E.—l

66

come to Wanganui by train is individually supervised. I find that the individual supervision of students in this class, which numbered forty-seven last term, together with the amount of ground to be covered by lectures, is very much more than I can overtake without assistance. This is much to be regretted, as over thirty of the students came from Palmerston, Hawera, and intermediate stations. I refer to the question of assistance at the end of this report. Saturday Science Lectuees. —Last term I commenced science lectures. These were delivered every Saturday afternoon between 2 and 3, and were attended by thirty-seven teachers. The terms of admission are the same as to the drawing classes in the morning—namely, pupil-teachers free, all others are required to pay a fee of £1 per term. The result is the same as that mentioned in connection with the teachers' art classes. Thirty-four out of thirty-seven who attended are pupilteachers and cadets. Head teachers, who might get many useful hints that would help them with their school work, do not feel disposed to pay for what they consider they can get on sufficiently well without , at the same time I know that many would come if the fee were abolished, and I would strongly recommend the Board to do this. The course, which extends over the three terms of the year, is intended to meet the requirements of the Education Department for teachers' Class D examination. In addition to the experiments required by the departmental syllabus, others covering the elementary stages of the South Kensington examinations in inorganic chemistry — accoustics, light and heat—magnetism and electricity are taken. It is to be hoped that when the increased accommodation and assistance so much needed at present in the school is provided arrangements will be made whereby each student will be able to take up practical work. Girls' College Drawing Class. —Although I have not referred to the work of this class in my former reports, I think that, as it is part of my work under the Board, it should be noticed. I visit the school on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 1.30 to 3.30. Hitherto the work, which is, I understand, a school subject, has been confined to freehand from flat examples. Next term the more advanced girls, some of whom have passed the South Kensington examination in freehand, are to be taught model drawing. There are two divisions, each of which receives instruction for one hour on each of the afternoons that I attend. It would be a much better arrangement if girls could work at drawing continuously for two hours, with an interval of, say, five minutes at the end of the first hour, instead of only one hour two afternoons, as at present. The school desks are much too low, especially for the taller girls , and model drawing will necessarily be restricted to a few, as the room is too crowded to admit of proper arrangements for this work, apart from the fact that there are more girls present for freehand in each of the divisions than can be satisfactorily taught during the hour the class meets. GiiiLs' College Painting Class. —I take the work of this class on Friday mornings at the College from 10 to 12. It is carried on under difficulties, as the girls' sitting-room, in which it is held, is quite unsuited for the purpose as regards space and light. The character of the work, too, is not what it should be, as it is confined to studies in colour from flat examples, instead of from nature, preceded by light and shade work from the cast. This, however, cannot be undertaken till a room is provided in which the light and arrangements are suited to the purpose. Arithmetic and Shorthand Classes.—These classes, which were held here on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, have been discontinued. This has been brought about mainly by the small fee fixed by the Board —namely, ss. per term of thirteen weeks, being the only remuneration received by Mr Grant, the teacher. In 1893 Mr Grant received £9 10s. for his year's work of 156 class hours. South Kensington Examinations. —This year the papers for these examinations arrived from London in June, almost two months earlier than usual. The result was that our candidates in geography and perspective had not completed the required course of instruction, and were therefore indisposed to attempt the examinations in those subjects. In the other subjects the students have done fairly well, the results are given below In connection with these examinations, reference may be made to the excellent results of Leonard Watkins. a primary-school teacher under this Board. This student obtained three " first class certificates in the second grade, two " first class and one " excellent" certificates in the third or highest grade examinations. The excellent" was obtained for shading from the cast, and was one of 56 out of 5,415 candidates who presented themselves from over 3,000 schools under the Science and Art Department. This is the second " excellent " obtained by this school for third-grade time examinations, as C. Blair, in 1893, was one of 35 when 5,231 candidates presented themselves for shading from models. It may be mentioned that this year the time examinations in shading and drawing from the cast were of a more searching character than formerly. Specially-prepared casts are now sent from the Art Department, London, instead of a selection from those in the school, with which candidates are necessarily more or less familiar. Local Examinations.—At the end of the year examinations in drawing were held in connection with the teachers' Saturday class, the results are given below The certificates which are issued to successful candidates for the different subjects are accepted by the Education Department, Wellington, as fulfilling the requirements as regards these subjects in drawing for teachers' classification certificates. Eesults oe 1 Examinations. Science and Art Department, South Kensington. SecoND Gbade.—Number of papers submitted for examination, 33, of which 22 passed. First Glass. Second Class. Freehand .. 20 candidates 11 9 9 failed Model 11 7 4 2 „ Shading from cast 6 „ 3 3 0 „ Perspective .. 1 „ 1 0 0 „ Geometry 1 „ 1 0 0 „