E.—3

10

and concentration, we try to make them passive, innocent recipients of stores of knowledge without the movement on their part of a mental muscle. Explanation is often one of the very best means of preventing mental action." The importance of " mental " and oral work not merely in the preparatory stages, but in all the stages of the school, is not thoroughly appreciated in many schools, and this fact no doubt accounts to a large extent for the moderate success achieved in arithmetic in them. Geography and Nature-study. —The number of schools in which very satisfactory work is done is increasing, and the schemes of work show that the subject is receiving more intelligent treatment. There are schools, however, where observation of natural phenomena does not play an important part in the methods of teaching, and to these schools the remarks made in last year's report are still applicable. The important source of topics furnished by the war has not been overlooked, and in this connection the School Journal and the illustrated papers have been found extremely valuable. For a more comprehensive treatment of the subject generally the attention of teachers is directed to a study of the suggestions contained in the syllabus of instruction. Handwork and Manual Training. —Many schools make a feature of the sewing, and in these very fine work is done. In addition to specimens of work many articles of practical use are presented for inspection, and it is not uncommon to find that the dresses worn by the girls have been made in school, where they have received instruction in cutting out and in the use of the sewing-machine. The difficulty in many instances of inducing the parents to supply the necessary material precludes an extension of the practice. Many of the schools continued throughout the year to send forward articles which are found needful for the soldiers at the front. In the treatment of drawing some improvement is noticeable, and a greater number of teachers are realizing that drawing is a mode of expression, and that the pupils' work, in whatever form it is expressed, must be the direct representations of natural and fashioned articles— records of their own impressions, not those of some one else. In quite a large number of schools the drawing, including brushwork, is very good. Free-arm drawing on the blackboard is gradually being introduced. In those schools where workshops have been established useful instruction is imparted to the boys of the upper classes, and material benefit is afforded to their parents, who readily purchase at cost all the useful articles made, comprising cupboards, tables, boxes, dressers, stools, gates, tables, bedsteads, &c. The results of this instruction are to be seen in the improved houses in many of the settlements. Sometimes the work of a class extends beyond the settlement, and the work of building is undertaken. One feature connected with this work is that the workshops are practically self-supporting. In most of the schools where instruction, in cookery is given the results are highly successful, and some very fine displays of the girls' work have been seen at the annual visits. The girls are taught plain cooking of all kinds, and also various invalid and infant foods. There is no elaborate equipment, the cookery-room being the teacher's kitchen. In some cases the materials necessary are supplied at small cost to the Department; frequently the girls themselves supply them. This branch of instruction is very popular with the girls, who no doubt benefit much from it. In connection with woodwork and cookery it should be mentioned that advantage was taken of the facilities offered by the establishment by the Auckland Education Board of a manualtraining centre at Tauranga, in the Bay of Plenty, and an accredited number of pupils from Native schools in the vicinity were permitted to attend the classes and receive instruction in these subjects. In elementary practical agriculture the need for proper organization has long been felt, and arrangements have been made for the inclusion of Native schools where possible in the scheme of agricultural instruction adopted by the Auckland Education Board for the public schools. By this means it is expected that the instruction will be systematized, and in schools that have been approved of by the Department an agricultural class will be formed, which will be under the supervision of the Board's Instructor in Agriculture. With a view to putting the scheme into practice in a section of the schools a special course of instruction for teachers was held at Tauranga in February of the current year, and was attended by teachers from twelve Native schools. The report of the instructor stated that many of the teachers gave evidence of considerable practical experience and interest in gardening, which experience, in conjunction with the work covered in the course of instruction, should provide some tangible results. From time to time provision will be made for the inclusion in the scheme of other sections of schools. Singing continues to be well taught in a very large number of schools. The chief defects are due to an insufficiency of voice-training exercises. Physical Instruction. —No further convenient opportunity so far has presented itself for providing for a course of instruction in the new system for the teachers in the districts referred to last year. In their schools accordingly the old system is still in vogue, and includes sets of free exercises and breathing-exercises, and generally the work is performed very satisfactorily. The importance of organized games does not appear to be as generally recognized as it should be, and only in a comparatively small number of schools is it found that attention is given to this branch of the subject. In future some explanation will be required in the cases of those schools where there is no system of organized games. Life-saving drill and the Boy Scout movement have been introduced with much success into a few schools,