E.—s

Dominion. At most of the centres there are lads in the senior division or in the secondary department of the district high school possessing constructive ability of a high order, and it would have a healthy stimulating effect upon them generally if they were asked to prepare a set of models for the use of future classes. There are very few second-year classes from which suitable well-finished models could not be gathered for the purpose named. It may not be out of place to show the use that is made of the model in certain districts. At one centre the instructor has, in his spare time, constructed double-size models for a class of twenty-four pupils to allow of one model to a group of four boys. After preliminary instruction extending over some weeks has been given in plan, elevation, end view, and section the models are handed to the boys, and a free sketch is made by each pupil in his notebook. After deciding on the dimensions to be followed the model is carefully measured and the sketch is dimensioned, and from this the working drawing is made. At another centre a similar plan is adopted, but the models in use have been selected from the best work of senior classes, supplemented by full-size specimens made by the instructor. During the drawing-lesson pupils are encouraged to ask questions, and assistance is given if considered advisable. Should difficulties arise, they arc helped to overcome them, but they are always encouraged to master their own difficulties, and, although results cannot at present be tabulated, there are evidences of a general quickening of interest in the work and a perceptible rise in the standard of accuracy and neatness in the completed drawings. It is further suggested that as soon as the model is made instructors should compare it with the pupil's drawing, calling attention to inaccuracies, with a view to impress upon the pupil the close relationship that should exist between the drawing and the finished work, and the fact that the dimensions of the completed model should agree exactly with those of the drawing. It is generally considered necessary that all work at the bench should be done from drawings, but in many instances good results have been achieved by departing from the usual practice. As an indication of the latitude that may be allowed to instructors in this direction, the following sound practical hints from a memorandum on manual instruction issued by the English Board of Education are worthy of consideration : " Drawing should be associated with wood and metal work, and the boys should be taught to make scale drawings and to work from them. In the earlier stages a preliminary drawing to scale should be the rule, but when the boys have attained a good standard of draughtmanship it will not always be necessary to insist on accurate drawings, and a dimensioned hand-sketch may sometimes be accepted instead. In some cases a completed object may be given to copy " (at the bench), " and the dimensions taken direct from the object. With certain types of work, on the other hand, accurate working drawings are always essential, and plans, elevations, and one or more sections should be duly prepared. Isometric projection is sometimes useful, but in practice it is too often an additional exercise of which no further use is made. After the preliminary stages are passed it is often a good working rule to inquire what a skilled workman would do in similar circumstances. For instance, if he were making a rough nail-box, with the sides nailed together, he would not make a drawing at all, ho would merely make a note of the dimensions and thickness of the wood; if he were making a set of bookshelves to given dimensions he would probably make a working sketch; if he were making a cabinet involving first-class workmanship ... he would consider an accurate drawing indispensable." A sound practical course in drawing and bench-work is included in the rural course at high schools, practical in the sense that the majority of the exercises have direct reference to work connected with the construction of simple farm buildings and apparatus used about a farm. Provision has also been made at a few centres for the inclusion of a course in elementary ironwork, including exercises in the use of the forge, with the most satisfactory results. It is expected that as circumstances permit facilities for instruction in this most useful subject will form part of the equipment of the manual-training workshop of all the district high schools. Cookery. —Of the instruction in cookery and allied subjects it may be said that improvements are noted, both in the character of. the instruction and in the pupils' work, at most of the cookery centres. This is largely due to the fact that many of the instructors are reorganizing their course of work by eliminating from it matters that are regarded as non-essential, and introducing others having a closer relationship with the life and experience of the pupils. It is gratifying to report, that the separate demonstration lesson is steadily increasing in disfavour, and an attempt is made to make each period of instruction complete by the inclusion in it of a brief demonstration lesson, instruction in some elementary principle or branch of domestic science, and experimental or practical work by the pupils, thus making the lesson very much brighter, more interesting, and useful. The principal hindrance to an extension of this method is that circumstances appear to make it necessary in the case of many centres to limit the period of instruction to one hour and a half, and if part of this time is occupied with the dictation of recipes and method little is left for the more educational work. Another noticeable effect of the shortened period, particularly at centres where a large number of pupils are in attendance, is the feeling that all the work must be taken as expeditiously as possible so that everything may be in readiness for the class which follows. This feeling of being compelled to hurry the lessons imposes an unnecessary strain upon the teacher, and to some extent tends to a lack of thoroughness and careful attention to detail in matters of cleanliness and tidiness on the part of the pupils. Slipshod methods in the kitchen, as in other spheres of activity, are to be strongly deprecated, and the hope is expressed that, wherever it is possible to do so, two-hour lessons will be revived, as it is considered that it is only possible to produce the most satisfactory educational results when the whole of the work can be carried on deliberately and without hurry. In this connection it appears necessary to emphasize the desirability of not attempting to cover too much ground in a programme of work for a two-years course in cookery. It is noticed that at some centres instructors are trying in a most earnest manner to carry out a course altogether too wide in extent, and. while it is acknowledged that every item in the programme may

12