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Statement of Receipts and Expenditure for the Year ending 81st December, 1906, in respect of Special Classes for Teachers conducted at Masterton. Receipts. £ s. d. Expenditure. £ s. d. Furniture, fittings, apparatus .. .. 52 611 Material for class use .. .. .. 12 14 2 Material .. .. .. .. ..911 Purniture, fittings, apparatus .. .. 58 1 9 Balance at end of year .. .. .. 9 711 £70 15 11 £70 15 11 G. L. Stewart. Extract from the Report of the Managers of the Petone Technical Classes Association. The Board of Managers, in issuing the third annual report, have much pleasure in stating that satisfactory progress has been made in the various classes established in connection with the school. A very large number of " free place " students are availing themselves of their privileges by attending the classes. The managers hope that parents and the young people of the district will recognise the real practical benefit a course of study in our school confers, and that the number of students year by year will show a steady increase. The annual reports submitted by the teachers of the various classes were considered very satisfactory. The difficulties under which the classes have laboured owing to the lack of proper accommodation is a matter generally touched upon. For instance, the instructor of the mechanical drawing and machine-design class writes, " I feel quite certain that if a proper class-room were provided, and a few models and diagrams, many more young men would attend this class." Three students of this class prepared for and passed the examination for third-class engineers' certificates. There were thirty pupils in the shorthand, typewriting, and correspondence class. The instructor reports that while some of the pupils made excellent progress—in two instances shorthand was mastered in one quarter —others were most unsatisfactory, particularly the boys. Considering the number of pupils passing through the various city schools each year, it was a matter for congratulation that four Petone pupils had been successful in obtaining employment in Wellington in the last quarter as shorthandwriters and typists. Free pupils were the greatest source of anxiety, inasmuch as in their endeavour to secure the free tuition in shorthand, &c, they had to attend other classes, and were consequently at the school almost every evening in the week, leaving no time for shorthand practice, without which it was impossible to become proficient, and the ultimate result was that, being so long learning, they became tired of it and gave in, to the discredit of the school. It might, however, be possible to compensate for this to some extent by providing an assistant instructor. It was possible to carry on the classes hitherto, but with disappointing results, and if the class was to fulfil its mission—viz., to fit pupils for a commercial life—some steps should be taken to compensate for the disadvantages under which they laboured. The instructress to the dressmaking class reported that the classes had been well attended, and the students had taken great interest in their work. The instructor reported that the progress of the drawing and the painting pupils had fatexceeded expectations, considering the extreme youth of the pupils. A large majority had progressed in a marked degree, whilst some five or six had made excellent progress. The attendance and conduct generally had been all that could be desired. The instructor of the carpentry and building-construction classes emphasised at the outset that the classes were working under circumstances that could not but affect the attendance and the amount of good to be imparted to pupils. The work done had been fairly satisfactory. The instructor of the continuation classes stated that the attendance was more regular than in the previous year, and, with the exception of four unambitious juniors, all showed a willingness to progress. In mathematics the majority seemed bent on strengthening their calculating-powers. There was, however, room for a purely commercial course in arithmetic, which could be run together with the theory taken by the remaining students. For solid geometry an improvement could be effected by obtaining a set of models. The students in the plumbing class made very fair progress, but there was the usual difficulty in getting them to take a deep interest in the theory of the subject. Statement of Receipts and Expenditure for the Year ending 31st December, 1906, in respect of Associated Classes conducted at Petone. Receipts. £ s. d. | Expenditure. £ s. d. Balance at beginning of year .. .. 202 0 1 ! Salaries of instructors .. .. .. 277 9 0 Capitation on associated classes .. .. 113 16 6 Office expenses (including salaries, staRent .. .. .. .. ■ • 40 4 0 tionery, &o.) .. .. .. .. 17 7 Subsidies on voluntary contributions .. 79 18 0 Advertising and printing.. .. .. 13 14 2 Pees .. .. .. .. 147 19 3 Lighting and heating .. .. .. 18 16 4 Voluntary contributions .. .. .. 80 0 0 Insurance and repairs .. .. .. 15 2 4 Other receipts .. .. .. .. 5 7 9 | Rent .. .. .. .. .. 52 14 0 Material for class use .. .. .. 26 18 8 Caretaker .. .. .. .. 13 9 3 Cheque-books and bank ohargea .. .. 018 6 Cartage.. .. .. .. .. 1 18 6 Fees refunded to free-place pupils .. 38 5 0 Furniture, fittings, apparatus .. .. 32 7 0 Balance at end of year .. .. .. 176 5 3 £669 5 7 £669 5 7 W. G. Lodder, Chairman ) ~, J. G. Castle, Secretary j of Mana g^-