MENTAL DEFECTIVES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 719, 19 July 1929, Page 11

MENTAL DEFECTIVES

DOMINION TOUR BY CLINIC EXAMINATION OF CHILDREN (TIIE SUN’S Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, Today. Another important step taken by the Mental Defectives Board is announced by Dr. Gray, chairman of the board and InspectorGeneral of Mental Hospitals. This is the conclusion of a Dominion tour by the central clinic of the board, which is operating under the direction of Dr. John Russell, As-sistant-Inspector-General of Mental Hospitals, and a trained psychiatrist. The clinic visited all special schools in the country and examined individually the children of those schools. Opportunity was also taken to visit all persons who had written to the board for assistance and to investigate the circumstances of each case. The board can now proceed to begin its classification of the children concerned.

The appointment of Mrs. H. Dick as social service member of the central clinic is also announced. Mrs. Dick has been with the Education Department for some time and has given service in its special schools branch. She is well known as a social service worker. It is expected that the first train-ing-place for children at Templeton, Canterbury, will be in operation by the end of next month. Fifty children will be accommodated in the structure at present in course of erection. Until the Templeton institute is tested out there will be no capital expenditure in the North Island, and the site for the first institution will not be chosen for some time. Appointments to the training staff at Templeton are now under consideration, and those appointed will be announced at an early date.