E.—2,

In general, pupils leave day school during the course of the year as soon as openings are available which are considered desirable in the ruling economic conditions. Thus there is a decided rush from school into employment towards the end of a depression when_ the demand for young workers becomes strong, the parents being less able than at other times to keep their children at school. Attendance at evening classes follows trade fluctuations very closely, mainly because students do not enrol in special courses until they have secured employment in the occupation which they wish to follow. Both these_ tendencies are unfortunate. The first can be eliminated by sufficiently raising the upper limit of compulsory full-time attendance at school. The tendency for the number of learners in any given trade or industry to fluctuate violently with the rise and fall of employment in that trade or industry produces a kind of resonance effect on unemployment, since too many tradesmen are trained in good times and too few in bad times. This is felt most acutely in trades in which the period of apprenticeship is fairly long. The problem of maintaining for every occupation a supply of learners adequate but not excessive for its future requirements is also complicated by the general difficulties of forecasting when occupations are " changing, disappearing, and being created with bewildering rapidity." It appears, however, to be evident that any regulation of the supply of trained workers in industry can only be effective if the recruitment and training of young workers is made independent of the demands from moment to moment of industry. Surges of entrants into employment first in one direction and then in another can hardly contribute to a steady state of industrial activity, and are quite inconsistent with reasonable observance of the principles of vocational guidance and placement. The establishment of trade schools was advocated in one centre during the year, in connection with one or two occupations, and it is perhaps in this direction that a solution of the difficulties of apprenticeship may ultimately be found possible. The practicability of such schools depends mainly on the concentration of the industries served, and in many much more thickly populated countries, with immensely greater industrial concentrations, trade schools are 'by 110 means the regular training-grounds of young workers. Buildings, Equipment, and Apparatus. The remarks made in regard to buildings, equipment, and apparatus in my report for 1934, apply also to the year 1935. . . . During the year 1935, however, greater activity was displayed by technical School Boards in making provision for school libraries. In the matter of building and general equipment progress was made m several centres, while more attention was paid to repairs and maintenance than in the worst years of the depression At Auckland, partly by the aid of grants, provision was made for adding a story to the large workshop building, including a gymnasium and class-rooms. Grants were approved and plans prepared for the addition of a library and laboratory to the Pukekohe Technical School. _ At Hamilton Technical School additions to the science wing of the mam building were completed and brought into use, providing an electrical engineering laboratory and a physics and mechanics laboratory. At Hawera a library was built, and accommodation for engineering classes rearranged find improved. At Gisborne High School, a workshop block, giving facilities as for a technical high school, was erected. , , ~ At Palmerston North Technical School the workshop block was extended to provide an additional engineering workshop. . At Petone a third floor was added to the workshop block, together with extensions _ of the ground floor for the engineering workshop. _ Arrangements were also made for replacing the main building by more extensive and suitable accommodation. At Wellington the erection of the home-science wing and the assembly-hall were begun, and will be completed during the year 1936. n , The new Papanui Technical High School was erected during the year, and will be ready for occupation at the beginning of the second term of 1936. It will be managed by the Christchurch Technical School Board. The same _ Board completed during the year 1935 a large Memorial Hall with some valuable auxiliary accommodation. At the Timaru Technical School new homecraft-rooms were provided. Grants were approved and plans prepared for a building for the art department at the Dunedin Technical School. . . . . New 1 workshop blocks were erected during the year m the position assigned m accordance with the general scheme of development at the Invercargill Technical School. At the Nelson Boys' Combined School a workshop block was erected, providing accommodation for metalwork, woodwork crafts, agriculture, &c. New buildings for manual training were authorized at Cromwell, Waiuku, le Puke, and Opotiki, and will be ready for occupation early in 1936. . . Preparations were also made in Dunedin for establishing a manual-training centre at Moray Place to relieve the pressure on the other centres in the city.

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