last nine months of the year. The Board has for years past advocated the introduction of some system whereby the girls of all schools should receive tuition in this useful art, and notes with'satisfaction the consummation of its desire in the regulations framed under the Technical Acts above referred to. , Physical Training.—As required by the provisions of section 4of " The Physical Drill in Public and Native Schools Act, 1901," the Board has to report that considerable attention has been paid to the subject of physical instruction in the schools of the district during the past year. In the accomplishment of this end, the services of Instructor J. V. Hanna have been availed of to the fullest possible extent. Mr. Hanna, working under a systematic time-table, has devoted himself to the regular instruction of pupils attending the city and suburban schools; and, in addition, has paid periodical visits at stated intervals to the Board's schools in country districts. Mr. Hanna has also been in regular attendance at the teachers' drill classes, held in Invercargill and Gore respectively, and acting in conjunction with Drill-instructors Selby and Fraser, has given valuable instruction to upwards of 193 teachers who have visited these towns on Saturdays during the _ past winter and spring. In furtherance of this object the Instructor, with the approval and co-operation of the Board's Inspectors, prepared a set of elementary physical exercises, embodying in written form the personal instruction given to teachers and pupils. These were printed and distributed to all schools m the district, with an intimation that the Board had instructed its Inspectors to see that in all schools proper attention is given to physical training, and to state when reporting on schools the degree of efficiency attained in the exercises recommended. . _ Instruction of Teachers.—The Board has again to acknowledge the liberal provision made by your Department for the instruction of teachers in manual and technical subjects. _ The special vote of £150 made for this purpose was duly received. Saturday classes for teachers in woodwork and cookery were organized at Invercargill and Gore respectively, and the work of instruction prosecuted with vigour during a period of about eight months. The classes were, on the whole, well attended, and considerable was made, as is evidenced by the success achieved bv students from this district in the examinations conducted by the City and Guilds of London Institute, the record being as follows : In cookery, seven students were credited with first-class, and eighteen students with second-class passes. In woodwork, nine students passed in the examination prescribed for the first year, while three obtained a pass (with first-class honours) and two (with second-class honours) in the final examination. Teachers' Drill Classes.—By arrangement with, and at the request of your Department, classes were formed at Invercargill and Gore for the instruction of the teachers of the district m the subject of military drill. Messrs. C. W. G. Selby and Robert Fraser were appointed drillinstructors, the former for the Invercargill centre, the latter for the Gore centre. The classes were carried on for a period of forty weeks, and were well attended at both places, the total numbers who, for longer or shorter periods received instruction being 150 and forty-three at the respective'centres. Free passes by rail were obtained to enable those who attended to do so at a minimum of expense to themselves. Buildings.—During the year just ended the expenditure in respect of building operations has practically absorbed the whole of the revenue derived from various sources. The amounts to credit of this account at the beginning and end of the year were £659 17s. and £662 Os. 6d. respectively. The receipts were as follows : Ordinary building grant, £3,550 ; special grants for the erection of specified new schools and additions to schools, £1,413 175.; donations and proceeds of sale of old building and site at Flint's Bush, £194 17s. 3d.—making a total, including credit balance, of £5,818 lis. The expenditure was made up as follows: General maintenance, £1,836 19s. 6d.; new school buildings, additions, furniture, and sites, £3,319 lis. 3d.—a total of £5,156 10s. ; leaving a balance, as above stated, of £662 os. 6d. The principal works undertaken during the year were the erection of new schools in the districts of Morton Mains, Motu-Rimu, and Gladfieid ; additions to schools at Orepuki, Fortrose, Wendon, Maitland Village, Colac Bay, Waimatuku, Te Tua, Woodlands, Heddon Bush, and Mataura Island; the erection of a teacher's residence at Caroline, and additions to the teachers' residences at Mataura Island, Orepuki, and Kennington. The Board has to recognise that, but for the timely assistance of the Department in making special grants for the erection of schools in newly settled districts, and for additions to schools in localities where by reason of an increase of population, the number of children in attendance has outgrown the capacity of the building, it would have been simply impossible to overtake one-half the works specified in the preceding paragraph. Other important works in contemplation are the erection of additions to the school buildings at Gore and Tutu ra u, and the re-erection of the school at Greenvale recently destroyed by fire. For the first-mentioned of these works, a partial special grant has been promised by the Department, amounting to about one-half the actual cost of the work. It is hoped, however, that, in the light of fresh representations which have been made respecting the inadequacy of a less extensive addition than that proposed, and the gradual rise in the average attendance at the school since the partial grant was promised, the Department will now see its way to increase the vote to a sum sufficient to cover the actual cost of the work. With respect to the work at Tuturau, the necessity for the addition has been recognised, and a grant promised. For the reinstatement of the Greenvale School a grant equivalent to the value of the building destroyed is expected to be made. Finance and Accounts.—At no period of its history has the Board permitted its accounts to become embarrassed by indulging in unnecessary expenditure, and the past year's operations form no exception to this safe rule. The Board believes that, as a purely administrative department, the only prudent course to follow is to meet all legitimate demands that may arise so far as the funds at its command will permit, but on no account to allow its expenditure to exceed its actual

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