E.—s

outside of the schools for technical training. During 1897 the Auckland Education Board received £10 15s. sd. for manual classes at Devonport, and £5 ss. for a similar class at Eemuera. The Wellington Board received similar aid for three classes, as follows : —Paraparaumu, £4 19s. 6d.; Cross Creek, £2 os. 6d. ; Mauriceville West, £14 14s. 4d. The Crey Education Board, for a class in the Greymouth District High School, received £11 14s. 7d., beside a grant of £25 for equipment; the Westland Education Board, for a class at the Kumara School, £5 16s. lOd. as subsidy, and £70 for equipment. The Otago Education Board received a subsidy of £12 16s. 4d. for Balclutha District High School, and £9 16s. lid. for a similar school at Tokomairiro. With respect to classes for technical instruction as distinguished from manual instruction, the Education Board of Wanganui received £52 Is. 4d. as subsidy on classes at Wanganui, and £13 17s. lid. for classes at Palmerston North, and a special grant of £200 in aid of its Technical School at Wanganui. The Wellington Board received £396 17s. Id. as capitation on classes at its Technical School, and a specialgrant of £100 in aid of the same institution. The Otago Education Board received £58 10s. as capitation for classes attending its School of Art. The North Canterbury Board has classes in Christchurch and Leeston, partly to prepare teachers for imparting manual instruction and partly for the manual instruction of the older school-boys. This Board received a capitation grant of £41 7s. 6d. for its Christchurch work, and a grant of £172 10s. for workshop installation; for the Leeston class it received £1 6s. 3d. as capitation, and £25 as a grant-in-aid. The total payments to Education Boards for capitation amount to £641 19s 6d., and the special grants amount to £592 10s. In allowing capitation grants to technical classes it has been deemed better to err rather on the side of a too liberal interpretation of terms than on that of undue strictness, and —after the example of the Science and Art Department in London —to recognise such subjects as shorthand and book-keeping, and even classes that might fairly be considered as answering the purposes of a continuation school; but classes for primary school work have not been so recognised, nor classes for the instruction of pupil-teachers. Special grants have been made to Technical Classes Associations as follows : —Auckland, £100 ; Gisborne, £30; Dunedin, £450 ; and Invercargill, £50 ; and a grant of £80 to the Christchurch School of Domestic Instruction. The capitation grants to these and other institutions are as follows: —Auckland Technical Classes Association, £40 3s. 4d.; Ashburton Technical Classes Association, £9 14s. 7d.; Balclutha Technical Classes Association, £40 17s. lOd.; Canterbury College School of Art, £162 4s. lOd.; Christchurch School of Domestic Instruction, £99 2s. Id.; Christchurch Young Men's Christian Association, £17 2s. lid.; Christchurch Boys' Gordon Hall, 14s. 7d.; Dunedin Technical Classes Association, £82 2s. Bd.; Gisborne Technical Classes Association, £42 ss. 4d.; Invercargill Technical Classes Association, £33 14s. 4d.; Kaitangata Technical Classes Association, £8 16s. 9d.; Masterton Technical Classes Association, £9 12s. Id.; Napier Junior Club, £3 4s. 7d.; Tuanaroa Technical Classes Association, £10 16s. 6d.; Westport Technical Classes Association, £11 7s. 3d.; Waiwera Technical Classes Association, £8 16s. 4d.; Warepa Technical Classes Association, £7 18s. sd. To the teachers of what may be called private adventure classes capitation payments have been made as follows:—Messrs. Bickerton Brothers, Christchurch, £15 3s. 7d.; Miss A. M. Carr, Christchurch, £109 10s.; Mr. C. H. Gilby, Christchurch, £34 16s. 6d. ; Misses Hardie and Manning, Napier, £12 7s. Id. ; Mr. W. I. Bobinson, Auckland, £42 9s. 9d.; Mr. J. M. Telford, Christchurch, £2 lis. 3d. The total of capitation grants to individual teachers is £805 12s. 7d., and of capitation and special grants to associations, £710. The other items of expenditure for 1897 on account of technical instruction are as follows:—Expenses of Science and Art Department examinations, £62 lls.'7d. ; expenses of City and Guilds of London Institute examinations, £33 10s. 9d. ; part of cost of railway travelling of students and teachers, £68 9s. Id ; preparation of drawings of woodwork exercises, £15 9s. 3d. ; publications purchased, Bs. 4d.; freight on loan collection from Science and Art Department, £1 ss. 7d.

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