E.—2.

[Appendix B.

seniors (or 17-4 per cent.) were successful in gaining scholarships. Five of the nineteen Senior Scholarships awarded in this district were gained by pupils of the Board's district high schools. Of the 220 Junior Scholarships awarded in the Dominion, Otago candidates gained 18-6 per cent., and of the 122 Senior Scholarships awarded Otago candidates gained 15-6 per cent. Of the 120 scholarships current in Otago at the end of 1920, eighty-nine were Junior and thirty-one were Senior ; thirty-nine were hold by girls and eighty-one by boys. The reports of the Principals of the secondary schools regarding the conduct, diligence, and progress of the scholarship-holders were in all cases quite satisfactory. Manual and Technical. —Instruction in some branch of elementary handwork (paperwork, cardboard, plasticine-modelling, brushwork, &c.) was imparted in all the schools in the district. Cookery was carried on in thirteen centres, and woodwork in eleven centres ; forty-four schools participating in the cookery instruction, and forty-one in the woodwork instruction. Swimming and life-saving classes for S4 pupils were held at the Dunedin Municipal Baths. Classes for pupils above S3 were held at the Oamaru Municipal Baths, and also at Alexandra, Coal Creek, Duntroon, Naseby, Tapanui, and Waihola. The average attendances at the special classes were : Cookery, 1,301 ; woodwork, 1,341 ; swimming and life-saving, 1,131. Agricultural Instruction. —The school-garden furnishes a field of operations in which the personal interest and activity of the child find ample opportunities for expression. Its value in this relation, and also as a centre in which may be focussed valuable lessons adapted to the needs of the pupils, is being increasingly appreciated, and in many of our schools very effective work has been done. In some cases, however, the problems with which the garden bristles have not been used to the best advantage as a means of vitalizing the work. Further assistance to the efforts in the direction of beautifying the school-grounds was given during the year by the distribution from the Training College students' garden of nearly three thousand trees and shrubs to fifty-three schools. During the year elementary agricultural instruction has been associated with the other subjects of the syllabus in primary schools, while in the district high schools the rural science course has been followed. School of Art. —This institution was established by the Provincial Government in the early " seventies," and has had a very creditable history. For many years past, however, the revenue derived from it has been quite inadequate for its maintenance, and in view of the continued financial loss involved the Board has been reluctantly compelled to discontinue the classes and to undertake only the drawing instruction of its own pupil-teachers, probationers, and training-college students. The Technical College managers having agreed to provide instruction in the other art classes previously carried on at the School of Art, the Board has given them for that purpose the free use of the School of Art class-rooms and equipment until a proper building is provided for the art department of the Technical College. In the event of the latter body ceasing to carry on these classes, the building, apparatus, and equipment are to revert to the Board. The expenditure on manual and technical instruction was —Salaries, material, &c, for school classes, £0,661 17s. Bd., and for special classes, £684 os. sd. ; buildings, furniture, and fittings, £1,387 3s. 10d. : total, £8,733 Is. lid. —being an increase of £1,426 18s, Id. over the previous year. The excess of expenditure over capitation earned and receipts from other sources was £256 lls. id. Public-school Certificates. — There were 1,791 candidates from the public schools for proficiency certificates. Of these 1,437, or 80 per cent., were successful, and 161 gained certificates of competency. The proficiency results are higher by 3 per cent, than those of the previous year. School Libraries. —The Board continues to provide book-cases and allows a subsidy of £1 for £1 up to £2 10s. in any one year on all moneys raised locally by School Committees and expended on the purchase of books suitable for school libraries. A subsidy of 30s. for £1 up to £3 in any one year is also granted for pictures for the class-room walls. A Government subsidy of £1 for £1 on voluntary contributions for these purposes is also available. During the year forty-six ( ommittees participated in these subsidies, the total amount paid by the Board in respect of book-cases, books, and pictures being £101 Bs. sd. Free School-books. —The cost of books supplied by the Board in necessitous cases and in the case of pupils coming from other education districts where different books were used was £76 6s. 6d. The Board recommends that as soon as trade conditions arc favourable the Government should prescribe the use in all schools of the Dominion of one set of books for all subjects of the primaryschools curriculum, purchase or import the required number of copies, and supply them at cost price to pupils, the Education Boards to be the distributing agencies. Training Coltoge. —There were 193 students in the College at the end of 1920, viz. : Second-year students (58 women and 9 men), total 67 ; first-year students (84 women and 29 men), total 113 ; supernumerary teachers, 13 men (returned soldiers). To provide lecture-rooms and offices for an increase of about eighty students in 1921 a third story is now being added to the Training College building. A suitable site for the long-expected Training College hostel has been acquired, and plans for the building have been prepared and submitted to the Department; but, to the regret of the Board, the exigencies of the Government's finance have necessitated the postponement of the erection of the building for an indefinite period. Truancy and Irregular Attendance. —In the course of his duty the attendance officer found it necessary to serve 236 notices on parents and guardians for infringements of the Education Act. Investigations into 387 cases were necessary owing to the unusual amount of illness and for other reasons. Eleven penalty summonse-s were issued under section 62 of the Act, convictions being obtained in all cases. The fines for the year amounted to £7 12s. Of 1,951 pupils who left the primary schools during last year, 1,393, or 71 per cent., had passed S6, and 558, or 29 per cent., had not passed that standard, but had reached the exemption age of fourteen years. Pupils to the number of 166 in classes below S6 in the city and suburban schools terminated their school course in December, 1920. Of this number 107 had passed only S5, forty-one had passed only S4, fourteen had passed only S3, and four had passed only S2. All the pupils in question had reached the exemption age. Buildings. —Another difficult year has been experienced in the matter of erecting and repairing school buildings. While some lines of material are slowly dropping in price, others are still rising, and

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