3

E.—lo

To this, as to the other proposals made by the Board, the Department answered, " It does not seem practicable or, indeed, desirable at present to alter the requirements for teachers' certificates in the way suggested by the Board." Of the recommendations made by the Board, one was adopted—■ the recommendation, namely, that the bursary for trainees who have during their training to live away from their homes should be greatly increased. Sixty-two students entered the College at the beginning of the session ; 1 retired during the year, leaving 61 on the roll at the 31st December, 1905. Twenty-nine were in their second year and 32 were in their first year, as follows : First year, 2 males and 30 females ; second year, 2 males and 27 females. Fifty-three of the students attended classes at the University. Eight students who had not passed Matriculation were not required to undertake University work. Report of the Principal of the Training College (Me. D. R. White, M.A.). The Staff of the College. — The staff of the College consists of the Principal, Mr. D. R. White, M.A. ; Vice-Principal, Mr. A. Marshall, B.A. ; mistress and instructress in kindergarten work, Miss C. Haig ; master of the secondary department, Mr. J. W. Hardy ; tutor in English language and literature, Miss F. Bressey, M.A. ; drawing-master, Mr. D. C. Hutton ; teacher of singing and music, Mr. A. M. Braik ; teacher of sewing, Miss S. Albert; gymnastics, Mr. John Hanna. On the staff of the primary and practising department there are three male and four female assistants. The Vice-Principal is lecturer on science and headmaster of the primary schools. The handwork course of instruction is undertaken partly by Miss Haig and partly by the Director and teacher in the School of Art. The Number of Students in Attendance. — The College opened in the first week in March. We had in the first term 62 students in attendance, but 1 of these left about the middle of the session, leaving 61 on the roll at the close of the year. There were 29 students in their second year and 32 in their first, as follows : First year, 2 men and 30 women —32 ; second year, 2 men and 27 women—29. Number of Students taking Classes at the Otago University. — Fifty-three students attended classes at the University. Eight students who had not passed Matriculation were not required to undertake University work. In future, however, none but matriculated students will, I hope, be found on our roll, and all who are enrolled will require to attend one or more University classes. Of the 53 students, 17 attended only one class, the remaining 36 took two and in some cases three subjects. Those students who wish to keep terms at the University must take two classes, and those who purpose sitting for the first section of the B.A. degree must qualify in three subjects at least. Of the 36, there were 26 who kept terms —that is, they passed the Annual Class Examination at the University. I think that on the whole this is a very satisfactory result, considering that a number of them had no special training in secondary education. The Number of Students attending the Arts Course at the University. — English, 35 ,- Latin, 16; mental science, 14 ; ■ history and principles of education, 18 ; French, 6 ; mathematics, 4 ; chemistry and physics, 1. The most of the students attended the junior classes, but quite a number were in the senior and advanced classes. Two of our students headed the junior English class, and another secured the prize in junior mental science. The following shows the positions gained by the students in the University class-lists : 18 were placed in the third class, 16 in the second, and 6 in the first class ; and some 12 or 13 failed to pass. All or nearly all of the failures occurred in the junior English class. The work of this class, especially in the history of literature and in philology, is quite beyond many of our students. They cannot possibly give the time to it that is required of them to carry on the first year's work at the Training College. I propose, therefore, next session that students of this class who do not intend keeping terms should be asked to take the English composition and rhetoric class. This class meets twice a week only; and if this arrangement were carried out it would give students more time for a more thorough preparation in the kind of English likely to prove of benefit to them in the language lessons of the primary schools. The Number fresented for the Degree Examination. — Eleven students sat at the November examination —7 for the first section, 3 for the final section of the degree, and 1 for honours. I think this is a very creditable result—better than we shall have next year, unless we have some exceptionally good students entering in 1906. Departmental Examination, 1906.—The candidates from the College this year number for the D Certificate, 31 ; C or partial, 26 ; B certificate, 2 ; A Certificate, 2 : total, 61. The Results of the Departmental Examination, 1905.—These results were reported to the Board in April of this year. In future, according to the new regulation, the annual report on the Training College must be presented to the Board before the 31st December of each year. In conclusion I should like to draw the attention of the Board to the fact that if it continues to admit the maximum number allowed by the regulations, we shall have in another year or so far more teachers than are ever likely to obtain appointments.

No. 3. REPORT ON MELBOURNE TRAINING COLLEGE. By His Honoue Sic Robeet Stout, K.C.M.G. Chief Justice. g lE __ f"! Wellington, 10th May, 1906, I had the honour to receive a letter from you on my leaving Wellington for Australia, asking me if I would be good enough, if I visited the Training College in Melbourne, to state anything regarding it that might be of interest to the Education Department of New Zealand. I visited the Training College, and met the Principal and the students. I also met at the same time the Director of Education in Victoria. The College is situated in a part of the University reserve, and is a brick building. It provides for the residence of the students, and there were when I was there eighty-five students attending the College. The numbers of the sexes of the students were, I was informed, up to this year about equal. At present there are fifty-five men and thirty women there.