E.—s

74

garden movement their sympathy and patronage. At the end of August the Board was unfortunate enough to lose the services of Mr. William Martin, B.Sc, who was promoted to the position of chief agricultural instructor under the North Canterbury Education Board. Mr. Martin had been in the service of the Education Board for nearly two years, and during his tenure of office lie did not spare himself, but devoted all his energies to raising the school-garden work to a high standard of perfection. He succeeded in creating a great deal of enthusiasm among the teachers, and the results of his efforts will be apparent for many years to come. Mr, John Moodie, of Invercargill, was appointed to fill Mr. Martin's position, and (hiring the four months he has been here he has justified the excellent reputation which preceded him. Last season proved an excellent one for swimming and life-saving classes, and a great amount of solid work was put in in connection with these classses. The annual swimming competition conducted by the Board last February was again well supported, and it is evident that, both pupils and teachers are taking a keen interest in the work. Timaru Main School annexed the handsome challenge shield presented by the Hoard, with Geraldine second, and Waimataitai third. It would not be right to dismiss this subject without some reference to the late Mr, W. B. Howell, who consistently took a great interest in swimming and life-saving, lie was always present to preside at out annual competitions. He will be very much missed by the boys and girls who were accustomed to his kindly smile and words of sympathy and encouragement. Rural courses of instruction were carried out in connection with the Temuka, Waimate, and Pleasant Point District High Schools. Ninety pupils received instruction in the following subjects : Dairy science, agricultural zoology, agriculture, agricultural botany, agricultural chemistry, physics, dressmaking, cookery, hygiene, surveying, and woodwork. Although there was great activity and an increased expenditure in connection with all handwork classes, yet a glance at the balance-sheet will show that the classes have been self-supporting, and this in view of the fact that, all sohools have been liberally supplied with material and apparatus as required. In conclusion, I have to state that all operations carried out under the regulations for manual and technical instruction during the past year have been carried out harmoniously, there has not been a single hitch in connection with any branch of the work, and 1 have to thank all teachers for their loyal co-operation and readiness to fall in with the organization of the different cfasses. 1 have also to state that all claims and applications were met by the Department with promptness and fairness. Ritciungs Grant, Director. Statement of Receipts and Expenditure for the Year ending 31st December, 1914, in respect of Classes conducted at Timaru by the South Canterbury Education Board. Receipts. £ s. d. Expenditure. £ s. d. Cr. balanoe at beginning of year (Timaru, Dr. balance at beginning of year (Hannaton) 0 12 3 Winchester) .. .. .. .. 201 0 8 Salaries of teaching staff.. .. .. 99 7 0 Capitation on classes .. .. .. 20 11 0 Administration .. .. .. .. 12 10 0 Furniture, fittings, apparatus .. .. 20 19 0 Material for class use .. .. .. 14 3 Caretaker .. .. .. .. 3 10 0 Furniture, fittings, and apparatus .. 20 19 0 Cr. balanoe at end of year .. .. 104 8 2 £242 11 2 £242 11 2 J. M. Miller, Secretary. Extract from the Report of the Managers of the Timaru Technical School. The Timaru Technical Classes Association started operations in the year 1900, consequently on the 31st December, 1914, the school has been in existence for fourteen years, and the Managers have again to report a very successful year's operations. The session started on the 9th March, and the evening classes had all finished by the end of November, but sonic of the day classes were carried on till the middle of December. Altogether 419 individual students joined the school during the year. These were taught in thirty-five different classes, as follows : Bookkeeping —Senior 30, junior .'10; shorthand —senior -'if, junior 25; typing (four classes), 56; commercial arithmetic —senior 48, junior 47; commercial English—senior 50, junior 47; cookery and domestic science (three classes), 72; dressmaking (three classes), GO; millinery, 14; plumbing, 13; carpentry (two classes), 36; building-construction, 12; electricity, 12; wood-carving, 5; wool-classing (two classes), 2!); sheep-shearing, 14; Standard VI, 14; elocution, 14; drawing (two classes), 29; painting (three classes), 24 : making a total of 711 class entries for all subjects. One hundred and thirty-one free students joined the school during the j-ear —86 junior and 45 senior—and out of that number there were only ten who from various causes did not fufil the requirements of the regulations in the matter of attendances, and these ten are easily accounted for. The number of free students might he largely increased but for the fact that there are so many influences nowadays to distract young people's attention from taking advantage of the opportunities offered for self-improvement. Compulsory military training again considerably interfered with the attendances of male students, as throughout the year it was found very difficult, to fit in the different classes so as not to clash with drill nights. The difficulty is not so apparent with paying students, because they only attend one or perhaps two classes, whilst free students have to attend three or four classes to meet the requirements of the syllabus.' Fourteen Managers were elected at the beginning of the year to represent the different contributing bodies to the funds of the association, and in all seven meetings were held, at each of which there was a good attendance of members. During the year the Managers attended to all matters pertaining to the welfare of the school, visiting Committees were appointed each