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Balance-sheet for Year ending March, 1898. Receipts. £ s. d. Expenditure. £ a. d. By Balance in bank .. .. .. 19 16 4 To Salaries .. .. .. .. 209 15 7 Town Lands Trust .. .. .. 175 0 0 Advertising and printing .. .. 719 10 Pees and lectures .. .. .. 53 18 6 Apparatus .. .. .. ..1191 Dr. balance .. .. .. .. 25 7 9 Furniture .. .. .. .. 718 0 Stationery .. .. .. .. 143 Amount paid leoturers .. .. .. 6 13 0 Gas-fittings .. .. .. .. 019 3 Cleaning .. .. .. .. 0 15 0 Sundries .. .. .. .. 14 2 Pees returnable for regular attendance .. 9 13 0 Outstanding accounts .. .. .. 16 11 5 £274 2 7 £274 2 7

MANUAL-TKAINING CLASS, MAUBICEVILLE WEST PUBLIC SCHOOL, WELLINGTON. Master's Eepoet. Bie,— The School, Mauriceville West, 19th February, 1898. I have the honour to submit the following report on the manual-instruction class, for the year ending 1897, held in connection with this school: — At the beginning of the year there were sixteen pupils on the roll; at the end, eighteen. The capitation received by the School Committee for the year amounted to £11 17s. 6d. The Committee hand me the capitation as payment for my services as instructor, with the understanding that I find necessary tools and timber for the use of the class. The following is a list of the tools, and the sources from which I obtained them:—Purchased through first capitation, and public subscription : One half-rip saw, eight chisels, one tenon-saw ; one draw-knife, two mallets, two screwdrivers, one spokeshave, two set-squares, one pair wing-compasses, one two-foot rule, one claw-hammer, one level square, one dozen lead-pencils, four bits, one oilstone, one punch, one wood-rimer, two German bits, one jack-plane, one smoothing-plane, three gauges, one screw-driver-bit. From Education Board: Three squares, six gouges, eight chisels, fourteen benchstops, four new mallets. From self, for use of the class : One grindstone, two iron bench-screws, one iron block-plane. In addition to the above, I lend the pupils my private tools, including brace, saws, planes, bits, &c. Considering the time I have devoted to this work I think my remuneration is very insignificant, and it is apparent to me that if the instructor wishes his pupils to be successful this special labour must be more seriously treated than as a mere hobby. The interest the boys show in their work does not flag, but increases as they progress. The syllabus, as far as I have worked, seems to fall well within the scope of the boys— i.e., a year's work as set out by the department can be readily done. Some of them are doing work set for the second year. Boys from the Third to the Seventh Standards attend, and I find the best work is not done by those in the higher standards, as one might expect, but the Third Standard boys can hold their own against some of the upper. The pupils thoroughly realise that they are not compelled to attend the classes, and their parents' permission must be obtained. I have observed that the ordinary school work of those attending the class shows more intelligence than that done by boys who do not. attend. Boys, too, who come from other schools are generally, if not always, behind my pupils, although in the same stardard, particularly where reflective work is necessary. As in ordinary school work, too, those who attend the manual-instruction class regularly are better workers than those who are irregular. The irregular attendance is not due to the boys but to the parents, who keep them at home more often some part of the year than at another—viz., at potato-dibbing, hay-making, potato-picking, and grass-seed cutting. Whether it would be more advantageous to hold the class during school hours or after I have not determined to my satisfaction. I often wonder if the boys are fatigued after their mental work of five hours, and need rest before touching tools. Sometimes I think they are not only fatigued, but hungry, as they bring only a light luncheon of bread and butter—not much nourishment for a growing boy —which is generally eaten during the ten minutes allowed for recreation. If—and I believe it is so in this and other districts —boys rise early, milk cows or work about the farm, breakfast early, work well in school, and play hard, they must feel hungry before mid-day, and possibly exhausted mentally and physically by the time for dismissal at 3 o'clock. Whether they are too tired or not for manual instruction lam unable to say until I make inquiries. It is receiving my earnest consideration, and as soon as I am satisfied either way I will inform you. "Perhaps it would be better for teacher and pupils if the class were held during school hours. In England the teacher could leave out science and another subject, the latter to be approved of by the Inspector, if he held a manual-instruction class. I can confidently say that the average English school-boy enjoys greater facilities for receiving manual instruction than the average colonial. There is as much difference between English and colonial school-boys as between chalk and cheese. Our country boys are in different circumstances altogether ; their domestic life and surroundings, their characteristics, their temperaments, their mental faculties, their keen sense for sport, their precocity, their independence, and above all the influence, though perhaps they are unconscious of it, of the climate and physical features of