E.—l.

Visual Aids. The task of producing a complete policy in connection with visual aids in education has proved more difficult and lengthy than was anticipated. The field is beset with a multitude of legal and technical difficulties even after the strictly educational questions are settled. However, the Committee I appointed to look into the matter has done a large amount of work during the year, especially on the types of projectors available, the sources from which films can be procured, and the educational possibilities of the film-strip. A number of film-strips have been prepared with the assistance of the training-college staffs, and small supplies have been purchased overseas. The training colleges have been provided with special equipment to enable them to experiment with visual aids. Very good pioneer work has been done by other groups, the most notable being the Visual Education Association in Auckland, which runs a circuit of silent films covering some fifty schools. Committees and associations connected with some schools have .worked hard to procure projectors and other equipment. I shall announce the Department's considered policy as early as possible, and shall arrange for help and guidance in the sphere of visual aids to be given through the Education Gazette and in other ways. Museum Officers. Projectors and films are not the only visual aids. The seeing and handling of real objects is even more important to children than the viewing of pictures, and for this reason I approved of the appointment in February last of an Educational Officer attached jointly to the museum and the training-college in each of the four centres. Half the salaries of these officers is paid by the Department and half by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, which has also provided funds for the preparation of museum boxes for circulation to schools. The function of the officers is to form a link between the schools and the museums, to encourage m children a vivid interest in all that museums can offer, and to train teachers in the use of museums and visual aids generally. The initial grant from the Caroepe Corporation was for a three-year experimental period, and the experiment is being watched with interest with a view to incorporating it permanently in the education system if it proves satisfactory. Art and Music Sets. The Carnegie Corporation again made several gifts of art and music sets to schools and training colleges during the year. They are being used in the spirit in which they were given, to develop the appreciation of art and music not only in the schools, but also in the local communities of which the schools are a part. NATIVE SCHOOLS. Over the past three years there has been rapid development within the Nativeschool service. The Native schools have always had a fairly close contact with their village communities, but in 1936 it was laid down as a definite policy that curricula and methods in the schools should be related as closely as possible to Maori life and culture. The result has been very gratifying, and there are no schools in the country making bolder experiments than the Native schools, especially along the lines of projects, crafts, and social activities related to village life. Health and Building. For the Maori, problems of health and of education cannot be separated and efforts are being made to provide for Native schools domestic facilities that are not on y useful for training the young, but also as models for the adult communities Special buildings have been erected at six Native schools to house under one roof a cookery room, a woodwork room, hot and cold showers, separate baths for boys and girls, and a laundry. The baths and showers are made available to adults as

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