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Report of the Controlling Authority of the Palmerston North Technical School. The Technical School is managed by the Board of Governors of the High School. Mr. J. E. Vernon was appointed Director in January, 1906. Art classes were carried on by Mr. G. H. Elliott for thirty-nine weeks, with an attendance of sixty-three students. Classes were also held in English, mathematics, shorthand, typewriting, book-keeping, commercial work, wood - carving, magnetism and electricity, and plumbing. These were attended b}- sixty-eight students. Only one student took advantage of a free place. The classes were on the whole a success, but a building nearer the centre of the town is urgently needed, as the High School building is too remote for night-work. C. Coleridge Harper, Chairman. Statement of Receipts and Expenditure for the Year ending 31st December, 1906, in respect of Special Classes conducted at Palmerston North. Receipts. £ s. d. Expenditure. £ s. d. Capitation on special classes .. .. 38 6 6 Salaries of instructors .. .. .. 281 3 4 Rent .. .. .. .. 14 0 0 Advertising and printing .. .. .. 28 14 9 Furniture, fittings, apparatus .. .. 19 14 5 Lighting and heating .. .. .. 18 17 7 Material .. .. .. 27 15 8 Rent .. .. .. .. .. 710 0 Subsidies on voluntary contributions, .. 67 16 0 Material and permanent apparatus .. 67 0 4 Fees .. .. .. .. .. 254 17 11 Repairs .. .. .. .. 310 0 Voluntary contributions .. .. .. 70 19 0 Balance at end of year .. .. .. 86 13 6 £493 9 6 £493 9 6 William Hunter, Secretary, Palmerston North High School Board.

WELLINGTON. Extract from the Report of the Education Board. Capitation was earned by 120 schools in 1906, compared with 110 in 1905. The subjects most widely taught were brush work and plasticine modelling ; but classes were also recognised in elementary agriculture, 42; dressmaking, 2; chemistry, 3; first aid and ambulance, 2; swimming, 2; botany, 1 ; physics, 3 ; cookery, Wellington (two), Pahiatua, and Wairarapa centres. Instruction in cookery has been carried on as in previous years at Terrace and Newtown centres, Wellington, but from the present year the work will be carried on at the new centres at the Training College and South Wellington. Masterton and Carterton in the Wairarapa have been provided with well-fitted rooms; one is in course of erection at Levin; application has been made for similar accommodation at Pahiatua and Greytown; while suitable provision for the Hutt and Petone is still under consideration. A woodwork room has been completed at the Training College, and one will shortly be erected at South Wellington, for which centres the services of a capable instructor have been engaged. From the beginning of the year the management of instruction in agriculture was placed in the hands of Mr. W. C. Davies. The Board is well satisfied that the increased attention thus given to the study of elementary agriculture will be productive of much good. Forty-two schools earned capitation, and in the larger centres, especially of the Wairarapa, much has been done by local effort to aid the Board in producing the very best results. It is hoped that the work will be extended during the present year to other centres on the Manawatu line. The thanks of the Board are due to those public bodies and to individuals who have subscribed largely for providing properly prepared areas and suitable appliances for the work. The work of the instructor has so increased that the Board decided to discontinue the joint arrangement with the Technical Education Board and to engage his whole time. Extract from the Report of the Inspectors of Schools. 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 is 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 pi; cine 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 elementar}' 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