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frequently done much towards beautifying the surroundings of the school, an effort worth every.encouragement, for who can tell how far-reaching in its effect upori|the plastic minds of the > young may be the little touch of beauty that will enable them in after-life to cherish the memory of their old school as the seat of refinement as well as of enlightenment! The Instructor has made a new departure this year in instituting a course of itinerant lectures to farmers, which have been given in the Waimeas, Moutere, Dovedale, and Takaka, and have been highly appreciated. If their only success is to get farmers interested in agricultural education much will be gained, as local interest may be a powerful stimulus to progress in any educational movement. Another suggestion already made to the Board by the Instructor of Agriculture has our most cordial approval. He proposes that the small laboratory shortly to be established in connection with Motueka High School be equipped with a view to specialising in horticulture, so that, for example, the microscopic investigation of insect and fungoid diseases might be undertaken. To one of the chief fruit-growing centres of the Dominion such a study would be particularly applicable. Classes for the instruction of teachers were held at Nelson and Westport, the subjects taken up being model, geometrical, blackboard, and brush drawing, elementary physiology, dressmaking, woodwork, botany, and agriculture. A summer school for the training of teachers was held at Westport during December, our schools in the Buller Valley and along the West Coast being closed for the midsummer holidays a week earlier than usual to enable the teachers to attend. This, our first experiment in this direction, was much appreciated, especially as no technical school has as yet been erected in the neighbourhood, and opportunities for self-improvement are few. We are particularly indebted to Mr. Clark, of Wanganui, for able assistance in handwork subjects. We hope that his efforts and the woik of the school will give a much-needed fillip to the teaching of manual subjects in the schools concerned. Extract from the Report of the Director of Technical Instruction. At least one branch of elementary handwork has been taught regularly throughout the year in thirty-six of the schools of the district, modelling in plasticene having been most in favour with the teachers. There are evidences, however, that paper-folding and cardboard-modelling, with the great assistance they lend in the teaching of arithmetic and geometry, will, in future years take prominent places among the handwork subjects adopted by the Board's teachers. Decided progress has been made during the year in the provision for adequate training in several branches of manual training. The equipment of the woodwork shops in Nelson, Reefton, and Wakefield has been brought up to date, and considerable additional fittings and apparatus have been provided for the cookery centres at Nelson, Richmond, and Wakefield, while provision is also being made for special rooms at Motueka and Takaka District High Schools for the teaching of chemistry. It is in the appointment of a special stall', however, that the greatest advance has been made. Previous to 1908 the Board secured, with the co-operation of the Marlborough, Grey, and Westland Boards, the services of an agricultural expert, the arrangement being such that Mr. Bruce's services to the Nelson Board were confined to about five months annually. By a new arrangement coming into force at the end of the year, the agricultural instructor will remain in this district for nine months annually, and will thus be of greater service to schools and the agricultural community than the time at his disposal has permitted heretofore. In March last Miss Joan Sutherland-Smith (first-class honours in cookery and laundrywork, City and Guilds of London), of Auckland Technical College, was appointed teacher of cookery, and in December Mr. A. G. Thompson, of Christchurch Technical College, was chosen from forty applicants to occupy the post of instructor of woodwork, &c, at Nelson and Wakefield centres, at a salary of £200 per annum. Applications are at present being called upon for an instructor in ironwork at the Westport Manual Training Centre, so that in 1909 the various training centres, now ully equipped and under the charge of a fully trained staff, should be able to produce much better work than has been possible in former times. The previous system of control of handwork and manual-training capitation grants has been abolished, the earnings of all classes now being retained in the office, a detailed account in connection with each school being kept, and various appliances supplied through the Board on requisition by the teacher. This system will insure uniformity of supply to schools at moderate rates, and will enable the Board to see more readily that the moneys earned are expended in the manner intended by the Department. Woodwork has been taken by the boys of Nelson Central, Stoke, Richmond, Hope, Brightwater, Spring Grove, Wakefield, Wai-iti, Foxhill, and Reefton Schools, details being given in the table below ; Mr. R. Simpson (Nelson and Wakefield Centres) and Mr. R. Tudehope (Reefton Centre) being the instructors. During the coming year facilities will be given for Ranzau and Black's Point boys to attend, and special facilities will be provided for the taking of two classes at Stoke Orphanage. Cookery classes were attended by girls from Nelson Central, Richmond, Spring Grove, Brightwater, Wakefield, Foxhill, Wai-iti, and Reefton Schools. Prior to Miss Sutherland-Smith's arrival the classes at Nelson, Richmond, and Wakefield Centres were capably conducted by Miss Bond, of the Nelson Girls' School, while the Reefton classes were taken by Miss D. Harkness. Owing to special buildings not being completed, no cookery classes were held at Westport. Attention may well be drawn here to the irregularity of the attendance at cookery classes at Wakefield Centre. Dressmaking classes were taken by the girls of Stoke, Richmond, Brightwater, Spring Grove, Wakefield, Wai-iti, Foxhill, and Motueka Schools (under Mrs. Moynihan), Westport District High School (under Mrs. Gambitzki), and Reefton (under Miss Hodgson). In many cases, however, the work undertaken has been found to be unsuitable for junior members of the classes, and during the coming year dressmaking as a subject in primary schools, under special instructors, will be abandoned. Elementary physiology and first aid was taken in eighteen schools, but, owing to claiming more than the maximum allowance, several schools had their capitation claims for this district disallowed. Swimming and life-saving was taught in fifteen schools. In August the Board passed a resolution that 70 per cent, of the capitation earned in swimming classes would be forwarded on appli-