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Physical instruction in our schools consists of free exercises, and exercises with clubs, dumb-bells, or poles. Proper breathing exercises should accompany all physical training, and a correct posture at writing or other lessons should receive more attention. Military drill is making satisfactory progress in our large schools. As a subject-, physical instruction was marked " good "in sixty-nine schools, " satisfactory " in forty-three, and " fair " in the remainder. There are still some teachers who do not pay sufficient attention to Regulation 5, which states : " The head-teacher shall draw up for each term or quarter schemes of woik for all classes of his school, &c." If a process of inspection is to supersede the old method of individual examination at the annual visit, it is essential that the Inspector should have before him a scheme of the year's work, to aid him in forming a correct judgment on the efficiency'of the school. Moreover, whatever be' the method of inspection, the want of such a scheme shows that a teacher fails to recognise the necessity of a definite aim in. his teaching. The new regulations ars not drawn on the hard and fast lines of the syllabus of the Education Act of 1877. As they allow more freedom in the choice and treatment of subjects, it is to the teacher's own interests to show that he has exercised that freedom in a wise and judicious manner. His best method of doing this is to have a scheme of work at the beginning of the year, not necessarily to be followed rigidly, but to be amended at any time if the interests of his scholars demand its revision. Teachers' Saturday classes for instruction in drawing, handwork (including cookery), and drill were held in Wellington, Masterton, and Pahiatua during the past year. As the training-college course will include work of this kind, a Saturday class in nature-study and elementary agriculture would, at a centre like Masterton, be of great advantage to our country teachers. Scholarships.—The new regulations for Board's Scholarships came into force last year, the chief changes from the old regulations being the lowering of the age of candidates from fifteen to fourteen years, and the limiting of the number of scholarships to be held by any one school. The scholarships were awarded on the results of the National Scholarship Examination. In Class A (schools over 200 in average attendance) and in Class B (under 200 and over forty in average attendance) the competition was very satisfactory ; but in Class C (attendance under forty-one) only five schools were represented, and no candidate qualified for the Junior National Scholarship allocated to this class. A number of children from the small schools are undoubtedly deterred from competing for scholarships owing to the difficulty in reaching the examination centres. Outside the city the only centres are at Otaki, Pahiatua, and Masterton, and to reach these places many candidates from the " backblocks " would have to travel thirty or forty miles. The expense to the parents of travelling and lodging is also a factor in the question. It will, of course, be impossible to meet the difficulties of even the majority of cases, but the establishment of two or three additional examination centres would afford some measure of relief. We think a good plan is the one adopted by the North Canterbury Board, which refunds the travelling and lodging expenses of all candidates who make 50 per cent, of the possible marks. District High Schools.—Distiict high schools have now been established at Masterton, Pahiatua, Newtown, Terrace, Petone, Hutt, Greytown, Carterton, and a secondary class has been added to the Thorndon School. We have previously reported at some length on the special problem of difficulty presented by these schools—namely, the determination of the curriculum—and it is not necessary to repeat our 'remarks, except to say that they are in substantial agreement with the views of the English Board of Education, as laid down in the latest code. We notice that the programmes of work drawn up for these secondary classes are apt to be too much on the lines of an English grammar school, where scholars remain for five or six years, and are prepared for special examinations. Our district high schools serve another purpose, for the majority of the children will leave at the end of two years, if not before. It is true that a few children will remain for three years, and these may be prepared for the Matriculation Examination, but it is not necessary that the whole of the children should undergo a course of work mapped out as a preparation for examinations of this class. If Latin or French be taught, the course should be optional, and should be undertaken only by those who are intending to stay at school for at least three or four years. Another danger is that too many subjects are undertaken by some of the scholars. The regulations require, as a minimum, English, arithmetic, and three other subjects, but some children have been taking as many as nine subjects. In such cases, owing to limitations of time, each subject can not possibly receive adequate attention, and as an intellectual training its value must be materially lessened. A few subjects well taught will produce better results. Mr. Tate, Director of Education in Victoria, in a report upon " Some Aspects of Education in New Zealand," says, " These district high schools may be made a most effective aid in developing a good of technical instruction. At present they appear to me to devote too much attention to what are usually called ' high school' subjects. No doubt before long the work will become genuine ' continuation-work' of a distinctly practical nature, havng close relation to the material needs of the districts served by the schools. They will thus become elementary technical schools, and with vigorous and capable handling they should, in country districts especially, be able to solve many of the problems involved in agricultural education." The nearest parallel in England to our district high school is the higher elementary school, for which new regulations have just been issued. Some remarks made about the curriculum in the prefatory memorandum of the English Code for 1905 are worthy of quotation : "In considering curricula, it will therefore be desirable not to introduce any subject which is not a natural continuation of, or outgrowth from, the studies of the elementary school, unless it is clearly capable of being taught so as to be practically useful in view of the fact that the scholars must seek employment at fifteen or thereabouts." The English Board of Education docs not approve of exactly the same curriculum for boys and girls, and it adds : " The curriculum for girls will, as a rule, be expected to include a practical training for home duties which is applicable to the circumstances of their own homes." It lays great stress on the necessity for including a sufficient amount of general instruction, and it advocates that the principle of adaptation to environment should be the guide in the choice of special subjects. "In rural districts the needs of agriculture will naturally have considerable influence in determining the