E.—s.

The numbers attending were greater than in the, previous year, the enrolment in the Technical High School reaching 465, which was a record for the school. In spite of the many difficulties by which the staff was Hampered, due to ihe division of the classes between the old and the partially completed wing of the new buildings, an excellent spirit was observable in the pupils, and the teaching was in the majority of cases sound and modern in method, and vigorous in style. A mil range of courses was offered, and it is pleasing to note that the principal increases in numbers took place in the home-science and industrial courses. In spite of the lack of playing-fields, sports were not neglected, while the school cadet company won for the third time in succession the championship in the annual area tournament. It is to be hoped that before long the whole of the school may be transferred to the new site, where it should become one of the most important centres of technical education in the Dominion. Evening classes were conducted in a large number of subjects with considerable success, this school being one of the few in which the entries for ordinary technical classes were in excess of those for the previous year. The Masterton Technical School was attended by approximately the same numbers as in the previous year. The school received considerable monetary assistance, as in former years, from the Trust Lands Trust, and was consequently in a position to add considerably to its equipment without relying entirely on Government grants. Good work was done in the various branches, particularly in engineering and domestic science. The Petone and Lower Hutt classes, which had formerly been managed together by the Petone Technical School Board, were virtually separated during the year, and arrangements made by which a local committee took over the management of the Lower Hutt classes. The separation was due partly to local and temporary circumstances, but will probably continue until such time as the whole of the public educational institutions of post-primary character in the Hutt Valley have been merged under one controlling body. In each case the classes were supported during the year partly by voluntary contributions and subsidies thereon, as it is impossible for the smaller centres to provide the salaries of supervisors or Directors out of allowances for incidentals. On the other hand, there is a distinct tendency for the managers in small centres to pay too large a proportion of their income for supervising and caretaking and secretarial work. The question of providing by direct grant for the cost of supervision in these cases should be considered, so that suitable scales of salaries may be fixed for all centres. Nelson District. In the Nelson District, on the whole, numbers attending technical-school classes were relatively well maintained. The year was marked by the development of the Westport Technical High School from being a one-course school for engineering boys to being the general post-primary school for the town, the District High School being disestablished and the pupils transferred to the new school. The school is endowed with a fine site, part of a Corporation reserve given by the town for the purpose, and with new buildings costing, with equipment, well over £18,000, the cost being met out of Government grants. Mr. A. E. Brockett, of the Christchurch Technical School, was appointed Director. There should be an excellent opening in Westport for a school of this kind, and it is expected that the present accommodation will soon be overtaxed. Provision is made in the general lay-out of the buildings for future extensions. At the Nelson Technical School classes were held mainly for commercial, engineering, art, and domestic students in the daytime, and for the same subjects, with woodwork, plumbing, telegraphy, electrical work, millinery, dressmaking, &c, in the evening, besides the usual Saturday morning classes in science and agriculture for teachers. Owing to the present buildings being erected on a site of a quarter of an acre, no room is left for expansion, or even for slightly extending the present plumbing and engineering shops, which are quite inadequate to the requirement of the town. The Technical School Board accordingly considered the question of extension of site, but found that it would be impossible to obtain the area required adjoining the present site, and the Board therefore recommended that a new site should be found. A reserve belonging to the Crown, and containing sufficient land for building purposes, near to a recreation reserve, and conveniently accessible from the town, has accordingly been set aside for technical-school purposes. Canterbury District. Considerable progress was made during the year with the new building for electrical engineering and drawing offices in connection with the School of Engineering at Canterbury College, for which a grant of £15,000 was made by Government, while a further amount of £10,000 is available for equipment. The new building connects the old Engineering building with the present Boys' High School, in accordance with the proposal to remodel the High School building for the use mainly of the Engineering School when the boys are transferred to a new school on the ample site recently secured. There was a considerable increase in the number of matriculated students reading for a degree in engineering as compared with the previous year, but a fall in the number of other students. Full courses were provided, as in former years, leading to degrees in civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering. Students attended from all parts of the Dominion, a large proportion coming from the North Island. The year was marked by the retirement of the professor in charge, Professor Scott, after many years of fruitful service, during which the school had steadily grown in numbers and reputation, its alumni occupying important professional positions in all parts of the world.

2—E. 5.

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