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NELSON. Extract from the Report of the Education Board. The Technical Schools at Nelson and Westport carried on full programmes of work during the year, and the attendance at the Nelson School was very satisfactory. The day engineering classes at Westport were well patronized, but the attendance at the other technical classes was very meagre. Mr. A. G. Tomkies, engineering instructor, has now been placed in temporary charge of the Westport Technical School. The Board is pleased to report that special classes have been carried on at Reefton under the supervision of Mr. W. A. Rumbold. Successful classes were conducted for dressmaking, commercial work, and carpentry, and credit is due to the local School Committee and the supervisor for organizing the classes. Manual training is carried on at Nelson, Westport, Reefton, Motueka, and Wakefield centres, and agriculture and dairy-work is undertaken by the itinerant instructor at a large number of places. The Board desires to thank those local bodies who contributed towards the support of the technical classes at Reefton and Westport. The Nelson School does not receive tiny support from local bodies. Extract from the Report of the Inspectors of Schools. . Some form of handwork has been more generally taught this year. In some cases, through lack of facilities and of apparatus, attempts to fulfil the requirements of the syllabus had not been made in all schools. The following list of the number of schools that applied for the recognition of classes shows the different branches undertaken : Plasticine modelling, 32 ; brush drawing, 22 ; free-arm drawing, .14; paper-folding, 10; bricklaying, 9; cardboard-modelling, 5. In five schools in charge, of sole male teachers the girls were taught needlework by visiting teachers. The number of schools in which some form of manual training is taken has further increased to sixty, the following classes receiving instruction: Metal-work, 8; woodwork, 11 ; cookery, 22; elementary agriculture, 43; physiology and first aid, 21 ; dairy-work, 10 ; swimming and life-saving, 17 ; physical measurements, 4 ; elementary chemistry, 1 ; dressmaking, 1. Extract from the Report of the Director of Technical Education. Manual training classes in cookery and woodwork were conducted at the Nelson, Wakefield, and Motueka centres, and satisfactory progress was made. Towards the end of the session a, display of work was held at the Wakefield centre. The number of children from the, public, schools attending at the various centres for instruction in woodwork and cookery were as follows : Nelson centre — Woodwork, 161 ; cookery, .162. Wakefield centre—Woodwork, 74; cookery, 72. Motueka centre — Cookery, 75. Nelson Technical School. —lt is gratifying to state that the success of the previous year has been more than maintained. There was an increased number of enrolments, and the attendance greatly improved. One of the great needs of the school at present is better accommodation for the country pupils who have to stay in town all day. A. room is required that could be used as a luncheon-room and also as a reading-room. The present arrangement of using the same class-room for typewriting and other subjects is very unsatisfactory. The engineering and plumbing classes are also very for space, and it is to be hoped that something will shortly be done to remedy this. In the plumbing class especially the students work under trying conditions. The engineering class, which was inaugurated during the latter part of the session of 1913, and ran for a short term of about nine weeks with a roll number of eight, doubled its roll number during the year. The cabinetmaking class was well attended, and the plumbing olass restarted, Mr. Coltman, sanitary inspector, being appointed instructor of the latter class. Although only a small class, the students have, under their capable instructor, done good work. The classes for telegraphy and photography were only moderately supported. The dressmaking classes, under the newly appointed instructress, Mrs. M. Hyde, continued to be as popular as ever ; the attendance has been very good, and excellent work, some examples of which were shown at the annual exhibition of work, has been done. Cookery classes : The day classes in this subject were fairly well attended, but for some reason or other the evening class continues to attract only a small number. A class in invalid cookery for the benefit of hospital nurses was held during the second term. The commercial course was one of the most popular in the school. The attendance was very good, and the work excellent in quality. The attendance at the classes for English and arithmetic has been excellent, especially in the case of the day classes, which are less affected by local events and the weather. A considerable number of the students made the maximum number of attendances during the session, and several show an unbroken record for two years. During the latter part of the year a class in higher English and mathematics, for which a need had been felt for some time, was started. No provision had in the past been made for those students who, having passed successfully through the junior free place course, desired to continue their work in the higher stages. Although numerically only a small class, it held well together, and promises well for the coming session of 1915. The art and art crafts course was, as usual, well attended : the day classes were more than full, the evening classes moderately so. The craft side of this course continues to attract more and. more attention each year. Examples of work in wood-carving, leather-embossing, copperwork, stencilling, enamelling, drawing and painting from nature in oil and water colour, lettering and mechanical drawing, &c, were shown at the annual exhibition of work.