E.—2.

CANTERBURY. (Chairman, Mr. J. W. Preen.) Afforestation. —Further planting was carried out by city and suburban schools on the Board's afforestation reserve at North New Brighton. Elementary Handwork in Primary Schools. —Handwork material on the same supply basis as 1935 was provided by the Department for use in the schools. It is gratifying to note that for 1937 the quantity of material to be made available will be more than doubled. This increase should enable more effective work to be accomplished during the coming year. The last term of 1936 saw the restoration of the needlework capitation payable in pre-depression years to local instructresses at schools staffed only by male teachers. Technical Classes at Small Centres.—Classes in subjects such as wool-classing, woodwork, and dressmaking were again conducted at Rangiora, Temuka, and Kaiapoi. There appears to be little prospect of an extension of this type of education to smaller centres, due principally to changing conditions tending towards a mechanization of farming activities. Manual Training.—The usual programmes of work were again carried out, and a successful year's work was accomplished at the manual-training centres under the Board's control. Consolidation.—lt is pleasing to report that success has attended efforts in Canterbury to effect consolidation. Eight districts have combined, and one good feature has been the very gratifying response to the Board's endeavours to merge the districts concerned. The spirit displayed augurs well for the future, and by 1937 the Board hopes that it will have been successful in finalizing many proposals which at present are under review. It is confidently anticipated that the children in the areas amalgamated will benefit materially by their entry into wider spheres of educational activity. The binding together of rural localities should in course of time prove a blessing to parents as well as children.

OTAOO. (Chairman, Mr. J. Wallace.) Movement of Teachers. —Fifty-five teachers left the Otago Board's service to take up positions under other Boards, as against thirty-seven last year. Nineteen went to Canterbury, thirteen to Southland, nine to Wellington, four to Auckland, three each to Hawke's Bay and Nelson, and two each to Wanganui and Taranaki. Out of 233 appointments made sixty were of teachers from other districts, as against forty last year. Twenty-five came from Canterbury, twenty from Southland, five from Wellington, four from Wanganui, three from Hawke's Bay, two from Nelson, and one from Auckland. Seventeen female teachers resigned from the service to be married, compared with fourteen last year. Although there is some increase in the movement of teachers to and from other districts, it is evident that most teachers have no desire to move far afield but are content to remain in the districts where they were trained or where their homes are, while most of those who do move go no further than a neighbouring Education District. This would seem to indicate that teachers generally would not welcome any new method of appointment or transfer under which they would be deprived of their present privilege of applying for the positions they want to secure. Efficiency of Schools and Inspectors' Annual Report. —The Inspectors state that the efficiency of the schools has in general been well maintained, and that the teachers as a body have carried out their work with commendable purpose and effect. The Board is of opinion that the Inspectors' annual report is the most valuable portion of this annual publication. Written with much thought and with the' experience of the field behind it, it is of practical value to every teacher, and the Board welcomes the opportunity of placing it in the hands of its teachers. The sections relating to " Specialization," " Retardation," and " The School in Relation to Character Training," are worthy of special consideration. Abolition of Proficiency Examination and Freedom for Teachers.—The results of the Proficiency Examination are given for the last time. Of 2,006 candidates, 1,578 gained Proficiency, 295 Competency, and 133 failed, the percentage under each heading varying little from that of recent years. The Board is desirous of teachers making the most of the unique opportunity which has now come to them, and, with the object of giving some assistance, more particularly to the larger schools, it publishes as an appendix an account of an experiment in the development of natural aptitudes now in progress in a school in another district. Dunedin Training College. —After being closed for a period of three years (1933-35), the Dunedin Training College reopened its doors on 9th February, 1936. Mr. J. A. Moore was reappointed Principal, but the staff of Lecturers appointed was an entirely new one. During the period the college was closed the University Council resumed the use of rooms in its administrative block which previously had been available for the Training College art classes. The college is now short of accommodation, and, as the building generally does not conform to modern standards, the Board is of opinion that a new college should be erected on another site in a quieter environment. Selection of Trainees. —The Board welcomes the new method of selecting trainees introduced by the Department whereby every applicant is seen by a Selection Committee comprising the Senior Inspector, the Principal of the Training College, and a representative of the Board.

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