E.—ls

39

it seriously interferes with organized games, such as cricket and football, which form by no means an unimportant part of the school life of every good British boys' school. Evening Schools. According to the Chief Superintendent's report, " the results of the even-ing-school work in New York are distinctly disappointing. The enrolment is large, it is true ; but the average evening attendance is comparatively small. Thousands of students enrol, but a comparatively small number persevere to the end. To judge by the attendance, only about one-half the students attend more than half the number of sessions. Consequently, not more than one-half derive substantial benefit from their evening-school work .... There can be no question as to the benefits derived by those who attend regularly." There are thirteen evening high schools —five for men, five for women, and three for both sexes; there are seventy-seven evening elementary schools —thirty-three for men and boys, twenty-five for women and girls, and nineteen for both sexes. In the evening high schools there were enrolled during the year 1905-6, 21,307 pupils, but the average register was only 9,903 ; in the evening elementary schools the total enrolment for the year was 85,743, and the average register 42,137. The total enrolment in the evening high and elementary schools was therefore 107,050, and the total average register 52,040. These figures show that very many pupils remain only a short time, their places again being filled by others, who in their turn give way again to others. The average attendance in the evening high schools was in the same year 7,016, and in the evening elementary schools 28,822; total in all the schools, 35,838 —that is, 69 per cent, of the average register, or 33-5 per cent, of the total enrolment. For each ten thousand persons of the population of the city, there was an average attendance at evening schools of 86-3. The nearest corresponding figures for New Zealand and Switzerland (attendance at continuation and technical schools and classes, Tables Al and A 2) are 188-1 and 304-8 respectively. Included in the above figures are the pupils attending two trade schools, held, one at the Manual Training High School of Brooklyn, and the other at the Bryant High School in Long Island City ; these were chosen because they were more or less equipped for the work intended. There were registered in these two trade schools 2,430 pupils of both sexes, with an average attendance of 835. " The idea of the trade school is to teach young mechanics not only the how, but also the why ; to combine practice with theory ; to give men who know only part of their trade an opportunity to acquire a wider knowledge, to broaden their mechanical training, and thus to make them more efficient workmen and therefore more intelligent and useful citizens. We need, at the present time, trained mechanics who are able to understand and to handle our intricate machinery." The subjects taught were the following : Carpentry and joinery, cabinetmaking, patternmaking, blacksmithing, plumbing, machine-shop practice, printing and typesetting, electric wiring and installation, industrial chemistry, applied physics, mathematics, mechanical drawing, architectural drawing, dressmaking, millinery, and domestic science. The District Superintendent in Charge of Evening Schools recommends the addition of classes in English and in physical training, and of classes in sight singing or choral work, which the educational authorities of New York encourage everywhere, both for its social and for its culture value. A leading American economist has made the startling statement, which no one has attempted to contradict, that, of the enormous exports from the United States, not a single article is sold on account of its superior workmanship ; and it is the realisation of this fact that, among other things, is now stimulating the authorities to supply one of the great needs of the nation—good trade schools. With some qualification, the remark quoted above may be to some extent true of the exports from New Zealand—their good quality in many cases being due rather to the excellence of the natural conditions than to the trained skill of those who produce them. Whether this be a fair statement or not, it is quite certain that well-organized trade classes, especially classes in agriculture and in the trades connected therewith, would by developing the skill and intelligence of the producers add enormously to the bulk-and the value of the products. But so slow are farmers generally to realise the change that has come over the spirit and methods of agriculture of late years, and to recognise the great benefits that their sons and daughters would receive by technical training in their work, that it would almost need an inspired missionary to convince them of facts which are commonplaces in more advanced communities, such