7

E.—lc

small population from which to draw our students, and, together with the fact that the private classes commenced in Wauganui last year deal chiefly with this method of work, I would recommend that we attempt to deal with this matter on Wednesday for country students, and on Thursday afternoon, which is the town half-holiday, when the school is enlarged and the teaching power increased. Evening Class.—ln order to induce the more advanced students who attend in the evening to continue with us, I commenced a class for drawing and painting from the living model. We were only able to accommodate six students, and, although they had been unable formerly to take up figure drawing from the cast, as they should have done, owing to want of accommodation, the result, as shown at the exhibition of students' work in the school at the end of the year, must, I think, be considered fairly successful. In any case, these students, who would probably have discontinued their attendance, are still with us. In order to still further encourage these, I allow the class to meet in the school on the town holiday, Thursday afternoon, without additional fee, for the study of the figure in colour, as the evening work is necessarily confined to monochrome work. The other classes of work in the evening remained as in former years, want of accommodation and teaching power being felt as before. Satubday Art Class.—This class, which was formerly confined to teachers under the Board, was thrown open to the public on payment of a fee. As a result two of our old morning students, and another who intended to join that class at the fee of two guineas per term, attend this class at £1 per term. The course of work for teachers, all of whom are cadets and pupil-teachers, is, as formerly, that for the pupil-teachers' examination in June. The fact that the train from the north arrives in Wanganui three-quarters of an hour later, and the opening of the branch class at Palmerston, about to be noticed, have diminished the attendance at this class. Branch Class.—A branch Saturday class was commenced at Palmerston during the last term of the year, Mr. Watkin having been appointed by the Board as instructor under my direction. Although I have not visited the class, which numbered over forty students, I have supplied Mr. Watkin with a few advanced freehand examples and elementary casts. With reference to the attendance, I may say that it is quite impossible for one teacher, however competent, to instruct the large number that attended, when it is remembered that there are at least seven different kinds of drawing going on together. Ido not think, however, that this number will continue to attend. At the same time, it may be a question either for the Board or the residents of Palmerston to consider whether a properly-equipped branch school might not be opened in the future on similar lines to Masterton School, which is, I understand, a branch of the Wellington Technical School, under Mr. Rilsy as director. Girls' College Drawing and Painting Classes. —These have been continued as formerly. I would, however, refer the Board to the remarks concerning the work of these classes in my report for the year 1894, as they apply, especially as regards the more advanced girls, with more force now than in that year. Manual and Technical Elementary Instruction Act.—This Act has been in operation during the past year, and, although we have no manual instruction, we have obtained payment under the technical clause of the Bill. My opinion, and that of every other teacher with whom I have discussed the question, is that the payments are altogether too small to induce new classes to be commenced on the strength of the assistance derived from the present payments. And, as it may be some time before any alteration may be made in this direction, I would offer the following suggestion for the favourable consideration oi the Minister of Education : Now that the South Kensington examinations held in New Zealand are conducted through the Education Department, Wellington, payments on the results of these examinations might be made on the successful papers worked by the different schools, in addition to the present small payment now made under the Bill. There is no doubt that students value these South Kensington certificates highly, especially those who contemplate the teaching of art as a profession, and I think it would give teachers considerable encouragement if some such monetary recognition were made to the funds of their schools; besides, under our Manual and Technical Act, clause 5, schools must be five miles apart, otherwise they cannot claim payment under this Act. By adopting this suggestion a private teacher would probably be induced to adopt South Kensington work as a school course, and a healthy rivalry would ensue, instead of so much painting from flat examples, which, as I have pointed out, tends as a drawback to legitimate work. Scholarships.—According to the Supreme Court decree in connection with the Bees bequest by which this school is maintained, four "young persons" are nominated as free students for a term of two years. The Board supplemented these by three competitive scholarships for tho same period. As it is two years since these were commenced, I now wish to refer to their working. As the latter are the more important, I will notice these first. Candidates are examined in freehand, geometrical, and model for the art scholarship, while for the architectural and mechanical scholarships, arithmetic is substituted for model. A good deal of interest is taken by candidates during the term preceding the examination, and during the past two years those holding their scholarships have, with one exception, worked well. Although these examinations are open to any resident of Wanganui under twenty-one years of age, all the candidates except one have been former students of the school. I think that, if the regulations were printed and widely distributed, we would have a fair number of competitors who have not attended the school. As regards nominated scholars, they are nominated and appointed as required by the following extract from the Supreme Court decree —clause 7 : "It is proposed that every school in the Borough of Wanganui, whether a Board school or not, shall have the right to nominate one candidate for gratuitous instruction annually for every twenty-five scholars of ten years of age and upwards on average attendance at such school. Such candidate need not necessarily be in attendance at the nominating school. These nominations will be referred to and