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scope, which is infinitely wide. Here " the method counts for everything, the information imparted very little." Is this natural order not reveraed when we find included in our programmea leasona on the moa, the kiwi, the kauri pine ? That our children ahould have aome knowledge of such remarkable features of our fauna and flora is right, but such knowledge can form no part of lessons primarily intended to link the formal work of the school with the child's ordinary out-of-door life. For this reason we expect much from our school garden, where should be found a wealth of material illustration for nearly every lesson on the time-table. A circular on nature study and elementary agricultural knowledge was issued by the Board at the beginning of the year. In the latter subject, which has been placed under the supervision of Mr. W. C. Davies, considerable progress has been made, and as the work ia of such importance we have asked him to make a report, which we append. During the year 120 schools earned capitation under the Manual and Technical Regulations. The subjects which find most favour with our teachers are brush-drawing and modelling in plasticine or flexine; but nearly all the subjects for which grants are given under clauses 19, 20, and 21 of the regulations are represented and in addition grants have been earned for elementary agriculture, elementary physics, elementary chemistry, elementary physical measurements, elementary botany, swimming and life-saving, physiology, and " first aid," dressmaking, and cookery. When manual work was first introduced into the syllabus the subjects taken were often treated as isolated and complete in themselves, but a better knowledge of correlation has gradually spread, and we now seldom find schools where the programmes in drawing and handwork are not co-ordinated with other subjects of the syllabus. The cookery- classes have been continued as before under Mrs. Neeley in the city and Miss Talbot in the country. The latter succeeded Miss Millington, who resigned to take up similar duties elsewhere, after several years of successful and arduous work in the districts of Wairarapa North and South. The centre at the Terrace has been removed to the Normal School, and when the South Wellington building is finished the Newtown centre will be removed there. An excellent cookery room has been added to the Masterton School, and provision has been made for one at Carterton. One of the rooms of the old Greytown School should also be fitted up for this purpose, and when this is done children from other schoola in the Wairarapa might very easily be taken to one of these three centres for lessons. A centre will shortly be established at Levin, and provision should also be made to give the girls at Petone and the Hutt an opportunity of obtaining lessons in cookery. The Department made grants for the establishment of woodwork centres at Thorndon and South Wellington. An instructor has been appointed, who will shortly be at work. Similar centres should be establiahed in the Wairarapa. In practically all our larger achools military drill is marked " very good." Physical exercises with clubs, wands, and dumb-bells, and deep-breathing exercises, are also regularly taken throughout our diatrict, and we are pleaaed to note that more attention is now devoted to the laat and what we conaider the more important branch of phyaical culture. We would strongly recommend the practice of taking a few minutes every day for free-arm and breathing exercises in lieu of the old method of a weekly hour or half-hour lesson. Teachers should also recognise the fact that physical training should embrace such matters as general carriage, posture at work, personal cleanliness, ventilation, and the general tidinesa of achoolroom, officea, and playground, all of which have a most vital bearing on a child's life. We are quite in accord with the propoaal for the medical examination of children, and we hope the Department will be able to publish such general directions as may best guide the teacher in assisting the expert in this part of his work. Swimming, which counts as physical instruction, has been taught in several schools, some of which have earned capitation, but others have not claimed it. The thanks of the Board are due to Mr. Shields, of Wellington, who has devoted his Wednesday afternoons to the instruction of boys. We regret that the City Council has not been able to adopt his admirable suggestions, but we hope headmasters will take every advantage of the valuable instruction which he so readily places at their disposal. The interest taken by many headmasters and assistants in such outdoor games as cricket, football, hockey, and tennis is very commendable. They have readily given many hours of their time and devoted their Saturdays to work of this nature, and have thus shown that their interest in the welfare of the children under their charge ia not confined to the schoolroom. Saturday classes for teachers in drawing and handwork were held at the Training College, and in elementary agriculture at Masterton. Mr. Gray, Principal of the Training College, kindly gave a course of lecturea in nature study, which were much appreciated by those teachers who attended. Of the eight-nine pupil-teachers in the service of the Board, all, with the exception of four, have passed the examinations required, and aa one of theae four failed at the examination last year her engagement is terminated by the regulations. Two others who received unsatisfactory reports during the year sent in their resignations. The pupil-teacher regulations recently adopted by the Board have received the sanction of the Minister of Education. The Board's Junior Scholarships were awarded on the results of the examination for Junior National Scholarships. Our small country schools are not as well represented in this competition as they ought to be. It is difficult for scholars from some of these schools to reach an examination centre which is thirty or forty miles distant. The establishment of a few more centres would give more encouragement to our country teachers to prepare children for these examinations, success in which may mean a great deal to a child above average ability living away in the backblocks. This year Senior Scholarships were awarded for the first time, but the competition was not keen. Only seventeen candidates entered, and all succeeded in passing the examination. Scholarships were awarded to all who were under the age of sixteen, and those over that age qualified for a senior free place. The new Scholarship Regulations which have now received the sanction of the Minister are published in an appendix. In. our reports for 1904 and 1905 we wrote at some length on the special problem presented by the district high schools —namely, the determination of the curriculum —and we do not propose to repeat those remarks here. The work in these schools is not yet of such a practical nature as we should like to