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pooling the orders of the various Boards results in a very considerable reduction in cost, while as regards quality and type of materials there are considerable advantages in being able to command the services of expert buyers in the employ of the New Zealand Government in London. The reports of the Inspectors of technical schools and manual-training classes show that the standard of work in manual-training centres has been well maintained, and it is interesting to note that there is an insistent demand for the establishment of manual-training centres wherever the available numbers of children in Standards V and VI offer the slightest warrant for the outlay in rooms and equipment. Owing to the urgent necessity for other extensions of primary-school buildings and equipment the establishment of several manual-training centres in populous districts has been unavoidably held over. The work of the travelling instructors in agriculture, nature-study, and rural science has been carried on during the year with considerable skill and enthusiasm. In certain manual-training centres where country children attend for a whole day owing to the train service not permitting the return of the classes immediately after the lessons in woodwork and cookery, the classes are taken at the centre in elementary science, under skilled instructors, and with adequate equipment and accommodation. There is no doubt that in such circumstances what would otherwise be lost time is put to excellent use, and attendance at the centre for a whole day is fully justified. It is noted that in certain districts primary-school teachers who accompany the classes visiting manual-training centres take a definite share in the work, especially in such parts as correlate naturally with the ordinary class work of the primary schools. This practice is to be highly commended, as it conduces to a better understanding of the training on the part of both pupils and teachers. The Department's total payments for the year 1923-24 for salaries, materials, and incidentals in connection with manual-training classes, including instruction in handwork, amounted to £73,572, of which approximately £41,000 was for salaries, £19,000 for materials and incidentals, and £13,000 for handwork materials, of which £7,000 represented expenditure on account of materials for 1923 and £6,000 on account of 1924 materials. Staffs of Primary Schools. The number of teachers employed in the primary departments of public schools at the end of 1923 was 6,167, or 115 more than in the previous year. Of the total number 5,656 were adult teachers (1,865 males and 3,791 females) and 511 were pupil-teachers (188 males and 323 females). In addition to the staff of adult and pupil-teachers 850 probationers (224 males and 626 females) were employed as compared with 767 (171 males and 596 females) in the previous year. The following table shows the number of adult teachers in each grade of school classified under the headings of sole, head, or assistant teachers : —

Number of Adult Teachers employed in Primary Departments of Public Schools. December, 1923.

Grade of School. Sole Tt eachers. Head Teachers. Assistant Teachers. Total .dult Teachers. M. F. M. F. M. F. M. P. Total. i ' rade 0 (1-8) I (9-20) II (21-35) „ IIIa (36-80) „ TIIb (81-120) ., IV (121-240) V (241-400) VI (401-480) „ VII (over 480) 24 1.98 214 19 185 465 310 16 6 10 404 128 129 4 119 I 90 3 28 105 1 10 I 541 I 253 43 312 128 431 56 175 299 947 24 198 221 424 130 162 218 84 lol 185 465 330 685 257 313 434 175 947 209 663 551 1,109 387 475 652 259 1,351 All grades 455 976 881 146 529 2,669 1,865 3,791 5,656