39

E.— 5

to be devoted to the Serbian, Belgian, and Polish Relief Funds and to our Patriotic and Red Cross Funds. A number of our evening students also gave up evenings during the vacation to make crutches for disabled soldiers. In order to foster a greater homogeneity throughout the school and to prevent the separation that is likely to result from the organization of the school into classes and departments, the " house system " was introduced during the last term of the year. For the purposes of this system for all sports and activities outside the class-room the pupils are divided into " houses," each of which is placed under the special care of a member of the staff. In many largo English day schools this system has been found to be of great value in promoting a, spirit, of solidarity among the members, while the interest, in school games has beon greatly stimulated by the various competitions and matches between the houses. It is through loyalty to the small units that loyalty to the greater can be most effectively cultivated, and we hope that loyalty to the college will be a natural consequence of loyalty to the "house," and from loyalty to the college may follow loyalty to the State and to those spiritual claims which transcend even those of the State. Evening School and Special Classes. —Tho trades department in the evening school has necessarily felt most the effect of the war, and here the enrolments have declined by more than a hundred. The chief feature of the session has been the reorganizion of our home-work scheme. With evening students home-work is in many cases a serious difficulty, for if the course of instruction is to include all that it should it must in general occupy at least three evenings per week, while the home-work will take a fourth evening. In the case of the boys military drill, and in other cases ordinary business, on the late night makes further demands, so that it frequently happens that a student has not a single evening to himself. This is not a desirable condition of things either from the point of view of the employer or of the State. We need to encourage an all-round development, and to promote this recreational and social activities, or hobbies, play no unimportant part. If employers generally recognized how great a demand the effort to improve their efficiency makes upon the time and energy of young students T feel sure they would make some concession to those who are so earnestly endeavouring to increase their qualifications. Certainly T never myself realized how many and how great are the difficulties which some students have to encounter until. I came to interview those who did not send in their home-work regularly. At the same time the instructors are agreed that, although the organization on the present basis has entailed a good deal of extra expense and work, it has been justified by the great improvement in the results. A very gratifying feature of the session has been the success attending the Past and Senior Students' Association. Although many of its members have volunteered far the front, including two vice-presidents, treasurer, and secretary, and its ranks accordingly have been seriously depleted, in the Christchurch literary and debating competitions the association was brilliantly successful, winning the championship shield by 107 points to 62. At, hockey one of the two girls' teams was runner-up, while one of the four boys' teams won the cup in their grade. In cricket the association has not yet lost a match. Though at such a time as this there is a great demand for the help of the young in carrying on the practical affairs of the nation, it cannot be too strongly emphasized that the need for education is more urgent than ever. In the dark years which must, follow the close of this war, when the resources of the Empire will be strained to the utmost to meet the appalling obligations which she is now incurring, if we cannot face the situation as a highly trained and educated people we arc doomed. The methods and the training that have sufficed for the past will be altogether inadequate for success in the fierce competition which must, ensue when the leading nations contend as never before by every means that skill can devise or cunning suggest, to secure the markets of the world. We cannot hope to survive in such a struggle if instead of lengthening the training period of the young we proceed to shorten it. We may have little respect for the educational ideals prevalent in Germany, but one thing she has surely grasped—the necessity for education and its limitless possibilities. Our belief in its power and our preparedness to make sacrifices for its promotion will be the measure of the future success of our country. John H. Howell, Director. Extract from the Report of the Director of the Ashburton Technical School. The session opened in February with an increase in all departments as compared with the previous year. This increase was maintained generally throughout the year, except in some cases referred to below. The number of individual students in attendance this year was 429, against 446 for last year, and the collective roll number of the school is 1,778 (including 489 secondary and public-school pupils attending manual classes), against 1,665 for last year, showing a decrease of seventeen individual students and an increase on the collective roll number of 113. This is due to an increase in the number of students taking courses of correlated subjects. The details of the several departments are as follows : Domestic science—Home nursing:, 40 ; home science, 10; hygiene, 8; home-management, 8; cookery, 76; dressmaking, 269; millinery, 139: total roll, 550. Commercial—Commercial English, 115; commercial arithmetic, 92; commercial geography, 12; business methods, 23; book-keeping, 68; shorthand, 60; typewriting, 69: total, roll, 439. Trade classes—Practical mathematics, 35; trade drawing, 22; woodwork (carpentry, (fee), 44; carpentry and joinery (principles), 20; farm carpentry, 14; electricity and magnetism, 15; agriculture, 9; wool-classing, 26; shearing, 21: total roll, 217. Art classes— Painting and design, 20. General physical culture, 63. Tn the domestic-science department the classes for home nursing, dressmaking, and millinery have all increased ; in the two latter subjects the number of classes has been doubled. The cookery classes show a decrease in roll numbers as compared with last year. In the commercial