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Mr. Lee moved, That geometry be retained in Standards IV. and V. for girls. Seconded by Mr. Smith. Not carried. Mr. Petrie moved, That the arithmetic of the higher classes be reduced by omitting compound practice, compound interest, present worth, discount, and stocks, and by limiting the treatment of decimal fractions to simple cases. Seconded by Mr. Crowe. Mr. Morton moved, as an amendment, and Mr. Airey seconded, That the arithmetic of the higher classes be reduced by limiting the treatment of compound practice, compound interest, present worth, discount, and stocks to simple cases. Carried. This was then put as a substantive motion, and carried. Mr. Hill moved, and Mr. Goyen seconded, That simple cases of mensuration of solids be added to the syllabus. Carried. Dr. Anderson moved, and Mr. Airey seconded, That the Inspectors would welcome with great pleasure any attempt on the part of the Legislature in the direction of substituting a decimal system of money, weights, and measures for the present anomalous but time-honoured variety, which unnecessarily obstructs the progress of our children, makes the work of producing good calculators needlessly tedious, and stands in the way of improving the course of school instruction in other directions. Carried. Dr. Anderson moved, and Mr. Bindon seconded, That the limitation of the work of the lower classes to problems involving only one principle is uncertain of application, and very undesirable in the true interest of an intelligent treatment of the subject. Carried. Dr. Anderson moved, and Mr. Bindon seconded, That, in the opinion of the Conference, the best method of developing the arithmetic of the lower classes, in the interests of intelligence, is to limit the operations to successively higher numbers at the several stages, making no difference in respect of simple rules in the order of introduction, and to apply as fully as possible the tables learnt to all sorts of operations within the limit specified. Carried. Mr. Murray moved, and Mr. Wood seconded, That in the writing for Standard I. short words be included, Carried. • Mr. Murray moved, and Mr. Braik seconded, That some elementary knowledge of the derivation of words should be included in the work of Standard V. Not carried. Mr. Murray moved, That word-definition be required from Standard 11. upward. Motion not seconded. Mr. Murray moved, and Mr. Petrie seconded, That the course of instruction in simple geometrical figures contained in the regulations issued in December, 1891, be restored. Carried. Mr. Braik moved, and Mr. Spencer seconded, That the boys in the larger town schools be taught ambulance-work and swimming. Mr. Lee proposed, and Mr. Fleming seconded, as an amendment, That the department be asked to prepare sheets of instruction in ambulance-work, and the restoration of the apparently drowned, and distribute them to schools for wall-furniture. Not carried. Mr. Petrie proposed, and Mr. Hill seconded, as an amendment, That it is desirable that some knowledge of ambulance-work, and the methods of restoration of the apparently drowned, should be given as part of the instruction in science and object-lessons. Carried. Mr. Hill moved, and Mr. Lee seconded, That a regulation be introduced into the syllabus of instruction providing for modification in the sewing and science requirements, by which instruction in cookery, and in the use of sewing-machines, may be fostered in the larger schools in the case of girls, and instruction in the use of tools in the case of boys. That to schools where such instruction is given by competent instructors, a special grant be made by Government. Not carried. Dr. Anderson moved, and Mr. Petrie seconded, That the scheme of geography as contained in the syllabus be modified in the following direction : Lists of rivers and mountains in Standard 111. to be revised, a knowledge of the courses of the principal rivers and the direction of the mountainchains to be included. Motion lost. Dr. Anderson moved, That the programme of Standard IV. be made more definite by specifying great ports and trading-centres, confining the trade-routes to those closely connected with Australia and New Zealand, but including ports of call; limiting sources of principal articles of commerce to the chief imports of New Zealand. Mathematical geography to be postponed to Standard V. Mr. Petrie moved, as an amendment, That the most conspicuous geographical features of the continents be transferred to the classes in which the capitals and great ports of the several continents are treated, and that the articles of commerce the production of which is to be. traced should be restricted to those thajt are used on a considerable scale in our own colony. Seconded by Mr. Morton, and carried. Dr. Anderson moved, and Mr. Hill seconded,. That the mathematical knowledge, now part of Standard V. programme, form constantly a part of programme of Standard V., whatever be the alteration in other respects adopted by the teacher, and similarly with the physical geography in Standard VI. Carried. Dr. Anderson moved, and Mr. Lee seconded, That the work of Standard VI. be modified by giving greater prominence to the surface-features of the country by substituting 100,000 for 200,000 as the limit of population of towns (not seaports) in the British Isles. Carried. Dr. Anderson further moved to include towns of 200,000 (not seaports) on the continents referred to. Seconded by Mr. Dickinson. Motion lost. Mr. Petrie moved, and Mr. Hill seconded, as an amendment, That a few of the more important inland towns of Europe and of the United States be added to the capitals and greater ports now required to be taught. Carried.