E.—s

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most satisfactory. There is one great defect, however. It is a distinct hardship to compel young persons who work long hours in the daytime to rush home after their day's work, make a hasty meal, and then hurry off to the Technical School to start work there at 7 p.m. Legislation is urgently needed to make it compulsory for employers to allow their employees time off on at least two days each week for two hours each day so that they may attend technical classes in the daytime. When this is done there will be no injustice inflicted upon the students. Experience has shown the desirability of establishing classes for mechanical drawing at the technical schools, and at every centre a "trade-drawing" class been arranged for in 1917. The work is based on Darling's " Elementary Workshop Drawing " and Spooner's " Industrial Drawing." The Waikato dressmaking classes were under the charge of Miss Noble, who held classes at Hamilton, Morrinsville, Cambridge, Paeroa, and Thames. Special teachers were engaged for the dressmaking classes at the other centres. The senior girls from the following schools attended special classes in needlework for one hour weekly : Thames Central, Thames South, Te Aroha, Hamilton East, Hamilton West, and Cambridge. Girls attending these special needlework classes are required to take ordinary school needlework for one hour a week. Teachers' classes in hygiene, botany, and agriculture for practical work for the D-certificate examination and an agriculture class for the C-certifioate examination were held in Auckland City. A hygiene class for the D examination, and an agriculture class for the D and C examinations were held at Whangarei throughout the year. Dairy-science classes for instruction of teachers taking the subject in their schools were held in Whangarei and Hamilton. Farmers' classes were held weekly for twelve weeks at Morrinsville and four weeks at Gordonton, the attendance at both places being exceedingly good. Experimental work (variety and manurial trials) is being carried out by several farmers at Matamata and at Morrinsville under the supervision of Mr. J. W. Hadfield, instructor in agriculture. Two short courses in book-keeping for farmers were held, one at Mangere (ten weekly lectures) and another at Kaukapakapa (seven weekly lectures). The classes were attended by sixteen students at Mangere and twenty-two at Kaukapakapa, and those attending were very pleased with the instruction they received. Arrangements were made with the Auckland Branch of the New Zealand Farmers' Union for a correspondence class for farmers, and twelve sets of notes in all on such subjects as soils, manures, crops, plant-life, dairy science are being sent out monthly to 140 farmers. J. P. Kalaugher, Supervisor. Extract from the Report of the Director of the " Elam " School of Art. The attendance during the year has been practically the same as during 1915, which may be said to be quite satisfactory, considering the constant and increasing drain on the time of both sexes caused by the various branches of war work. 25,349 attendances have been registered during the year, as against 25,362 in 1915; but, just as 1915 was slightly better than 1914, 1916 would have been rather better than 1915 if the last week of the year had not been marred by bad weather. This 25,349 does not include 2,690 attendances made by school-children on Saturdays, who are too young or otherwise barred from earning capitation under the Regulations for Technical Instruction. The work of the year has been generally very good; in most classes there has been a general improvement, perhaps more especially in applied-art work, in which the work of the year is certainly superior to that of any previous year, and does the instructor great credit. The life and antique work has shown a considerable improvement, especially in the cases of two or three students, whose work has shown a very marked advance during the year. Excellent work was done in the classes for light and shade, still-life painting, mechanical drawing, and sketching from nature, and the instructor has interested a larger number of students than usual in design, of which section a very interesting collection was brought together at the annual students' exhibition. I regret that there are still no Government examinations or competitions in art and applied art held in New Zealand. They would be of great assistance to students, as a definite object to work for greatly increases their interest in their work. Some of our students who competed in the art section at the agricultural and pastoral shows at Palmerston North and Wanganui were very successful, taking ten first prizes and six second prizes against many other art and technical schools. I am sorry that the offer of the school to give free education to all classes to returned soldiers approved by the Returned Soldiers' Information Department has not been taken advantage of at all, as there are many trades taught in our applied-art section that could be easily taken up by wounded soldiers who might be unfit for a more vigorous life. One would have thought that design, wood-carving, leather-embossing, metal-working, enamelling, jewellery-making, and photography, all offering good means of livelihood, would have appealed to some of the returned soldiers. I am glad to say that I have been able during the year to find positions, as workers in some branch of art, for several of our advanced students, to whom it became a necessity to take up some remunerative work. The photographic dark-room, which was completed and equipped during the year, has been a great success, and is equal to accommodating a large number of students. There are, so far as 1 am aware, no photographic classes in Auckland, and I anticipate that this latest extension of the school-work will prove very popular. E. W. Patton, Director.