The Short Title of this Act is “The Manual and Technical Elementary Instruction Act, 1895.”

In this Act, if not inconsistent with the context,—

It shall be lawful for any Education Board constituted under “The Education Act, 1877,” to order that manual instruction be given in any public school under the control of such Board as if manual instruction had been included in the list of subjects prescribed in the eighty-fourth section of the said Act.

Any Education Board may authorise any teacher in one of its public schools, or any person specially appointed by the Board, to hold a class for manual instruction in any such school at hours not included in the ordinary school-time, and such hours shall be deemed to be extra school-hours; and if such instruction occupies at least two hours a week for ten weeks in any quarter, and is given by a teacher whose qualifications for giving it have been proved to the satisfaction of the Minister of Education, the said Minister shall order that a payment be made to the Board by the Treasury at the rate of two shillings and sixpence for the quarter for every unit of the average attendance at such instruction during the quarter, except that if the school in which the instruction is given is situated in a country district the payment shall be at the rate of three shillings and ninepence instead of at the rate of two shillings and sixpence.

Any Education Board may, in any place within its district, establish classes for technical instruction entirely apart from the course of public-school instruction, and may receive payment for the same under this Act. In any place that is not within five miles of a place where a class is established by an Education Board for the purpose of technical instruction, any society or committee or other body of managers, or any instructor, may establish classes for technical instruction, and may receive payment for the same under this Act.

The payment in any case hereinbefore provided for shall be at the rate of one shilling and threepence for the quarter for every unit of average attendance at a class, if the class is held for one hour a week for ten weeks during the quarter; but, if the class is held for two hours a week for the ten weeks, the rate shall be two shillings and sixpence, and so on, the rate increasing by one shilling and threepence for every additional hour a week; and for classes in country districts the rate shall be one shilling and tenpence halfpenny instead of one shilling and threepence an hour.

In every case it must be proved to the satisfaction of the Minister of Education that the instructor in any subject is competent to give instruction in the subject; and no payment shall be made in consideration of instruction given during any period prior to the production of satisfactory proof of the competency of the instructor.

The Minister of Education shall order that payments in accordance with the provisions of this section be made by the Treasury to the Education Board, or to the body of managers as aforesaid, or to the instructor of a class which is not under the control of a Board or a body of managers.

The payments authorised under the fourth and fifth sections of this Act shall be made quarter by quarter, and the payment in consideration of instruction given during any quarter shall be made as early as possible in the following quarter.

All moneys by this Act authorised to be expended by the Treasury shall be paid out of moneys from time to time appropriated for that purpose by the General Assembly:

Provided that the total sum so appropriated in any one year shall not exceed two thousand pounds, and that all payments to be made under this Act in terms of the preceding sections hereof shall, from time to time, be proportionately reduced in so far as may be necessary in order to accord with the limitation prescribed by this proviso.

The Minister of Education may appoint an Inspector or Inspectors, who shall have the right to visit all classes for manual and technical instruction aided or subsidised in accordance with the provisions of this Act, except that a class established by an Education Board shall not be visited by an, Inspector appointed under this Act unless the Education Board shall request the Minister to cause the class to be inspected under this Act.

At the request of any Education Board, the Minister may direct an Inspector appointed under this Act to visit its public schools, and to advise and report upon the course and method of the instruction in elementary science, drawing, and manual instruction in such schools, or any of them.

The Governor in Council may from time to time make, alter, and revoke regulations—

For defining the branches of manual and technical instruction and the course of such instruction;

For issuing certificates to pupils according to their proficiency in any branch so defined;

For the inspection of schools and classes;

For the distribution of any money that may be voted by the General Assembly for the purpose of assisting in the erection of suitable buildings for technical instruction;

For the purchase of apparatus for manual and technical instruction under this Act, and otherwise as may be necessary to secure the due administration of this Act.

The payments hereinbefore provided for may be withheld in any case where such regulations, or any of them, are not duly observed.

Fees may be charged for attendance at any class for technical instruction under this Act and at any class for manual instruction given in extra school-hours, and all such fees shall be fixed by the Education Board, or by the society, committee, or other body of managers, or by the instructor, as the case may require, and may from time to time by the like authority be revoked, altered, or made anew.