XXVIII

E.—l.

£397 10s. lid. In addition to the payment of £30 for the annual railway ticket for the use of an agent of the Institute, the Department also paid £4 7s. foi fares of the Principal and his attendant, £2 11s. for the passage of a pupil, and £21 for the separate tuition of a pupil in Christchurch; £54 9s. 6d. was recovered from parents and others. The number of Government pupils at the end of 1901 was 12 ; 1 of these left during the year 1902, and 5 boys and 2 girls were admitted; the number of such pupils at the close of last year was accordingly 18. Manual Teaining and Technical Instruction. A great advance was made during 1902 in respect to manual and technical education. The total number of recognised classes, which at the end of 1901 was 425, increased to 980 at the close of last year. Of these 566 were classes for handwork in schools, and 414 were " special," " associated," or " college classes," of which 64 were continuation-classes —that is, classes for adults or for boys and girls that have left the day-schools, in the ordinary branches of a general education, and the remaining 350 were technical classes properly so called. The total number of classes that so far are known to be in operation during the present year (1903) is about 1,800. The number of classes for handwork in the upper classes of the public schools is still small in comparison with the number of classes doing such work in the lower classes; with the introduction of the new standard syllabus shortly to be issued all excuse for this anomaly will disappear. One of the most pleasing features of the year is the increase of the number of classes in country schools and of classes for adults in small country towns. Much more might be done, especially if the agricultural associations and the local authorities generally would follow the example so well set by a few of them. The Act of 1902, it may be pointed out, by recognising Borough Councils, County Councils, and other local authorities as bodies that might join with Boards of Education, School Committees, or the governing bodies of University colleges to form technical classes, and by giving such authorities representation on the boards of managers, placed them in the same position as associations of various kinds were placed in before. There is now really nothing to prevent any district or any body of persons in a district from starting classes under the Act and securing grants sufficient to equip and carry on the classes, unless it be the comparatively small number of thoroughly competent instructors that are to be obtained. This, however, is an evil that is being gradually removed as those who have been attending training classes for teachers in these subjects become qualified. The grants to Education Boards for the instruction of teachers in manual and technical subjects, amounting in all to £1,875, were available last year as in 1901, and the amounts were paid over to all the Boards that had complied with the conditions; similar grants will be available during the present year. The revised regulations that were gazetted in December, 1902, considerably simplified the mode in which grants are obtained. Supplementary regulations, approved in June of the present year, offered grants not exceeding £5 per annum on account of each pupil admitted free to technical classes, provided such pupil had passed Standard. VI. or a higher examination. These free places are called "junior technical scholarships " ; they last for two years, and may be extended (as " senior technical scholarships") for two years more if the holders show signs of satisfactory progress. In order that the substratum on which technical education is based may be sound, it is made a condition of the tenure of the junior technical scholarships that the holders shall attend continuation classes in one or more subjects of general instruction, such as English or some other language, and arithmetic or some other branch of mathematics. It is, indeed, difficult to see what more could be done by statute or regulation to encourage manual and technical education; it is now a matter for those in the various parts of the colony to start such classes as are suited to the wants of the several districts. Some have urged that Government ought to go further and establish classes everywhere; but it is tolerably certain that to set up classes where people are not prepared to make some effort in their own behalf would result in a considerable waste of public money without any corresponding benefit. The grants for buildings and apparatus paid last year amounted to £4,997 Bs. 3d.; for material, £246 Is. Bd.; capitation, £5,604 17s. 4d. Details of these grants and of other matters, together with the special reports of the Inspector-General of Schools and the Inspectors of Technical Instruction will appear in a separate paper (E.-5).