E.—s

8

The following is a summary of the expenditure by the Government on technical instruction during the year ended the 31st March, 1916 : — Capitation— £ £ Technical high schools (including free places) .. .. 19,309 Other classes (including free places) .. .. .. 30,729 Subsidies on voluntary contributions .. .. .. 5,323 Grants for buildings, equipment, material, rent, &c. .. .. 10,365 65,726 Eailway fares, &c, of instructors and students .. .. 3,677 Bursaries .. .. .. .. .. .. 1,316 Examinations .. .. .. .. .. .. 418 Inspection and other expenses .. .. .. .. 1,101 — 6,512 72,238 Less recoveries (examination fees, &c.) .. .. 149 £72,089 t The expenditure was at the rate of £3-5 per student. Included in the total is £2,390 from national-endowment revenue. The total expenditure for the previous year was £73,155.

No. 2. REPORT OF THE INSPECTORS OF TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION. Sir--We have the honour to submit the following report on technical instruction in the Dominion during the year ending 31st December, 1915. General. As was to be expected, the reports on the year's work furnished by tho technical school authorities reveal the fact that the work of the schools generally has suffered considerably on account of the large number of male students who have volunteered for active service. In some cases the depletion in the attendance has been such, as to necessitate the suspension of some of the classes. The trade classes in particular appear to have been hard hit in this respect. As more than half of the nine thousand male students in attendance during the year were over seventeen years of age it is not surprising that Now Zealand's answer to the call of the Mother-country has caused some disturbance in the internal arrangements of the schools. It is, however, gratifying to note that the total number (18,247) of students under instruction during the year shows an increase of nearly two thousand, duo largely to an increase in the number of young students entering the schools. The demand for young people to fill clerical positions as the result of the drain due to the necessity for maintaining reinforcements has been reflected in the year's work, as is shown in the increase in the number of students taking commercial subjects. A pleasing feature is the substantial increase (over 45 per cent.) in the attendance at classes for domestic subjects, indicating that the school authorities are alive to the importance of this branch of technical education. Mention must be made of the success which has attended the efforts of the staffs and students of the schools as a whole in the direction of assisting the many schemes for providing help in money and kind for those on whom the burden of the war has fallen most heavily. Frequent references to what has been done in the various districts will be found in the reports in the Appendix of the directors of technical schools. In view of the abandonment by the Board of Education, London, of examinations in separate art subjects, and the substitution in place thereof of an examination in the several branches of drawing, painting, modelling, &c, covering so wide a field in each branch as to place the average colonial student at a disadvantage in the matter of drawing-certificates, it appears desirable, as soon as circumstances permit, to inaugurate a special departmental examination in art subjects, and to issue a New Zealand drawing-certificate based on the principles of this examination. The results of the examinations held under the new scheme show that only the most capable students attending the large art schools in the Old Country have any hope of securing a certificate under the new conditions, and it appears unlikely that colonial students will be able for some years to comply with the conditions and sit for the English examination with any prospect of success. A further reason for the establishment of the New Zealand examination appears to be that while the ordinary school examination serves a useful purpose, an outside examination would provide a stimulus to work, and tend to promote a healthy rivalry among the art schools and classes of the Dominion. It is gratifying to report in connection with the classes bearing on the building trades that there are indications of a more practical interest being taken by those concerned in the whole question of the training of apprentices and young mechanics than has hitherto obtained. In some districts the