E.—l

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Instruction in pure and applied art is well provided for in the schools that make a special feature of these branches of technical education. Increasing attention is being given in these schools to the application of art to industries, and some excellent examples of craft-work have been executed during the year. Instruction in various subjects relating to the home was given in seventy-nine centres ; cookery (including invalid and high-class cookery), dressmaking, and millinery being the subjects most generally taken up. In country districts the instruction is usually given by itinerant instructors sent out from central schools. The special courses in home science and domestic arts recently established by the Council of the Otago University have been well attended. Of the forty - eight students in attendance nineteen are working for the diploma and nine for the degree in home science. The Government, recognizing that the instruction given in the schools in subjects having a direct bearing on the home, has up to the present been confined mainly to methods rather than principles owing to the lack of fully trained teachers, has recently issued regulations providing for the award to students whose intention it is to qualify as teachers of domestic subjects of domestic science bursaries tenable at the Otago University. During the current year bursaries have been awarded to thirteen such students. The bursaries are of the value of £20 a year, together with the fees for the courses.||A boarding-allowance of £30 a year is also made where necessary. The demand for instruction in commercial subjects continues to be maintained, classes being held at thirty-eight centres. In addition to accountancy classes, at each of the four University Colleges full courses of instruction, both elementary and advanced, are provided in most of the larger technical schools. Over two hundred continuation classes providing instruction in subjects of general education were in operation during the year. The number for 1911 was 158. These classes are attended by students who take one subject only, or two or more unrelated subjects. The fact that students are encouraged to take group courses in lieu of unrelated subjects accounts for the comparatively small number of continuation classes. There has been a satisfactory increase in the number of centres in which instruction in subjects relating to rural pursuits is provided. Classes attended by about 1,600 students were held at seventy-three centres, as compared with sixty-seven in the previous year. The subjects included wool sorting and classing, sheepshearing, dairying, veterinary science, agriculture, horticulture, bee-keeping, and poultry-keeping. Hitherto classes have been established as a result, generally, of a local demand for instruction in one or other of the above-mentioned subjects. While no organized scheme of technical instruction in subjects bearing on our primary industries has so far been put into operation under the regulations for manual and technical instruction in any district, there is evidence of a growing desire on the part of the farming community for the establishment of classes providing definite courses of instruction. In the meantime a good deal of what may be termed foundationwork has been accomplished in schools of primary and secondary grade. Thus during the year over 1,000 primary classes in-elementary agriculture were carried on, while secondary classes in connexion with high schools, day technical schools, and district high schools were attended by over 1,000 pupils. Table Jc.—Number of Students taking Group Courses of Instruction occupying not less than Four Hours a Week avd Eighty Hours a Year. Course of Instruotii n. Number of Students. 1911. 1912. Elementary commercial . . .. .. .. .. 1,033 856 Higher commercial .. .. .. .. 208 354 Practical mathematics and science .. .. .. 117 122 Mathematics and science applied to trades and industries . . 1,037 1,043 Domestic science.. .. .. .. .. 268 304 Art and art-crafts .. 541 490 Totals .. 3,204 3,219