E.—s

III

literature, drawing and theory and practice of carpentry and joinery, German, painting, drawing, brush work, poker-work, woodwork, and cookery. The number of individual students enrolled was 76, the class entries being 122. At the December examinations 50 papers were worked, and 28 passes were recorded. Waihi.- —Classes in book-keeping, commercial arithmetic, commercial correspondence, shorthand, English, and dressmaking were held at Waihi. These were conducted, as in previous years, in the District High School and in a rented building. On the whole, there was a decided improvement in the work done at Waihi last year ; the attendance was much larger, and a greater number of students sat for examination. 158 class entries in the various subjects were recorded, the number of individual students in attendance being 64. At the annual examinations in December 73 examination-papers were worked, and 45 passes were obtained. As in previous years, the classes were superintended by Mr. S. H. Macky, headmaster of the Waihi East Public School. Thames. —Miss A. Murphy was appointed local superintendent at Thames last year. Instruction was given in the following subjects: Plumbing (theory and practice), commercial arithmetic, commercial English, typewriting, book-keeping, shorthand, dressmaking, and millinery. The number of individual students enrolled was (30, and the class entries 198. At the annual examinations held in December 75 papers were worked, and 44 passes were obtained. Te Aroha —During the year a plumbing class was commenced at Te Aroha under Mr. B. A. Franklin, the Government Sanitary Inspector, 6 students being enrolled. A dressmaking class under Miss Bessie Campbell was also held at this centre, the number of students in attendance being 17. Cambridge, PukekoAe, and Paeroa.- —Classes in dressmaking were held during the year by the itinerant instructor- —Miss Bessie Campbell —at Cambridge, Pukekohe, and Paeroa. The number of students in attendance was as follows : Cambridge, 19 ; Pukekohe, 12 ; Paeroa, 10. Compulsory Attendance at Technical and Continuation Classes. At the end of last year legislation was passed providing for the compulsory attendance of boys and girls between the, ages of fourteen and seventeen years at continuation classes, such attendance to be for not more than five hours per week. The power of making these classes compulsory in any district is in the hands of the School Committee; and already several School Committees in the Auckland District have availed themselves of this privilege, the first being the Devonport School Committee, which, I believe, was the first School Committee in the Dominion to declare in favour of compulsory continuation classes. There is no doubt that this legislation, making attendance at continuation classes compulsory under certain conditions, is a step in the right direction ; unfortunately, however, the attendance at these classes is not to be made compulsory during the daytime, but after the pupils have already finished their day's work. It is to be hoped that future legislation will be in the direction of making attendance at continuation classes compulsory throughout the whole of the Dominion at a higher age-hmit than at present prescribed, such attendance being for one whole day or two half-days per week, as is provided in the case of continuation classes at Munich. Legislation, too, is required in the direction of amending the Arbitration and Conciliation Act. Some few months ago the master and journeymen plumbers of Auckland agreed, in the Conciliation Court, that all plumbing apprentices in Auckland should attend the Technical College for two half-days per week for the first three years of their apprenticeship. When this agreement was taken to the Arbitration Court the Judge refused to ratify it, stating that he had no power to compel apprentices to attend technical classes in their employers' time. Auckland Technical College. General. —Day and evening classes were held as in the previous year; the number of individual students in attendance was 1,338, as compared with 1,319 for last year. It was anticipated that the first three stories of the now Technical College would have been completed at the expiration of the contract time —in November last. Unfortunately, however, the contractors are so far behind their time that there seems little prospect of our getting the use of the new building before the end of the present year or the beginning of the next. It is a matter of great regret that funds are not available for completing the five-storied building, which is urgently needed even for present requirements. Day Classes for Boys and Girls. —These classes for boys and girls who have already passed through the primary school continue to increase in popularity, the number of students enrolled for last year being 278, as against 218 for the previous year. It is satisfactory to be able to note that students who have attended these classes for at least two years are eagerly sought after by the merchants and manufacturers ; particularly is this the case with the commercial students, the demand being largely in excess of the supply. Evening Classes. —Great difficulty was found in providing accommodation for all the students who applied for admission to these classes. In spite of the manner in which both teachers and students were handicapped by lack of satisfactory accommodation and equipment, generally speaking excellent work was done, and the percentage of passes in the College examinations was slightly better than in the previous year, having increased from 72 to 74 per cent. A continuation class, having for its object the preparation of students for the Standard VI proficiency examination, for students who had previously left the public s; hool without having obtained this certificate, was attended by 73 students. Of these, 43 sat for examination, 25 obtaining certificates of proficiency and 4 certificates of competency. The students of the College were again most successful in the examinations held by the City and Guilds of London Institute, and by the Board of Education, South Kensington, London. Under each of these examining bodies the successes obtained by the College were greater than those obtained by