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WELLINGTON. Extract from the Report of the Dihbctoe of the Wellington Technical College. As in former years, I have to report that the natural growth of the College is still being stifled by lack of reasonable accommodation. The position is becoming worse year by year. The unsuitability and inadequacy of our present buildings, and the absence of reasonable breathingspace, the overcrowding of class-rooms, the absence of proper lighting, and the difficulties of sanitation, due partly to ill ventilation of many of the most important class-rooms, all render the work of the staff very difficult, and all militate against the efficiency of the work done by the students. The Technical School Board has lost no opportunity during the year 1916 of urging the removal of these great drawbacks to our work, and the Government has lent a sympathetic ear, but unfortunately no steps appear to have been taken as yet to place the College in a favourable position. It would seem, however, to be extremely important to the future of industry in this country that some general scheme of technological development should be considered and adopted now, since the attention of the people has been violently directed to the necessity of organizing the science and art of industry, so that this Dominion may not lag behind the other States in the Empire. The technical colleges must naturally have a large share in this development, and a comprehensive scheme for Wellington should certainly be adopted. The site which has been suggested for our main Technical College is part of a large site which could well be adapted to national science and art purposes. There is ample room for technological laboratories, museums, art galleries, and storehouses of the archives of the country on the same site. There is no doubt that it will be necessary to provide, independently of the University or of any technological colleges, a range of technological laboratories in which expert scientists and technologists may be able to work at the many problems which will arise in connection with industry. It has been found undesirable in other countries to get such work done either in the universities or in the laboratories of private companies. In New Zealand the difficulties of University and private work are much greater than in the large industrial centres, and it is certain that Government laboratories will be necessary. It will be advisable that these should be connected with technological museums in which some of the materials for researches may be found, and in which the results of researches may well be exhibited for the information of the public. A judicious scheme could easily be evolved, and maintained partly by direct contributions from the industries benefited. A well-equipped technical college in the immediate neighbourhood of the national physical and other laboratories would gain enormously by the association, and would in turn be of some considerable assistance in providing from its own workshops and by its own staff much of the special apparatus necessary for industrial research work, and probably such mechanical and other junior assistance as would be required. Judging by what is now being done in the direction of science and art organization in Great Britain, it would seem to be advisable to construct a general policy and establish at least a preliminary organization at the earliest opportunity without waiting for post-war conditions. It is certain that all branches of technology must be far more seriously studied and much better provided for if the country is to receive the maximum benefit from the material available, and training which before the war was exceedingly desirable has now become imperatively necessary. The numbers attending in the several departments of the College work show some increase over those for last year, and the total number of those who received instruction is a record for the College. Regular attendance was considerably interrupted through prevalent sickness and through the increase in overtime worked by juniors in the trade and commerce due to war conditions. Many of the advanced students in the trade classes enlisted during the year. The attendance in the Technical High School was satisfactory. The average class entries at classes other than those of the Technical High School wore as follows : Art and art crafts, 190; buildingconstruction, 22; carpentry and joinery, 43; plumbing, 67; engineering, 206; science, 417; domestic economy, 124; English, Latin, arithmetic, <feo., 588; commerce, 548; "Amokura" classes, 96: giving a total of 2,301 as compared with 2,152 for the previous year. The numbers of those who took grouped courses during the year 1916 and attended well enough to earn higher capitation were as follows: Elementary commercial, 175; higher commercial, 138; science and mathematics, 51; trades, 185; domestic, 34; art and art crafts, 48; returned soldiers, 7: total, 638. Adding 55 "Amokura" boys and 285 Technical High School students, it appears that, out of 1,493 students enrolled during the year, 978 took grouped courses of some value, a percentage of 65 - 5, as compared with 674 per cent, for the year 1915, and 704 per cent, for 1914 Omitting paying students in day classes, who were compelled to attend grouped courses, there remain 676 fee-paying students, of whom 1.98 took grouped courses. On the other hand, about 49 free-place students out of about 7G7 failed to take a grouped course. The following is an analysis of the numbers of students admitted during the year 1916: Technical High School —Free students, 278; paying students, 7: total, 285. Other classes: Junior free students —First year, 134; second year, 98: senior free students —first year, 110; second year, 86; third year, 56; fourth year, 5: paying students, 676; returned soldiers, 18: scholarship-holders and others receiving free tuition, 25 : total, 1,208. Of this number, 756 were males and 452 females. In addition the College staff provided instruction as follows : Wellington Boys' College — woodwork and drawing, 77 pupils; Wellington Girls' College — drawing and design, 271 pupils; while 171 Training College students, public-school teachers, and probationers received instruction in drawing, blackboard illustration, &c. : a total in all of 2,012 students. Classes in art have been conducted with considerable success not only in the Art School itself, but also in the Technical High School, in the Wellington Girls' College, in the Teachers'

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