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him to the Board. There is no doubt but that Mr. Banner has found his appropriate niche and that Mr. Matthews will make his work at Feilding a success. In the North Mr. H. W. Jackson was appointed to assist Mr. Browne, the Director of the Hawera Technical School, but, though the appointment relieved Mr. Browne to some extent, the position in south Taranaki cannot be considered satisfactory till Mr. Browne, like Mr. Banner, is able to give the whole of his time to agriculture. Unfortunately, south Taranaki is a much smaller district than the Board's Southern District, and the capitation allowance is insufficient to free it from financial stress; but if south Taranaki were to emulate north Taranaki, and make a small contribution towards technical education on the basis of its output of butter and cheese, the whole of Mr. Browne's time could be devoted to agricultural teaching and investigation, to the great advantage of south Taranaki, which, prosperous though it be, could be made vastly more prosperous by utilizing to the fullest extent Mr. Browne's splendid qualifications. Scope of Work. —lt may be worth while to consider the various ramifications of the manual and technical subjects in our school courses. It should be premised that in the primary-school course there is neither specialization nor anything in the shape of vocational work. Handwork at this stage, and for the most part at the secondary stage also, is merely a .member of the copartnery of school subjects leading up to right thinking, right feeling, right willing, and right acting, that tend to produce capacity and character. In the primary school, then, handwork comprises drawing in pencil, chalk, or brush; constructive work in paper, cardboard, plasticine, all ending in elementary science (usually agriculture) and woodwork for the boys, and cookery and home science for the girls, who also take needlework during the entire course. In the secondary departments the work in some respects tends a little towards specialization and the vocations. The tendency is manifest in the engineering classes at the Wanganui Technical College, in the commercial classes of all the schools, in the elementary agriculture of all the schools, and more particularly at the school farms and the agricultural camps. Handwork and technical work in the secondary departments may be set out thus : Elementary science (compulsory for all pupils); constructive work—engineering (Wanganui), woodwork, metal-work, practical mathematics, constructional drawing for boys and brushwork for girls, and, for girls only, cookery, dressmaking, laundry-work, and home science. To this should be added commercial work, taken largely by both boys and girls. In the continuation and Junior Free Place classes, where a manual or technical subject must be taken, it is usually taken in the form of woodwork, metal-work, engineering, art or commercial work. Manual and technical classes for adults cover a wide range of subjects, the chief of which are commercial work, domestic arts, agriculture, pure and applied art. It is but a matter of time, fortunately, when the adult technical class as we have known it will disappear altogether, for an adequate system of technical instruction is developing which will by and by be an integral part of the education of all young people from the primary school to the university. Much of the last paragraph might, at the first glance, be characterized as so much parade, but it is hot parade without a purpose. It suggests the very pertinent question, What is the justification of it all 1 This is not the place to defend manual and technical work on the general principle that any education that fails to provide for it is incomplete; here it must be justified on the ground that it contributes to the well-being of the State by facilitating the production and exchange of wealth. That the manual and technical work taken in our district does this is perhaps evident from the following considerations : The pupils in our commercial classes are eagerly sought for; more and more of the pupils in our secondary classes are taking practical courses leading - to specialization and the vocations; constructive classes, such as engineering, building-construction, carpentry, and plumbing, contribute to the efficiency of labour; the domestic arts classes contribute to personal efficiency; and classes in the various branches of agriculture stimulate the direct production of wealth. Of course, there are, as in all educational work, waste and misdirected effort, but these will be more and more eliminated as technical training is more nearly adapted to social and economic needs. As compared with the previous year, there was a great increase in the number of attendances as well as in the number of individual pupils, a fact that is accounted for in the Central and Northern Districts by the operation of the compulsory clause. The greatest increase took place in the commercial classes. The problem will now be to provide other classes sufficiently useful and attractive to withdraw the attention of the pupils from the allurements of the desk and typewriter. Dressmaking fell off' in the Centre and North, but increased in the South. It is one of those subjects that require a periodic rest. The number of adults, apart from teachers, taking agriculture was eighteen —ten at Hawera and eight at Feilding—an increase of two on the previous year. This number does not include the demonstrations to farmers given by Mr. Browne in the Northern District. The attendance in magnetism and electricity increased from thirty-six to fifty-four, there being forty-one pupils at Wanganui and thirteen at Hawera. At the present time teachers in this subject are urgently required both at Wanganui and Feilding, but impossible to procure. Considering the importance of the subject in the arts and industries the lack of capable teachers is greatly to be regretted. At Wanganui the number in attendance at the mechanical-engineering classes rose from twenty-seven to thirty-four, but there was a slight falling-off in applied mechanics. In view of the superior equipment and teaching-ability, it is a matter for regret that so many young people engaged in the engineering trade fail to take advantage of the instruction offered. We have now had a complete year's experience of the working of the compulsory clause as applied to continuation classes. Considering the far-reaching nature of the innovation, it is surprising that it has been administered with so little friction. The liberal scale of exemptions, and the fact that the attendance of girls has not been insisted on, have no doubt conduced to a quiet acceptance of the position on the part of both parents and pupils. Irregular attendance