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Eeport of the Director of the Technical School. Sir,— Wellington, 27th March, 1893. I have the honour to submit my report upon primary drawing and the work of the Technical School for 1892, as follows :— Primary Drawing. Satisfactory progress has been made during the year in primary drawing. A larger number of schools were visited than in the previous year; information has been afforded the staff generally upon methods and matter in connection with drawing wherever it was requisite. The schools are well supplied with appliances necessary to enable them to comply with the requirements of the syllabus. A copy of the report made after my visit to each school has this year been supplied to each head teacher. Class use of the small set of models as supplied to the schools has, I think, done a great amount of good. Giving, as it does, a sound basis for future work, these early lessons in geometric form will be found invaluable in plane and solid geometry and model drawing. First-grade Drawing Examination. —In this examination the following were the results : The total number of papers issued was 5,036; and the number worked 4,487. Subdivision of papers : Freehand—7Bs passed, 898 failed ; geometry—B66 passed, 660 failed ; scale—s93 passed, 309 failed; model—l 69 passed, 207 failed: t0ta1—2,413 passed, 2,074 failed. Of the above papers, 475 were taken by schools not under the Wellington Board, and 281 passes were recorded. Number of papers excellent—Wellington District, 351 ; outside schools, 41 : total, 392. Number of papers good—Wellington District, 254; outside schools, 32 : total, 286. Individual candidates —Wellington District, 2,705 ; outside schools, 255 : total, 2,960. Individual passes—Wellington District, 1,662; outside schools, 189: total, 1,851. Schools presenting candidates, 83. Increase upon 1891—Papers worked, 737; papers passed, 510; individual candidates, 415; individual passes, 172 ; schools presenting candidates, 18. The constantly-increasing interest in this examination, and the results obtained, show its value in connection with the system of education adopted by your Board. Already its effects are apparent in the students attending the evening technical classes, who, in a great measure, hold some or all of the first-grade certificates, and can therefore, upon entering the central school, pass more readily to the special work in connection with their daily employment. The sound practical work done in the first-grade drawing in the schools of this district will be invaluable from a commercial point of view, and the teachers are to be congratulated upon the earnest manner in which they have worked, and the results they have obtained. As showing the appreciation in which the system is held, applications have been made from fifteen schools outside the Wellington District, these schools being from the Wanganui, Westland, Greymouth, and Marlborough Districts, and the Art School, Palmerston ; and it is proposed by some of these centres to establish the system as far as possible throughout their own districts. It will be seen by the summary that 475 papers were taken by these outside schools, and that 281 passes were recorded. In the freehand papers, proportion was the cause of failure in the larger number of cases ; the method of blocking-in also requires careful attention. The geometrical papers have given conclusive proof that the syllabus in geometrical drawing recently issued can be readily accomplished in ordinary class work in the schools. Neater working is necessary in a large number of'schools. The scale papers were generally good, and the model drawing shows marked progress. In the latter subject, attention is urged to the drawing of the ground-plan of the objects as they rest upon the board. Attention was called in the separate report upon the examinations to the necessity for greater care in the selection of candidates, and the filling-in of returns and lists supplied to the examiner. Eeturn showing Certificates issued in First Grade since the Examination was instituted.—lßß4—Bl freehand; 1885—128 freehand, 105 geometry; total, 233: 1886—232 freehand, 284 geometry; total, 516: 1887 —170 freehand, 57 model, 103 geometry, 72 scale; total, 402: 1888—302 freehand, 47 model, 154 geometry, 108 scale; total, 611: 1889—403 freehand, 91 model, 477 geometry, 147 scale; total, 1,118 : 1890—689 freehand, 75 model, 821 geometry, 381 scale; total, 1,966: 1891—557 freehand, 143 model, 743 geometry, 460 scale; total, 1,903: 1892—785 freehand, 169 model, 866 geometry, 593 scale ; total, 2,413. Totals— 3,347 freehand, 582 model, 3,553 geometry, 1,761 scale—B,B33. Scholars in the city and suburban schools holding full first-grade certificates have received regular instruction in the Technical School during the past year. The Board have now awarded twelve scholarships for a second year's course of instruction. This examination was held in December last, when the following scholars were selected: T. Hazelwood, Harold Clarke, W. Davidson, P. King, G. Nicholls, G. London, M. Short, F. Poynter, H. Pitcher, A. Shine, E. J. Davis, S. Cooper, the majority being from the Newtown School, and others from the Thorndon and Mount Cook Girls' Schools. Fifty scholarships tenable for this year have also been awarded to scholars from primary schools holding the full first-grade certificate. It has been found necessary to limit the number, owing to the fact that it would be simply impossible to receive all those who now hold the full certificate, as in former years. A further advantage is that a higher standard of excellence may be looked for. Instruction to teachers and pupil-teachers has been continued as formerly, daily, with special Wednesday and Saturday classes, and the results are very satisfactory. One head teacher of a city school has set an excellent example in attending the classes for instruction, and I fail to see how the drawing can be satisfactorily controlled unless the subject is understood by those in authority ; first and second assistants, especially, would do well to make themselves thoroughly acquainted with second-grade drawing. There are still a number of teachers who make no attempt to obtain