E.—lc

4

Wellington, Greymouth, Kumara, Milton, and Balclutha. The class for teachers in Christchurch, referred to in the Board's report, is in full operation; and a Saturday carpentry class, which is attended by both teachers and public-school pupils, has been established in Invercargill. At Cross Creek, where there is a railway workshop, the pupils learn ironwork as well as woodwork. There is a class for clay-modelling at the Wellington Technical School. Drawing is, of course, taught in all the public schools, throughout the standards, as part of the ordinary school course ; 961 per cent, of the children in attendance receive instruction in this subject. The Department has had lithographed for the guidance and instruction of students a set of thirty-eight exercises in woodwork in use at the Wellington Technical School. It may be observed that the City and Guilds of London Institute provides an examination in woodwork for public-school teachers, which the Department hopes will be made use of by the teachers that intend to qualify themselves for giving instruction in the subject. Besides the classes for purely manual work, of which mention has been made, associations for the promotion of various branches of technical education are in existence in different parts of the colony, and there are indications of a considerable increase in the demands for capitation under the Manual and Technical Elementary Instruction Act. The classes on which capitation was paid during the year 1896 are the following : — Auckland Technical Classes Association : Drawing, carpentry and joinery, staircasing and handrailing, wood-carving, plumbing, graining and marbling, mathematics, shorthand, cookery, dressmaking. Mr. W. I. Robinson's Classes, Auckland: Mechanical engineering, machine construction and drawing. Wanganui Technical School: Drawing, shading from models and from the round, painting still life in oils. Wellington Technical School: Clay-modelling, drawing, design, painting, mathematics, applied mechanics, carpentry, wood-carving, plumbing. Class at Cross Creek, Wellington : Woodwork and ironwork. Greymouth District High School: Carpentry. Christchurch School of Domestic Instruction : Cookery, dressmaking, laundry work. Messrs. Bickerton Brothers' Classes, Christchurch: Drawing, geometry, physics. Dunedin Technical Classes Association: Book-keeping, shorthand, mechanical engineering and drawing, plumbing, carpentry, wood-carving, chemistry, physics, cookery, dressmaking. Milton District High School: Carpentry, agricultural analysis. Balclutha Technical Classes: English, mechanical drawing, shorthand, carpentry, upholstery, chemistry, millinery, dressmaking. Manual or technical work, or both, is also being carried on, or about to be carried on, in classes at Gisborne, Napier, Hastings, Masterton, Palmerston North, Westport, Christchurch (the School of Art, the Young Men's Christian Association, the Gordon Hall, and three schools of shorthand), Ashburton, Kaitangata, Gore, Waiwera South, Warepa, and Invercargill. With the view of encouraging attendance at technical schools and classes, arrangements have been made with the Railway Department by which teachers of classes registered with the Minister of Education may give certificates to their pupils which will enable them to obtain railway tickets at special rates. During the year examinations were held upon papers supplied by the Science and Art Department (South Kensington), and the City and Guilds of London Institute, and a number of works were sent home by candidates desirous of qualifying for the Art Class Teacher's and Art Master's Certificates. There were 923 papers and 615 passes. The details are exhibited in the following table.