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provide opportunities hitherto unobtainable in New Zealand for teachers so to qualify themselves. Given the properly trained teacher, the attainment of the end in view is only a question of time. The instruction in woodwork generally is on sound lines. The number of trained teachers with the skill that years of teaching gives and with the qualifications necessary to enable them to take their place at the instructor's bench is increasing, and, although they may not in every case compare favourably with the artizan-teacher in skill in handling tools and in mastery over the material, their mastery of the class and skill in teaching make for excellent results in the school workshop. The ideal conditions under which woodwork should be taught are probably a long way from realization, but the central system at present in operation in most districts appour.s, in spite of certain obvious drawbacks, to be producing results that are not altogether unsatisfactory. The practical application of the drawing lesson to the problems of construction, the correlation of the woodwork with arithmetic and geometry, the use of the exercises as subjects for lessons in oral and written composition on the one hand, and, on the other, the pleasure that the average healthy boy experiences in carrying a piece of work to completion, appear to more than compensate for the time taken from other class subjects by attendance at the woodwork centre. At most of the centres an earnest endeavour is being made to emphasize both the utilitarian and the educational advantages of the subject. Opportunity is here taken to direct attention to one or two matters which, if remedied, would, it is considered, add to the value of the instruction. Models are too rarely used in connection with the drawing lessons. Pupils usually work from blackboard drawing or sketches of the model under construction. It is the exception for pupils to make their own drawings from models placed before them. Copying diagrams or drawings no doubt has its uses in the initial stages of the woodwork course. As soon as the pupil has acquired a knowledge of the principles of projection and of the use of drawing instruments copying should, however, be abandoned in favour of more educational methods. It should not be a difficult matter to get together at a woodwork centre a sufficient number of suitable models so as to allow of each pupil making, dimension sketches of an actual object preparatory to constructing it in wood, and then careful drawings of the completed object. The change from copying a drawing to copying an object may not at first sight appear to be a very important one from the point of view of teaching; but when it is remembered that to ask pupils to work from flat copies is to ask them to copy a representation of a real thing, instead of giving th< tn tiie opportunity of representing in line their own ideas of the reality, is tantamount to depriving them of the intellectual and moral discipline of overcoming the difficulties of expressing the reality before them, then the matter assumes an importance which removes it from the realms of the negligible. There also appears to be a need, generally, for more elasticity in regard to the series of models comprised in the woodwork course. The same series is, in most cases, repeated year after year without variation, no attempt being made to add something new, to embody some new principle or to encourage senior pupils to originate new models. While it is not to be inferred from this that instructors are not capable of originating new series of models better adapted to present-day requirements, the fact remains that for some reason or other the woodwork courses to-day are practically repetitions of the courses originally laid down when the centres were first established. It is hoped that instructors, and pupils too, may profit by the hint here given. A pleasing feature is the increasing interest that is being taken in certain districts by Inspectors of Schools and by headmasters in the work of the woodwork centres. It is of the utmost importance that the instructors at the manual-training centres should be brought into contact, through conferences, suggestions, and the like, with those whose interests lie not in any one special subject of instruction, but are necessarily distributed over the whole range of the factors in the intellectual life of the children under their care. The material used for the woodwork exercises is, in many cases, hardly suitable for the purpose. The scarcity of kauri, an ideal timber for the woodwork room, and its consequent high price, renders its use, except for special work, almost prohibitive. Rimu and white-pine are consequently the timbers in general use. Neither of them is suitable because of their texture and the presence of resinous matter. Oregon pine has been tried as a substitute, but is unsatisfactory, and for similar reasons. A suitable substitute for kauri would be American basswood. It is accordingly suggested that controlling authorities might see their way to combine with the view of importing a quantity of this timber for the use of woodwork classes. The cost, if ordered in this way, would probably be little more than what is now paid for inferior local timbers. The ease with which the timber in question can be planed, sawn, and chiselled would facilitate progress in the mastery of the three principal tools used in the woodwork-room and generally raise the standard of executive skill. The increase in the number of schools taking up the subject appears to indicate that the educative value of a course in physical measurements is becoming more widely recognized in both primary and secondary schools. Such a course forms an excellent introduction to laboratory courses in science, and in primary schools where special laboratory equipment is not available provides opportunities for elementary training in scientific method that cannot be ignored. In many primary schools excellent work in elementary science is being done, with limited and sometimes crude apparatus, in the ordinary classroom, and without special fittings. The good results obtained in many cases are, of course, largely due to the enthusiasm and the special aptitude of the teachers in charge of the classes, and show conclusively that good work suited to the capacity of young pupils is possible even though an up-to-date laboratory and elaborate apparatus are not available for science work. The inability on the part of many pupils to read the graduated rule appears to point to a defect in the teaching, which might be remedied by increasing the number of exercises requiring the use of the rule, especially in the earlier part of the course. Some particulars relating to manual instruction in primary and secondary schools will be found in Tables 1 to 6, inclusive, on pages 17 to 20.