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The day school staff consisted of nine full-time assistants and four part-time instructors. Much interest has been taken in outdoor games, due in the first place to the fact that the institution of the house system has stimulated competition, and in the second place to the contests with Wanganui Technical School. In .March the Wanganui eleven visited Napier, and in October we sent a football team to Wanganui. It is hoped that similar contests will be arranged next year. The school entered a team in the Saturday fourth-grade Rugby football competition, and were runners-up for the cup. Kor the first time two teams were entered in the Saturday thirdgrade cricket competitions. Two girls' hockey teams entered for the Saturday competitions. The .athletic sports on the 31st October were a great success, there being a good attendance of parents and friends. The annual swimming sports were successfully held on the 13th March at the municipal baths. A display of work was again made at the Agricultural and Pastoral Society's Show in October. All departments were represented, special features being a model five-roomed bungalow and a 31 horse-power Max motor. The exhibit of millinery, dressmaking, and cookery attracted considerable attention. The whole display reflected great credit on the staff and the students concerned. All the prizes in the wool-classing competition at the show were won by students of the school. Most of the exhibits were again shown in the windows of Blythes Limited for a week in November, and later the engine and the bungalow were on view in the, window of Limbrick and Co-. These two firms deserve our best thanks for their generous co-operation in making our work better known to the public. One of the most important events of the year was the granting of a site for a new school by the Napier Borough Council. The site, about A.\ acres in area, is at the corner of Jull and Thackeray Streets, and is intersected by Faulkner Street. Part of the land is borough freehold, and part is Harbour Board leasehold. The Napier Borough Council has offered to buy out the interests of the lessees of the leasehold sections, and has obtained legislative authority to grant to the Education Board its own freehold portion and to close part of Faulkner Street. An endeavour is to be made to secure the freehold of the Harbour Board sections. There is every reason to believe that a start with the new buildings will not be long delayed. The action of the Council in providing the site is a very generous one, and will ensure the development of technical education for many years to come. v Examinations for Pitman's certificates were held in March. For the elementary certificate one entered and one passed; for the theory certificate eight entered and eight passed; for speed certificate two entered and one passed. In December a second examination was held, entries being as follows: Elementary, six (all passed); theory, eighteen (all passed); speed, eighty words a minute, seven (five passed); speed, 100 words a minute, one. In January four girls entered for the Public; Service Commissioner's Shorthand and Typing Examination, and three passed. Again in December three entered for the same examination and two passed. Four boys and three girls have entered for the Public Service Entrance Examination. Technical high schools as well as district high schools are very much hampered in their work on account of pupils leaving before they have received the maximum amount of benefit from the schools. Only about 13 per cent, of pupils in these schools are senior pupils (i.e., past their second 3 r ear). In secondary schools the percentage is about 30 per cent. Too many parents fail to realize the advantage of a third- or fourth-year course. The number of individual students enrolled in the evening school was 28.1, including fiftysix free students, 121 compulsory students, thirty-eight returned soldiers, and sixty-six paying students. In addition there were teachers' Saturday classes in drawing, science, and physical drill, bringing the total up to 301 students. Of the evening students, 178 were males and 103 females; 185 were between the ages of fourteen and seventeen, and ninety-six were over seventeen. The occupations chiefly represented were clerical, engineering, shop-assistant, and nursing. Of the first year compulsory students forty-three had not passed Standard VI. The classes in plumbing, advanced engineering, speed shorthand, engines, French, dressmaking, cookery, and science were all small classes earning insufficient capitation to pay expenses. It is gratifying to know that the Department has decided to grant increased capitation to small classes doing advanced or special work, so that such classes need not in the future be carried on at a financial loss. We are pleased to be able to report that this year a sufficient number of candidates offered to justify the New Zealand Plumbers' Board in holding examinations in Napier. Nine students, eight of them returned soldiers, sat from the school. The examination was to have been held on the 12th and 13th December, but owing to the difficulty in obtaining material it did not take place until the 23rd and 24th January. The school again received considerable financial assistance from the Napier Borough Council, the Hawke's Bay Agricultural and Pastoral. Society, the Napier Chamber of Commerce, and the Hawke's Bay County Council. The Hawke's Bay Builders' Union withdrew its support, as it was not satisfied with the method of representation on the Board. The Working-men's Club on being informed by the Education Department that it was not entitled to representation under the Act also withdrew its financial support. However, the representatives of these non-contributing bodies were elected to the Board by other bodies. For the first time the Board contained two members elected by the parents of the pupils of the Technical High School. The school is greatly indebted to the various contributing bodies, and also to the Education Board, for their valuable efforts on behalf of the technical education during the year. I. E. Newton, Director. Extract from the Report of the Director of Manual anp Technical Instruction. The manual and technical department dealt with the following branches of work : (a) Primaryschool work, including elementary handwork, woodwork, cookery, and dressmaking, elementary science, agriculture and dairy science; (b) district-high-school work—rural course, including elementary agriculture, home science, dairy science, domestic science and cookery, dressmaking, and woodwork ; (c) evening classes, including continuation and technical classes; and (<■/) teachers' classes. Teachers' ('lasses. —As in past years, the instruction provided by the Board for teachers consisted of (a) correspondence classes for uncertificated teachers, (&) Saturday training classes for pupil-teachers, probationers, and uncertificated teachers, (c) short courses for certificated teachers, and (d) summer classes to enable teachers to obtain their practical certificates in science subjects.

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