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Extract from the Report of the Inspectors of Schools. Handwork. —Particulars of the amount done in this department will be supplied by the Director of Technical Instruction. The quality continues to improve, and at some schools is exceptionally good. The whole scheme may be said to be still at the experimental stage, for it is yet to be shown that the results are commensurate with the time and money spent in securing them. In the light of our experience, we venture the opinion that primary education would be distinctly poorer if handwork were withdrawn from the curriculum. All of our teachers are willing, some of them eager, to give the scheme a fair trial. We hope before the beginning of next year to be in a position to recommend a course of handwork suitable for every grade of school in the district. Special classes for the instruction of teachers were again carried on during the year, and the effect of the work done is already manifesting itself in the schools. We may be permitted to question the public utility of at least two of the classes, those in woodwork and cookery. To the students themselves the classes are no doubt valuable, but, as there is neither woodwork-room nor cookery-room attached to any school within the confines of the district, it cannot be said that the classes are furthering any practical end in our system of education. There is no escape from the conclusion that it would be cheaper and more effective to employ experts to do the work than to continue to train teachers for work there is but a remote prospect of their being ever called on to do. Last winter we endeavoured, in conjunction with Mr. McCaw, to establish a winter school for the benefit of the teachers in the outlying parts of the districts. Unavoidable obstacles rendered the execution of the project impossible. We hope, however, to see the school established this winter. An endeavour will also be made to have an exhibition of handwork at the same time. Extract from the Report of the Director of Technical Instruction. The attendance at the Invercargill classes reached much the same level as former years. The total number of students who enrolled in 1903 was 252 and 172 for the first and second terms respectively, while the figures for this year are 284 and 222, an increase of thirty-two in the first term and fifty in the second. For the first time, although the subject has been on the syllabus for a number of years, a class in sanitary plumbing was established. This is a subject of vital importance to the inhabitants of the town, and it is satisfactory to know that a sufficient number of young men engaged in this occupation, were found anxious to extend their knowledge of this most important science to justify the carrying-on of the class. In view of the recent advances in bacteriological research, the establishment by Government of a Health Department, and the activity displayed by the four large centres of this colony in sanitary science, Invercargill cannot long remain in its present anyhow sanitary state. From the Technical School must radiate the necessary theoretical and practical knowledge which will enable our young tradesmen to equip themselves for the impending change in sanitary methods, and in consequence the establishment of a fully equipped plumber's shop in connection with the school must be undertaken in the near future. The recent purchase of the section adjoining the school grounds is a step fully justified, as now there is ample room to erect a plumber's shop and other necessary buildings as occasion requires. The'dressmaking class still retains its popularity. Good earnest work was done by young tradesmen in the building-construction class; art is again beginning to show evidence of life; and the commercial classes have met the needs of aspiring students. The class which shows the greatest decrease in the number of students is that of mechanical drawing. In 1902 there were twenty-seven in attendance; in 1903 the number fell to fifteen; this year the number was five. This is owing to the depression which has recently overtaken the engineering trade in Invercargill. I regret that the number of students in the cookery classes shows a decrease, but this is only what may be looked for, as cookery is now taught in both the primary and high schools to girls in Standard V. and upwards. I have a word of praise for the teachers. Without exception they have conscientiously carried out the duties devolving upon them, and the success of the classes is in no small measure attributable to their whole-hearted enthusiasm. The question of holding examinations at the close of the session's work and of awarding certificates on the results obtained has been considered. The aim of the school is to prepare the students to sit for the examinations under the City and Guilds of London Institute in technical subjects, and under the Board of Education, London, in science and art subjects, but very few are willing to take the course of study necessary. It has been thought advisable, therefore, to prepare a scheme of local examinations in the various classes, and before the end of next year this matter will be in working order. At Mataura classes in mechanical drawing, dressmaking, book-keeping, and arithmetic were held, the total roll-number being thirty. The residents of Mataura have consistently, year after year, shown such interest in the work, that the classes at this centre have always been maintained. The success of these classes is in no small measure due to the headmaster of the public school, who has at considerable personal inconvenience, devoted much time and energy to the furtherance of this branch of our education system. At Gore, the largest centre between Invercargill and Dunedin, no movement was made at all in the direction of establishing technical classes. Continuation classes were conducted by the head teachers at Lumsden, Mataura Island, Papatotara, Te Tua, Tuturau, Waimahaka, and Wendonside, the subjects taught being those required for a Standard V. and Standard VI. pass and book-keeping. For these classes the teachers charge a fee from the students, registers are kept, and capitation is obtained from the Education Department on the attendances recorded therein. In this way the teachers receive a fair remuneration for their services, and the district is benefited through the increase of knowledge obtained by the residents. More advantage might very well be taken by many of our country teachers of the provisions of the Manual and Technical Instruction Act, in accordance with which continuation classes may be conducted in country districts.