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B.—lo

own. The lease of the buildings in Great King Street, used as a Technical School for the past three years, expired on the 30th June last, but your committee was able to come to a temporary arrangement so as to enable the classes to continue in occupation till the close of the session. It was not, however, found possible to arrive at any agreement with the proprietor, as the funds of the association did not warrant your committee in entering on any lease at a high annual rental. The same difficulty has been met with in attempts to obtain a building in other parts of the town, while, owing to the uncertainty of future legislative enactments dealing with the questions of education and of local self-government, no security of tenure could be guaranteed. Your committee then requested the Education Board either to take over the whole work of the association (the present committee being prepared to give all the assistance in its power, and to hand over all its funds and plant), or to provide the committee with a suitable permanent building in which to carry on its work. Up to the present time the Board, while ready to assist in the future, as it has most readily done in the past, has not been able to come to a definite decision on the subject. In view of all these facts it will readily be understood that your committee was unable to carry out any plans for the extension and improvement of its technical work during this last session, and it has only increased its stock of apparatus and plant by the purchase of four additional typewriters. During the year the Government brought into force the provisions of the Manual and Technical Elementary Instruction Act of 1895. Under its provisions the grant-in-aid made by the Government to the association, instead of amounting to £250, as in former years, only reached this last session £62 6s. 3d., a sum quite insufficient to enable the committee to fulfil completely the engagements into which it had entered. On duly representing this matter to the Education Department, a special grant of £150—from balance of an unexpended vote —was made to the association. In all probability provision will be made to so alter the Act during the coming session of Parliament as to enable Government to subsidise all technical schools more liberally in the future than can be done under present conditions. Your committee would take this opportunity of expressing its obligations to the Education Department for the uniform assistance which it has always given to this association. The balance-sheet shows that the total receipts for the year, including a balance from last year of £463 10s., amount to £1,060 3s. 7d., and the expenditure to £638 25., leaving a balance to the credit of the association of £422 Is. 7d. In conclusion, your committee desires to express its thanks to those ladies and gentlemen who gave their services in the last annual examination of the students, and to the Otago Education Board for the use of the Normal School during the session. It must be gratifying to members of this association to know that the work inaugurated in Dunedin in 1880 has now been taken up in various centres throughout the colony, from Auckland to Invereargill, on the lines of this the parent association. The movement has now attained such dimensions that it can hardly be allowed to lapse, and your committee trusts that public interest in it will be such as to justify even greater activity in the future than in the past. Statement of Receipts and Expenditure for the Year ending 31st January, 1897. Receipts. Expenditure. £ s. d. ■ £ s. d. Balance, 31st January, 1896 .. .. 463 10 Oj Salaries.. .. .. .. 416 210 Class fees .. .. .. .. 305 7 6 | Printing, stationery, and advertising .. 48 18 4 Subscriptions .. .. .. .. 64 14 0 Bent, taxes, and insurance .. .. 60 0 4 Hire of typewriters .. .. .. 7 10 0 Gas and coal .. .. .. .. 28 1 4 Interest .. .. .. .. 6 15 10 Incidental expenses .. • • .. 414 0 Government subsidy .. . . .. 212 6 3 Materials and apparatus for practical classes 26 15 2 Typewriters .. .. .. .. 53 10 0 Balance — Bank of New Zealand current account .. 317 10 3 Dunedin Savings-Bank .. .. 104 11 4 £1060 3 7 £1060 3~7 Dunedin, 22nd February, 1897. Audited and found correct, C. Grater. 3. Superintendent's Eeport for 1896. I beg to present the following report of the work done during the past session: — The botany class opened as usual on the 7th October, 1895, for the spring quarter, and for the autumn quarter on the sth February, 1896. The attendance at and interest in this class continue to increase, so that it is in contemplation to open a class for advanced work. The present Dunedin Field Club has been mainly the outcome of this class, which is under the enthusiastic tuition of Mr. J. S. Tennant. In order to enable intending candidates to prepare themselves for the technological examinations of the London City and Guilds' Institute, special classes for carpenters and plumbers and for engineers were opened under Messrs. D. Sheriff and F. W. Payne on the sth February. The examinations were held early in May, when one pupil (A. Burt, jun.) sat for the plumbers' honours examination, and passed in the first class; four took the ordinary plumbing examination, two obtaining first-class, and one second, while one failed ; and three took the ordinary carpentry and joinery examination, two obtaining first-class, and one second-class. One also took the practical examination in plumbing, and passed. The results I look on as very satisfactory, and as a proof of the influence already exerted on apprentices to these trades may mention that a requisition signed by a number of the students asking that the classes be continued during the summer months has been received by the committee, and arrangements have been made to continue the work.