E.—s

30

The total enrolment for 1919 was 289, an increase of nine over the previous year. Of this number 169 were girls and 120 boys. The enrolment in the domestic course increased from thirtytwo to fifty-four, in agriculture from twelve to seventeen, remained stationary in the trades course, and decreased slightly in the commercial. The total number decreased by forty-one during the second term, at least one-half of these being permanently withdrawn on account of the restricted train service A much greater decrease would have been recorded but for the prompt action of the Board of Governors in offering a boarding-allowance up to lis. per week to the parents of such pupils who could not travel daily to school during the period of train restrictions. By the end of the year the number decreased to 221. This notable falling-olf in numbers, however regrettable from the point of view of the school, proved fortunate in another way, for the school was able to give a full-day course of instruction to no fewer than sixty-two returned soldiers, forty of them in commercial subjects and twenty-two in engineering. The latter course was not as complete as one could have wished, as we do not possess any facilities for the teaching of electrical or motor engineering. The long-delayed additions to the engineering wing have been in progress of erection for the last six months, and it is expected that the new rooms will be ready in February next. The changes comprise an extended engineering workshop, a smithy for five forges, an electrical and mechanical laboratory, and the separation of the woodworking shop from the drawing class-room. The school will now be able to teach efficiently a larger number of trades students. Another manual-training workshop has now been vacated by the Education Board and placed at the disposal of this school. It is intended to fit up this as a chemical and physical laboratory, as the room previously in use was much too small for the purpose, besides being unsatisfactory in other respects. The agricultural course is still lacking in the support that it deserves. It has now been separated completely from the trades course in regard to its curriculum, and no less than twothirds of the whole week has been given to purely agricultural and practical subjects. This much-needed improvement was only made possible through the appointment of an extra teacher upon the staff, and the Board of Governors expectantly awaits the time when the enrolment in the course will be sufficient to justify the acquisition of an instructional farm for the benefit of the agricultural pupils. It is still rather common for students to leave; before the completion of their second year. All pupils should enrol with the clear aim of securing their senior free places before leaving, both on account of the much greater difficulty of qualifying in the evening school, and on account of the irksomeness of attending classes for three evenings weekly, a condition imposed upon practically every junior free student in evening classes. Our school year has commonly been extended to forty-two weeks, a total of over a thousand hours, and yet out of 280 free pupils during the last year seventy-seven have failed to complete eight hundred hours' attendance, with the result that the. average capitation earned has been only £11 15s. for pupils of this school, against £12 10s. 6d. for the rest of New Zealand. This lessened average is no doubt partly due to widespread illness and continuous bad weather, but it places the Board of Governors under- a distinct disadvantage as compared with other centres. It is to be hoped that 1920 will see a much higher average attendance in proportion to enrolment. With Dr. Hansen's resignation the boys' hostel was closed, and there seems no immediate reason to regret this step, for although the hostel would have been filled during the time of train restrictions, it does not appear as yet that the venture is justified by the number of country parents who would make use of it for their boys. Evening Glasses. —The total number enrolled in the evening classes during 1919 was 630, grouped as follows : Junior free students, 95; senior free students, 118; soldier free students, 96; paying students, 321. There is a slight increase over 1918, after allowing for a deduction of sixty-two soldiers who took a full course in the day school. The increase in students has been most marked in the engineering section, the numbers in the other classes remaining fairly uniform. It was not found desirable to proceed with further classes in motor-car driving, particularly owing to the difficulty of securing an instructor, but mostly through our lack of proper instructional facilities. The new classes held during the year were: (1.) A most successful class in home nursing and invalid cookery, the strength of whose appeal lay in the lessons of the 1918 epidemic. (2.) A practical and theoretical class in electrical wiring, inaugurated and continued in the face of formidable difficulties. This class has to its credit the wiring of the cookery-room and of the corridor in the main building. It is regrettable that the College cannot at present supply other electrical instruction, as a number of these students are very keen to continue the work. With the arrival of the complete equipment now op order, classes in the more advanced stages of electrical practice will be established. (3.) A special course for business men in book-keeping and accountancy, conducted on the lines of similar successful classes at Dunedin. It is hoped to include this class permanently in our syllabus. The compulsory classes for free-place students were extremely well attended, and I feel that some meed of praise is due to those young people who, throughout a very severe winter, came regularly, even if a little unwillingly, to classes in English and arithmetic. I hope during this year to lessen the irksomeness of these compulsory classes by dividing them and making the sub-ject-matter of the course more directly applicable to the daily needs of the students. This project, iiowever, depends for its fulfilment on the greater enrolment of junior free students. The classes in commercial subjects and needlework attracted quite as many students as formerly; indeed, the roll in some commercial subjects has been at times too great for one teacher. In no case, however, has the class exceeded an average attendance of thirty, the maximum allowed by the Education Department for the purpose of the capitation claim. It is hoped to commence a class in shearing next year. At the close of the year there was sent down from Wellington a series of new regulations for the grouping of evening classes; the capitation forms based upon these have proved of immense benefit to the office staff, reducing by two-thirds the time necessary for compiling the claim. The scale of payment has been altered mostly to the advantage of the trade classes, but even on the whole the rate of payment is slightly better than before. In a previous report attention was called to the percentage of primary-school pupils who made no further progress with their education. The position seems to have altered for the better as far