E.—2

Roughly speaking the chance of a child getting training at a woodwork or cookery centre is directly proportional to the size of the school which he attends, being a certainty for a Grade VII school, and about 1 in '200 for a Grade 0 school. Almost 1 child in 16 attends a Grade I school, but only about 1 in 160 of those attending manual-training classes comes from a Grade I school. Above Grade lIIc a reasonable percentage of the schools is served; below Grade lIIc the percentage is very low. Table 111 gives details according to district of the numbers of schools in the several grades, excluding Grade 0, from which attenders at manual-training classes are drawn.

Table III. —Percentage of Public Primary Schools served by Manual-training Centres, including Schools contributing to Intermediate Schools and Departments.

The table applies to the conditions at the 31st December, 1935, so far as the grades of the schools are concerned. Intermediate schools and departments are represented by their contributing schools, which are regarded as the schools from which the attendcrs at manual training in the intermediate school or department really come. In addition to the schools accounted for above Grade 0, one Grade 0 school, in the Southland district, sent pupils to a manual-training centre in 1935. As already pointed out, the variations between districts are explicable probably in a very large measure by conditions of communication and concentration of population over which the authorities controlling the schools have little or no control. It is certain that extension of manual-training facilities, especially in more remote country districts, must involve the establishment of centres operating at the most only half-time. Thus Waiuku, Opotiki, and Te Puke centres which will come into operation in 1936, are all half-time. Other projected centres will in general be worked little more than one day weekly. Such centres can only be conducted by full-time teachers where two or more can be worked by travelling instructors. In other cases part-time teachers must be employed, but competent part-time teachers of these subjects are very seldom available in small country centres, where alone they would be needed. Without efficient instruction the comparatively heavy cost of establishing a manual-training centre for only one or two days' work weekly would be difficult to justify. At the same time there is no doubt that these classes _ are most necessary and most beneficial for the children in the thinly populated country districts, where there is a clamant demand for the provision of manual training in domestic subjects and in woodwork and ironwork, as having a more direct bearing on life in the country than crafts which can be practised in the ordinary class-room. In this connection there is another very important aspect of manual training to be taken into consideration. This is the need for close association of manual-training subjects with the other subjects of the school curriculum, and therefore close association of the manual-training teachers with the other teachers concerned in the education of the children. This association is difficult and in many cases impossible where the manual-training centre is away from the school, and the children go to the centre often unaccompanied by a teacher of the school from which they come. In the intermediate schools and departments the manual-training teachers are full-time members of the staff, or, at least, have close association with the other teachers in charge of the pupils, and the same conditions hold in the case of consolidated schools with manualtraining centres attached, such as Piopio, Otorohanga, and Ruawai. In the larger intermediate schools and departments specialist teachers in drawing and in crafts of various kinds are employed, and in consolidated schools also there is more room for specialist teachers who have had a third year in the training colleges.

15

(Note. —Columns A, Fraction = J^ nn^ ier _served Columns B, Percentage served.) Number in Grade Grades of Schools .. .. I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. . — Totals. Average Attendance per School 9-20. 21-35. 36-120. 121-240. 241-360. 361-480. 481-840. Schools served A. Fraction = Schools in . , Grade! A - B - A - B - A - B - A - B - A - B - A - B - A - B - A ' B ' B. Percentage of Schools served 1 Auckland .. • ■ sfc 2-3 9-9 §f 72-7 85-0 f-f 100-0 Jf 100-0 }§f 26-0 Taranaki .. X 7-5 A 12-2 fg 51-7 if 90-9 f 100-0 § 100-0 | 100-0 35-0 Wanganui .. .. 0-0 % 0-0 7-1 f 71-4 J# 100-0 J 100-0 $ 100-0 13-5 Hawke'sBay .. 0-0 A 0-0 7-1 56-3 f 83-3 f 83-7 f 100-0 r % 6 ¥ 14-2 Wellington .. •• W 1*8 A If 41-3 95-0 100-0 \ 100-0 *£ 100-0 39-1 Nelson .. .. & 7-0 & 29-2 J§ 64-3 £ 100-0 J 100-0 J 100-0 J 100-0 36-2 Canterbury .. .. 19-8 || 25-0 |J 57-3 ff 85-7 f 100-0 \ 100-0 # 100-0 43-3 Otago .. •• A 2-8 10-4 25-0 83-3 § 100-0 £ 100-0 + 100-0 25-4 Southland .. .. if 20-7 || 41-9 63-8 f 88-9 f 100-0 f 100-0 f 100-0 46-1 Totals .. .. 6-5 37-6 81-0 ff 94-4 f5 98-3 100-0 30-4