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secondary department now being considered —-and rightly so —as an integral part of the whole schools Science as a subject has shown considerable improvement, a result due largely to the frequent visit, of the Board's agriculture instructors, who not only advise the teachers, but also make themselves responsible for a portion of the science-teaching. Canterbury District. During the year fourteen district high schools were in operation, and it is pleasing to note that the majority showed an increase in attendance. The rural or scientific course, including the domestic, is followed for the first two years, while in the next two some of the manual work is dropped in order to allow more time for pupils to prepare for special examinations. In most centres there is a keen demand for commercial work—shorthand, typewriting, book-keeping, and commercial correspondence — and there is no doubt that if adequate provision could be made for teaching these subjects the school rolls would be considerably augmented. We must admit that there is a great deal to be said in favour of the introduction of these subjects into the curriculum. Provided they are combined with a sound general education, including cultural subjects like music and art, they will prove of greater benefit to many pupils than will a foreign language or mathematics. Our district high schools provide a very fair type of secondary education for many to whom it would otherwise be denied. They continue to be efficiently managed, and the successes gained at the various public examinations, especially by some of the smaller schools, are worthy of much commendation. As a rule, approved courses of instruction are in operation, and good methods, for the most part, are employed ; but in order to keep step with modern developments there is need for a, reconsideration of the text-books now in use. A visit by the secondary Inspectors was this year paid to each centre. Southland District. The visits of the Secondary School Inspectors should increase the usefulness of these classes by correlating their work with that of the larger secondary schools, and by bringing the schemes and text-books into line. Wanganui District. In April the Chief Inspector of Secondary Schools visited Ohakune, Taihape, and Hunterville secondary classes, and gave much valuable and helpful advice on the courses of instruction and the methods of the teaching. It is hoped that these visits will be continued, because they should have the effect of raising the standard of attainment and efficiency, and of bringing the methods of teaching, particularly in languages and mathematics, nearer to the standard that obtains in the best secondary schools. While it is rather disappointing that only a little over 10 per cent, of the pupils return to school after their first year, yet it is very gratifying that over 60 per cent, of these remain for at least a third year. The agricultural instructors have visited, the classes once a month for four hours at a time to advise teachers in regard to schemes, methods, and experimental work in science. Their visits have proved of great help and benefit to the teachers with whom the responsibility for the instruction rests. With the expert assistance of the instructors the science course has been revised and, it is hoped, placed on a sounder footing. Towards the end of the year a circular was issued to the secondary classes with a view to systematizing the courses of study in the various subjects and further increasing the efficiency of the work that is being done. In general, the course of study followed should aim at the standard required for Public Service Entrance at the end of the second year, and for Matriculation at the end. of the third or fourth year. It has been suggested that singing and drawing be included wherever possible, even if it be necessary to extend the school hours on two or more days during the week. The efficiency of the instruction in the secondary classes is, on the whole, good, and the enthusiasm of the teachers is undoubted. In one way and another, much is being done to give the pupils the educational advantages enjoyed by the children of larger centres. The secondary classes are not yet supplied with adequate reference libraries, and an effort is to be made in 1927 to remove this disadvantage. Thrift. HawJce's Bay District. A point that needs emphasizing in this time of financial stress in home and State, is the need for economy in school material. Few will deny that there is much avoidable waste in writing and drawing materials. In the first place, writing-materials of too expensive a quality is used for all work in the preparatory department a,nd in Standard I, and for the majority of work in arithmetic throughout the whole school. In all these cases unglazed newspaper print, bought in bulk, cut, shaped, stitched, covered, and decorated by the pupils themselves, would serve admirably and at the same time afford good lessons in handwork. In the second place, an unconscionable waste of the available space often occurs—half a dozen words of spelling on a page, a life-size sketch of a plum, with nothing overleaf. What is needed is that the imagination and the artistic instincts should be brought into play to fill the written page neatly and artistically, and to surround the main drawing copy with related sketches or derived designs —at the same time, or, better still, some subsequent date. I have, &c., William W. Bird, The Director of Education. Chief Inspector of Primary Schools,