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Swimming and Lift-saving. —Seeing liow important it is that all children should be taught swimming and life-saving, it is remarkable that so few teachers make any effort .to teach this subject in their schools. Out of more than six hundred schools in Auckland, in nineteen only was swimming and life-saving a recognized subject of the school curriculum, this being an increase of five over the previous year. Needlework. —Seventy-nine schools below Grade IV employed external sewing-mistresses under the .Manual and Technical .Regulations. The number of schools in which needlework was similarly taught in 1912 was seventy-two. Domestic Science and Woodwork. — Instruction in woodwork to boys, and cookery and laundrywork to girls, in the upper standards of the primary schools was given in the following manualtraining schools: Ponsonby, Newmarket, Newton, Devonport, Helensville, Pukekohe, Waihi, Thames, Cambridge, Hamilton, and Whangarei. Instruction in woodwork was also given at the Otahuhu Manual-training School. Speaking generally, the work carried out in these centres was very satisfactory, and the value of the training received by the children was much appreciated by the parents. Elementary Agriculture and Nature-study. —The teaching of agriculture in the primary schools continued to make steady progress. Not only was the number of schools in which this subject was taught increased from 167 in 1912 to 192 last year, but there was every evidence that the average quality of the work done by the pupils was much in advance of that done in any previous year. This success was in a very large measure due to the indefatigable efforts of the itinerant instructor —Mr. J. P. Kalaugher. There was veiy keen competition for the prizes offered by the Board for the best improvements in the school-gardens during the year, and it is much to be regretted that the Board has decided to discontinue the offering of such prizes. The rural course as laid down by the Department was taken in the following district high schools : Cambridge, Pukekohe, Paeroa, and Waihi. In order to make these courses as successful as possible the Board appointed in August last an itinerant agriculture instructor—Mr. A. V. Donnan, Diplome of the Hawkesbury Agricultural College in New South Wales. During the short time that Mr Donnan visited the district high schools at the end of last year his efforts were such as to make it very evident that the Board was most fortunate in securing the services of an instructor who, whilst possessing the necessary expert knowledge, was also a first-class teacher. Classes in elementary agriculture for country teachers were conducted by Mr. J. P. Kalaugher at the Technical College, Auckland, in January, in July, and in September. In all these classes, which were much appreciated by the teachers, excellent work was done. Technical Training of Teachers. —The teachers of the Auckland Training College, as in previous years, attended the Technical College for instruction in art, domestic science, and woodwork, the number of men students being forty-one and women students sixty-seven. Special classes for teachers, other than those who were students at the Training College, were held at the Technical College, Auckland, in the following subjects : Art, agriculture, arithmetic, algebra, book-keeping, botany, English, commercial geography, geometry, hygiene, Latin, and physiology. Two special short courses in botany and hygiene respectively were held at the College for country teachers who wished to obtain their D or C certificates in these subjects, and were unable to attend the full course at the College spread over the whole of the session. These special classes for teaciiers undoubtedly supplied a great want in the profession, and are certainly not the least important classes of the College, seeing that the better trained our teachers are the better educated will the children and thus the general community be. Compulsory continuation classes were established last year at Devonport and at Pukekohe. Some feelings of resentment were shown by students on account of their being compelled to attend these classes against their will: still, on the whole most satisfactory work was done. At Devonport the subjects taught were English, arithmetic, dressmaking, woodwork, book-keeping, and business methods, the number of individual students in attendance being thirty-four, and the number of class entries 107. At Pukekohe the subjects of instruction were English, arithmetic, dressmaking, woodwork, shorthand, and book-keeping, the total number of class entries being 129', and the number of individual students enrolled fifty. In addition to the compulsory continuation classes at Pukekohe and at Devonport, which have already been dealt with, technical and continuation classes were held last year at Thames, Whangarei, Waihi, Cambridge, and Te Aroha. Thames. —The classes at Thames proved even more popular than in the previous year, the number of individual students in attendance being ninety-one, and the number of class entries 286. Eighty-seven students sat for examination in December,, and of these fifty-one passed. The subjects of instruction were as follows: English, commercial arithmetic, shorthand, typewriting, book-keeping, woodwork, theory and practice of plumbing, and dressmaking. Whangarei. —At Whangarei the following classes were held last year: English, commercial arithmetic, woodwork, book-keeping, drawing, brushwork, poker-work, and painting. The number of individual students enrolled was forty-three, the number of class entries being seventyfive. Of the twenty-two students who sat for the examination in December fourteen passed. Waihi.— The following classes were conducted at Waihi: English, commercial arithmetic, shorthand, book-keeping, commercial correspondence, woodwork, cookery, and dressmaking' During the year Mr. S. H. Macky, who had been Superintendent of the technical and continuation classes at Waihi since their inauguration, was transferred to Auckland, and in consequence resigned his position as local Superintendent. Mr. A. T. Smith was appointed in his place The number of students enrolled was " sixty-three, the number of class entries being 176 The number of papers worked at the December examinations was thirty-three, and nineteen successes were obtained.