E.-r2.

Christchurch Technical School.—During the year negotiations for the purchase of the brewerysite were completed, but possession cannot be obtained until next year. The main building was considerably improved by the remodelling of the entrance hall and stairways, giving a much better appearance and improved access to the upper story. The staff-room accommodation has also been entirely remodelled and greatly improved, a work that was necessary. Ashburton Technical School.—At this school an assembly hall was erected, the cost being subsidized by the G-overnment. The equipment of the engineering department was improved by the addition of more machines and an oxy-acetone welding-plant. A notable piece of work during the year was the critical examination of the lighting standard throughout the school. This proved to be seriously defective by artificial light, and a scheme suggested by the Engineer of the Power Board was adopted. The result has been an immense improvement in the standard of lighting in the various class-rooms, with but little additional cost for electricity. Similar action might with advantage be taken in many other schools, since it is obvious to any observer that illumination is insufficient in many of our evening classes. Timaru Technical School. —The equipment in the departments of applied mechanics and electricity has been improved and added to during the year. The most notable addition was that of a motorgenerator set to the electrical laboratory. Dunedin Technical School. —The new art school was completed in time for the reopening of the technical school after the summer vacation. The new building has bSen planned to fit a very awkward site on rising ground above the main building and has succeeded admirably in fitting itself unobtrusively into its surroundings in a residential quarter, yet not without dignity and with a sense of coherence. The school inside is well planned for its purpose and has been furnished to meet the needs of the many activities of such a school. It is expected that the school will soon establish itself as a valued link in the aesthetic activities of the city. Westport Technical School.—lmprovements to grounds and buildings have been made. All walls and ceilings Were renovated and desks and cupboards cleaned and restained and other essential repair work done. Additions were made both to the engineering and woodwork shops, and additional equipment for each was approved. Levelling and top-dressing were carried out over the whole of the play area, and tar-sealing of the main drive and paths was carried out. Greymouth Technical School.—During the year substantial grants for the equipment of the new home science and workshop blocks were approved. Manual Training.—During the year one manual-training centre (woodwork) was rebuilt, two which had fallen into disuse were again operated, and three new ones were erected. At Huntly two new rooms (woodwork and cookery) were erected and are now in operation. At Hunterville the rooms which had been disused for some years were recommissioned and again put into regular operation. A new manual-training centre was authorized for Hawarden, and work on it was commenced towards the end of the year, but it was not ready for occupation by the close of the financial year. The Dunedin North Intermediate School was improved by the addition of manual-training rooms of pleasing design and equipped in a way that experience has suggested to be the most suitable. In the meantime the manual-training rooms at Arthur Street (Dunedin North Manual Training Centre) have been lent to the Dunedin Training College for training college purposes. At Milton (Tokomariro District High School) the old woodwork room, which was in a very bad state, has been demolished, and a new room with new equipment has been erected to take its place. At Oamaru the disused room at the Middle School has been equipped for manual-training purposes, thus bringing in country schools around Oamaru for instruction, which was impossible hitherto. Technical Education in the Rural Community. In my report last year it was shown that manual-training facilities are availed of by primary-school children in proportion to the grade of the school they attend. Thus 100 per cent, of children in the upper standards of Grade VII schools receive manual-training instruction, whereas only 6-5 per cent, of eligible children in Grade I schools do so. It is only natural that the smaller schools generally remote from populous areas should find it more difficult to reach manual-training facilities than the larger schools; but by the erection of further buildings, and by making freer use of road transport where it is convenient to do so, opportunities have been created for the wider spread of instruction in woodwork and cookery at the primary stage. There has accordingly been a notable increase in the number of schools brought within reach in Auckland, Otago, and Wanganui, and similar developments are anticipated in other education districts.

The position is somewhat more satisfactory in district high schools, though there are still a few cases, particularly in Hawke's Bay and Auckland, where at present no provision exists for instruction in woodwork and practical cookery for pupils at either the primary or secondary stage, except such as may be given in rather inadequate quarters by the primary staff or by

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