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Scholarships.—There were held at the end of tlie year the following Junior Scholarships: Board, 64; National, 9; Queen's, 7. On the results of the examination of December, 1907, there were awarded Junior Scholarships—Board, 35; National, 3; Queen's, 1. For the Board Junior Scholarship! there were 219 candidates; for Board Senior Scholarships there were G7 candidates, to 10 of whom were awarded Senior Scholarships. DISTRICT High Schools.—Ten district high schools -were in operation. The total averages decreased from 540 in 1906 to 463 in 1907. Their work is discussed in detail in the Inspectors' Report. Manual and Technical Instruction.—During the year capitation, under Manual and Technical Regulations, was earned by 116 schools, as compared with 120 in 1906 and 110 in 1905. The subjects in which instruction was given were handwork, elementary agriculture, needlework (with instructor when head teacher is a male), elementary chemistry, physiology and first aid, swimming and life-saving, elementary physical measurements, dairy-work, dressmaking, cookery, and woodwork. The instructor in woodwork began his duties in June in the woodwork-room at the Training College, and in rooms rented at Newtown until the completion of the South Wellington woodwork and cookery buildings. The erection of this fine technical building, of the cookery and science rooms at Levin, and the fitting-up of science and cookery rooms at Greytown and Carterton should render the work of instruction at these centres both more pleasant and more efficient. The work of instruction in agriculture is dealt with at length in the report of the Inspectors. The number of school classes increased from forty-two to fifty. Physical and Military Drill.—ln their report the Inspectors note that" physical drill receives due attention; that breathing exercises find a prominent place in the programmes of all schools; and that, so far as it affects the school work, military drill is very good. Buildings.—During the year the following buildings, the cost of which was met by Government grant, were erected : Ohau and Alfredton, new schools, to replace buildings destroyed by fire ; Muhunoa, new school; Ihuraua and Manakau, additions; Levin, cookery and science rooms; South Wellington, cookery and woodwork centre; Te Horo, ltangitumau, Korora, and Rongokakako, residences. From its own funds the Board has erected a new school at Wainuiomata, effected small enlargements at four schools, sheds and fences at nine, and overhauled thirty schools and ten residences, besides effecting minor repairs to a number of others. The need for increased school accommodation, especially in suburban areas, engaged the serious attention of the Board, and grants for new schools and for enlargement of schools at Johnsonville, Levin, Upper Hutt, Muranui, Worser Bay, and Lansdowne will presently provide for the increasing population of these districts, while it has become evident that at Hutt, Martinborough, Petone, and Waikanae additional accommodation should be provided without delay. The Board found it necessary to purchase a number of sites in localities where population is rapidly increasing, and of these the Department contributed half-cost. Against the proposal that, where the sum is considerable, only half-cost of sites should be provided by grants, the Board enters its protest, as this limitation involves the diversion from building-maintenance of moneys urgently required for works already too long delayed. The Board holds that for sites in new districts it should not be required to provide the purchase-money. ■Extreme difficulty is still experienced in satisfactorily staffing our backblocks schools, and it warmly approves the recommendation of Inspectors that small residences should be erected in all districts where proper accommodation for the teacher is not procurable. Grants have been made for such residences in four districts, and there are several others where house accommodation must soon be provided. Finance. —The total receipts were as follows, including balance, 31st December, 1906, £563 12s. Bd.: Administration, £16,428 11s. Bd.; building, £11,543 3s. 2d. ; secondary, including scholarships, £5,747 195.; Manual and Technical School classes, £2,671 Bs. 3d.; teachers' salaries, £50,954 18s. 5d.; Technical Schools, £6,571 6s. Bd. : total, £94,480 19s. 10d. The total expenditure was £95,039 16s. 5d.; leaving a debit balance on the 31st December, 1907, of £558 16s. 7d. The Board is pleased to record that substantial benefit has been conferred on over twenty schools by donations to their manual and technical funds, made chiefly for the establishment and improvement of school gardens. Donations, with the Government subsidy, resulted in the erection of a room for science in one district; in the purchase of a 2-acre technical-school site in another, and elsewhere in the purchase of a good microscope or other useful piece of apparatus. Large donations have in like manner, through local interest and generosity, resulted in improved equipment in at least three of our district high schools. General. —The Board acknowledges with appreciation the services of School Committees, who contribute an important factor in the success of education in this district, and it has observed with pleasure the interest in education displayed by public bodies. It commends to the attention of other Chambers the worthy example of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, which annually awards prizes for highest proficiency in arithmetic, composition, and writing to pupils attending each of the city schools. Finally, acknowledgment is made of the uniformly courteous attention of officers of the Education Department to the business of the Board, and of the faithful services of the administrative and teaching staffs of the Board. I have, ifec, The Hon. the Minister of Education. Robert Lee, Chairman.