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APPENDIX. MANUAL AND TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION IN THE SEVERAL EDUCATION DISTRICTS. AUCKLAND. Extract from the Report of the Education Board. The year 1911 was marked by steady progress in manual training and technical education in this district. The urgent necessity for the completion of the Seddon Memorial Technical College, Auckland, becomes more marked year by year, and it is disappointing that some of the evening classes have still to be conducted in class-rooms at the Normal School and at the old rented building in Rutland Street. The day Technical School of the College still maintained its popularity, and the number of students last year increased to 397 from 345 the previous year. In the evening and special day classes at the College (other than those of the day technical school) the number of individual students enrolled was 1,620, an increase of over 338 over 1913. The, number of individual students in the College for .the year was consequently 2,017. Manual training (woodwork) and domestic science (cookery and laundry-work) were taught in Devonport, Ponsonby, Newton, Newmarket, Pukekohe, Hellensville,' Otahuhu (woodwork only), Thames, Waihi, Whangarei, Hamilton, and Cambridge Manual Training Schools, and grants were received from the Department which enabled the erection of similar schools at Te Aroha, Dargaville, -and Te Kopuru to be proceeded with, and these will shortly be opened for work. Instruction in agricultural science was given in 238 schools, as against 192 in 1913, and the number of schools in which handwork was taught increased from 267 to 344. In seventy-five schools below Grade IV needlework was taught, and instruction in swimming and life-saving was given in twenty-two, being an increase of three over the previous year. Extract prom the Report of the Director of Technical Education and Manual Training. Handwork. —Last year handwork, such as brush drawing, plasticine (clay) modelling, paper folding and cutting, crayon drawing, &c, was taught in 344 schools, as against 267 schools in 1913, the average number of pupils receiving instruction being 31,502. In the majority of these schools the teachers had previously received instruction under one or other of the Board's art and handwork specialists. A most pleasing feature of the work of the schools was the increasing evidence of the correlation of the drawing and handwork with other subjects of the curriculum such as nature-study, agriculture, &c. ' In the schools below Grade IV, taught by a male teacher, there were seventy-five sewing-mistresses employed last year. Swimming and Life-saving. —Last year this subject was taught in twenty-two of the primary schools, as against nineteen in the previous year. Seeing its great importance it is to be regretted that a larger number of schools do not make it part of their curricula. In the Auckland District, where there are so many waterways and so much coast-line, it is of especial importance. With the, ,admirable provision in the way of public swimming-baths which are now available in Auckland City, it is to be hoped that every boy and girl in the upper standards at least of the city and suburban schools will receive instruction in swimming. In many of the country districts the creeks and streams should also render it easy for instruction to be given. It was hoped that when, some few years ago, the Board decided to pay to the teachers giving instruction in swimming and life-saving in their schools 75 per cent, of the capitation earned by the pupils, that this would have the effect of largely increasing the number of schools taking up the subject. I look upon the teaching of swimming to children as being almost as essential as teaching them how to breathe properly, and I think it would be an excellent thing if the subject were made compulsory in all schools where facilities were reasonably within reach of the pupils. Domestic Science (Cookery and Laundry-work) and Manual 'Training (Woodwork). —Special buildings for the teaching of these subjects have been erected at Whangarei, Thames, Otahuhu, Waihi, Hamilton, Cambridge, Devonport, Pukekohe, and Helensville. The total number of pupils in attendance in 1914 at the different centres was, for domestic science, 2,232, and for manual training, 2,572. In addition to the above, centres have also been erected at Te Aroha, Te Kopuru, and Dargaville, the former of which was recently opened for work, whilst the other two will be ready for occupation in a few weeks. Application has also been made to the Department for grants in, aid of centres at Waipu, Maungaturoto, Paparoa, and Matamata. The work done in the manual training and domestic science centres last year was of a very high order, and, lam sure, compares favourably with any similar work elsewhere. The course in cookery embraces not only the cooking of food, but also the selecting and purchasing of same, whilst simple lessons in the physiology of digestion, personal hygiene, <fee, are given, the work being illustrated wherever possible by experiments carried out by the pupils themselves. The laundry-work course embraces, in addition to the principles and practice of washing, ironing, etc., disinfection of clothes,removal of stains, properties of materials used, such as soap, soda, starch, &c; in all cases instruction being within the capacity of the students, and the theory freely supplemented by experimental work. In the same way the course in manual training (woodwork) deals not only with the use of the common woodworking tools, but also with the mode of growth, characteristics, &c, of the timbers used. A feature of the work is the close correlation between the drawing and the practical exercises in woodwork, geometry also being taught in so far as it is applicable to the exercises and models made by the pupils.