K— S.

available at Hawera. From Mr. Hintz's report, it will be seen that classes were conducted at different centres in the district. In all, the people of the Northern District subscribed £323 14s. id. towards the erection of technical buildings. In the Central District, under Mr. Yarney's supervisorship, the Marton Technical School, comprising a science-room, a woodwork-room, a cookery-room, and a class-room, was completed, and opened by the Hon. the Minister of Education on the 24th August. At Taihape sufficient money was subscribed locally to justify the Department in making a grant this year of £470 towards the erection of a school, and, at Bull's, the amount raised should produce a liberal response from tire Department. An engineering department has been added to the Wanganui School, and Mr. Denis Seaward, A.8.C.A., is being brought from England to take charge of the art department. The total amount subscribed in the Central District towards the erection of technical buildings is £266 Ids. 2d. Day technical classes have been started at Wanganui, with what success the Board will be in a position to determine by the end of the year. In the Southern District, which till the close of the year had been under the supervisorship of Mr. Amos, there was a great extension in the technical work. The Feilding Technical School, comprising science, art, woodwork, cookery, plumbing, and class rooms, a handsome structure in brick, will be ready for occupation when the classes start this year. Mr. 11. I'Vissey, whose experience at Home and in the Dominion has been varied and ample, has been appointed to the directorship. Under his direction the school may be expected to prove of immense benefit to the large and prosperous district in which it is situated. During the year the sum of £424 4s. was raised in the Southern District towards the construction of technical buildings. Training of Teachers. — Saturday classes for the training of teachers were field continuously throughout the year. Science was taken at Palmerston North, Marton, and Wanganui ; cookery at Wanganui and Palmerston North; handwork at Wanganui and Hawera; and dairying at Hawera. Certificates of merit were awarded to the students at the end of the courses of lessons, and there can be no doubt but a great deal of excellent work was done. In this connection there should be mentioned a highly successful summer school, conducted by Dr. Marshall, of Otago University, who lectured continuously for- a week on the physical geography of the district. A winter school, for the benefit of uncertificated teachers and teachers from remote schools, was held in June, and five teachers, selected by the Inspectors, enjoyed the privilege of a three-weeks attendance at the Training College, Wellington. School Handwork. —It appears from Mr. Varney's report that interest in this form of schoolwork continues to grow. Last year (1906) handwork was taken in 121 schools, and in the year to which this report refers it was taken in 153 schools. School Technical Classes. —During the year there was a great expansion in the volume of work done in the classes that come under this heading. The Board was fortunate in securing the services of Mr. I!. Browne, whose classes in dairy-work, twenty-one in number, evolved intense interest among the pupils. Mr. Grant continued his work in connection with school agriculture, and at the end of the year gardens attached to 81 schools, as against 46 in 1906. It has been arranged—the only satisfactory arrangement possible in this district—that the schools may take a combination course in agriculture and dairying, and it is to lie hoped that the Department will make such a grant for this course as will promote its extension among the schools. Messrs. Clark and Bannister taught woodwork in ten schools, and Misses Mollison and Fergus taught cookery in the same number. As Miss Mollison now takes cookery classes in connection with the Wanganui Girls' College it has been found necessary to appoint Miss F. Grant to assist her. The woodwork classes have also increased, and it will be necessary for Mr. Fossey, the Director of the Feilding Technical School, to take the woodwork there. Extract from the Report of tfie Superintendent of Technical Instruction. In presenting the following reports I may state that an effort is being made so to organize the work of manual and technical instruction that the course will be continuous from the kindergarten to the laboratory, from the first vague co-ordinations of brain with hand and eye to highly specialised experiments in dairy-work and agriculture. It is thus alone that the country will reap the full benefit of the sacrifices it is making in endeavouring to place the teaching of technical subjects on a satisfactory footing. But there are other considerations no less vital. By the end of the present year we shall have no fewer than eight splendidly equipped schools. Will the teachers prove themselves worthy of the facilities provided? There is reason to think that they will, and that, putting private considerations in the background, they will lay on the altar of the State their time, their energy, and their talent. One thing more is wanted, and that is a patriotic response on the part of the young people. Self-improvement means social improvement, social improvement means the betterment of humanity, and it is, accordingly, not too much to expect every young man and every young woman within a reasonable distance of a technical school to give up at least two hours a week to the study of one of many subjects taught. The people of the various districts have given liberally of their means, and the Board, taking no inconsiderable risk, provides the best teaching-power available. It remains for the young people to fill the schools. The various reports teßtify to the enormous strides thai have been made in the work of technical instruction during the year, and to the zeal and energy of the instructors and supervisors. The Board, the Teohnioal Committees, the contributing public bodies, and the people of the district, may surely reflect with legitimate pride that so much has been done in so brief a period. G. D. Braik, Superintendent. School Classes. Mr. Varney reports that progress is still being made in the direction of the training of the hand and eye in our schools. This is evidenced by the fact that during the year there has been an increase of thirty-two schools.

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