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unnecessary trepidation regarding the use of Mr. Tayler's excellent handbook on school music. This is no doubt due to the teachers' lack of knowledge of the subject, and their consequent want of confidence in using the book as a guide to their teaching. Until our children are taught to read music as they are taught to read a book, we shall not have placed the instruction on the satisfactory basis which its importance as a cultural subject warrants. Wellington. —The increasing public interest in singing is being reflected in the schools. There is an improvement in the variety and quality of the songs, and generally in the tone. The standard is undoubtedly rising, but musical knowledge does not keep pace with the pupils' progress through the school. The growing practice of composing should prove helpful here. There is insufficient insistence on accuracy, and a lack of keen concentration on the part of the class. It is rarely indeed that one sees a class concentrating on the teacher with anything like the same intensity with which a welltrained choir or orchestra concentrates on its conductor. Pupils lean on desks, let their minds wander, and seem to make little conscious effort to secure perfect performance. In many schools there is too great a reliance on the piano. Health and Temperance. Auckland.—Health and temperance lessons are regularly given, and a course of work in these subjects is outlined in the scheme books. Teachers are now more fully alive to the advantages of fresh air, cleanliness, &c., but in many cases the practical application of the lessons is forgotten. Teachers give lessons on cleanliness, and permit pupils to work with unwashed hands and dirty finger-nails ; on the value of posture, and allow pupils to crouch over the desks. This side of the health instruction needs to be stressed. In the higher classes, moreover, it is seldom found that the topics taken are sufficiently specific or advanced. Few teachers give definite lessons on the eye, the ear, the skin, the heart, or the lungs. Wellington. —Temperance-teaching has received fair attention, though not to the extent of former years. The growing temperance of the people and the less active public agitation, for prohibition have been reflected in the schools. The greater care given to games and swimming both in schools and out, and the attention given, almost unconsciously to the art of " keeping fit," have tended to make the teaching and practice of temperance rather indirect than direct. Provision is made in the schemes for talks on the subject. Probably it would be an advantage if a good article on temperance in its widest sense were inserted at least once a year in the senior number of the School Journal. District High Schools. Auckland. —District high schools continue to render efficient service in the rural areas where they are situated. The increase in enrolment is sufficient evidence of their popularity with parents, who undoubtedly are awakening to the benefits of further education for their children, and who appreciate the opportunity of securing such in their immediate neighbourhood. The general attitude of the pupils themselves betokens a healthy appreciation of the advantages offered. It can be confidently stated that the child with academic tendencies is well catered for, and the examination successes of the pupils in the secondary departments are a clear indication of the value of. the instruction in this type of work. Many pupils, however, are non-academic, or do not desire to follow the usual secondary course. The extension of the commercial courses in large measure accounts for the increased roll number. Pupils who previously would not have entered a post-primary school at all, or who would have discontinued attendance in a few months after an unsuccessful trial of mathematics and a foreign language, now find open to them a course which is both utilitarian and cultural. For the cultural aspect is not confined solely to the purely academic ; in large measure it is social. Children in small country schools taught in most cases by the lower-graded and less-experienced teachers are afforded an opportunity of measuring themselves against others of their own age, and adjusting their standards of comparison. This opportunity of revising one's criteria we regard as the most valuable aspect of the training offered in our district high schools. Canterbury.—The secondary departments of our district high schools continue to do thoroughly sound work in catering for the needs of secondary education in country districts. The courses taken are in the main directed towards fitting boys and girls to take their places in the life of the community, with some bias towards the needs of rural life. Cultural work is for the most part confined to literature, but art and music are beginning to claim a place. Commercial work is very popular, especially with girls, and. it has been found that the supply of trained teachers who are able to teach the work is not equal to the demand. Otago.—We are pleased to record gratifying efficiency in the important work of secondary education in our district high schools. A truer conception of the teacher's work is resulting in a better all-round training than formerly ; the tasteful and stimulating class-room environment, the more cultural study of English, the well-stocked library, and the inclusion of drawing or music in a broader curriculum reveal this, as do the fostering of outdoor games and espirit de corps among the pupils. Recognition of the significant place the district-high-school system is taking is shown in improved conditions, two instances of which are the up-to-date and well-equipped secondary-department buildings provided this year at two of the district high schools. Buildings and Grounds. Wellington. —Buildings and grounds are receiving increased attention. A few interiors are quite attractive. Some comparatively new have been temporarily disfigured by the pasting of cheap pictures and manuscripts along the walls in a manner that would never be tolerated in any modern shop, theatre, or private house. But there is plenty of evidence that the more thoughtful teachers are

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