E—2.

[Appendix C.

modelling, and plasticine, and design and colour work, and in all cases the schools in the outlying districts were treated as liberally as the more fortunate town schools. It is a regrettable fact that although the cost of all material has increased considerably, in some cases up to 100 per cent., the Department has not increased the capitation rates to enable Boards to replenish stocks. Elementary handwork was taken up at 400 schools in the district, and 28,167 pupils received instruction, an increase of 1,000 over the previous year. Teachers also showed greater keenness to take up advanced branches of handwork. Included in this list are classes as part of the rural courses of instruction —classes in woodwork, ironwork, cookery, domestic economy, hygiene, home science, laundry-work, dressmaking, needlework, swimming, &c. Instruction in woodwork, cookery, &c, was given at twenty-two different centres in the district; in all, there were 124 classes in each subject, with an average of about 6,000 pupils. As in former years, pupils were conveyed by rail, coach, tram, &c, to attend the different centres, and such is the value placed on the instruction by parents and teachers that almost every available pupil made application to attend. In many cases train services are not as suitable as they were before the restricted service came in. Although no new centres were established during the year, a groat deal was done to improve the conditions at some of the centres that badly needed it. Arrangements have been made for a greatly increased building programme during the incoming year. The difficulty with regard to the overcrowding at the Christchurch centres will shortly be overcome, as the Department has given a substantial grant, and an up-to-date building will shortly be erected at Phillipstown to cater for the requirements of all the schools near that centre. An attempt was made to establish new centres at Hawarden and Southbridge. The Department approved of a grant of £400 for the purpose of providing a building at Southbridge, but on account of the great cost of building at the present time it was found impossible to get the work carried out for this sum ; while for the same reason a building could not be erected at Kaikoura, although the Department promised £300 and the Kaikoura County Council promised £150 for that purpose. The rooms at Hokitika were found to be too small for all the pupils offering, also the woodwork-room was condemned as being unsafe, so application was sent to the Department asking for a grant to provide a better building. The sum of £750 has now been approved, and the. work of erecting the building will be taken in hand shortly. At Lyttelton matters have been in a bad state for some time past, as the building in use is quite unsuitable for manual training. After a good deal of agitation the Borough Council has now generously offered a site of land, and promised a grant of £200 for the erection of a technical-school building in which manual classes will be held. When the building is erected the pupils from the Heathcote School will be enabled to attend classes for woodwork and cookery. When the above buildings are all completed Canterbury will be well supplied with manual-training buildings, every centre, with perhaps the exception of two, having a building of its own; and it is hoped that it will be possible to provide instruction for a very large proportion of the pupils in the district, which will help to bring the school life of the pupils into closer relationship with both their home and future life. The great difficulty in carrying on Woodwork and cookery classes is to provide capable instructors to take up the work at the smaller centres. This difficulty cannot be overcome till the Department increases the capitation rates or takes over the payment of all manual instructors, as the capitation rate paid is not nearly adequate for carrying on the work properly. The requirements of our boys at the front have again not been neglected during the year by either pupils or instructors. At all centres a great deal was done by way of supplying articles for Bed Cross and patriotic purposes.. Too much praise cannot be given to the cookery instructresses, who voluntarily stepped into the breach and gave their services in their respective kitchens in the matter of choking nutritious foods for those stricken down during the epidemic. Generally the influenza epidemic prevented any displays of work done during the year in connection with the classes, but pupils attending manual-training centres in the northern part of the district gave an interesting exhibition at the Oxford Show. Seventy-five classes for sw mming and life-saving were carried on regularly at the beginning of the year, and instruction was given to about two thousand pupils, but weather conditions and the epidemic did away with all idea of holding classes towards the latter part of the year. The interest in agricultural education continues to increase year by year. For the first time a permanent agricultural instructor was stationed on the coast; this enabled Hokitika and Grcymouth to take up the rural course of instruction during the latter part of the year. Southbridge also began the rural course, but unfortunately no provision could be made for the teaching of woodwork and cookery in connection with the course. In all, thirteen district high schools carried on the rural course, with an average attendance of about 252. At 217 primary schools the subject of elementary agriculture was taught, and two primary schools took up dairy science. Extract from the Report op the Chief Instructor in Agriculture. The year has been marked by a large number of breaks of an unavoidable character, and these have greatly militated against the efficient conduct of the courses of instruction. Chief among the causes of interruption were the difficulty in obtaining the services of assistant instructors, the severe snowstorm, my own enforced absence for a fortnight, and the influenza epidemic. Notwithstanding these interruptions, however, the instruction in the primary schools compares more than favourably with that of other education districts. The candidates for the various public examinations have again done well. One hundred and fifteen schools in North Canterbury, seventy-four in South Canterbury, and twenty-three on the West Coast gave formal instruction in agriculture. The Carleton School succeeded

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