E.—4

1898. NEW ZEALAND.

EDUCATION: SCHOOL FOR DEAF-MUTES.

[In continuation of E.-4, Sess. 11., 1897.]

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

No. 1. EXTEACT FBOM TwBNTY-PIEST ANNUAL EbPOET OP THE MINISTEE OF EDUCATION. School foe Deaf-mutes. The well-known school at Sumner, where even congenital deaf-mutes are taught actually to speak and to understand the vocal speech of others, continues its beneficent operations with little variation and with few incidents fitted to give rise to any comment. Three boys and 5 girls left at the end of 1896 and 4 boys and 3 girls were admitted in 1897. The attendance at the end of the year was 27 boys and 20 girls. The director in his work of instruction has the assistance of 5 teachers; the household arrangements are supervised by a steward and matron. The expenditure for the year was £3,277 Bs. 3d., made up of the following items :—Salaries of director and teachers, £1,349 6s. 7d. ; steward, matron, and servants, £478 55.; rent, £470 ; housekeeping, £684 7s. lOd.; travelling-expenses, £124 17s. 6d.; school material, £15 7s. 2d.; repairs and works, £47 17s. 4d.; clothing, £22 7s. lid. ; medical attendance and medicine, £12 ss. lid. ; water-supply, £11 9s. Bd. ; sanitary precautions, £16 6s. Bd. The amount contributed by parents is £155 Bs.

No. 2. Eepoet op the Dieectoe. Sic, — Institution for Deaf-mutes, Sumner, Christchurch, 7th May, 1898. I have the honour to submit for your consideration the following report of the School for Deaf-mutes for the year 1897. The total number of scholars present during the year was forty-eight—boys, twenty-seven ; girls, twenty-one. The ages of forty-seven of these varied from seven to seventeen. There was one adult. She was deaf from the age of fifteen only, and therefore not a mute. Being an exceptional pupil, she required special treatment, and it was given her. All the pupils are inmates of the institution, for the question of boarding-out advanced pupils has not yet been settled. Of these inmates, fifteen came from Otago, four from Westland, eleven from Canterbury, one from Nelson, eleven from Wellington, one from Hawke's Bay, and five from Auckland ; so that nearly all the provincial districts of New Zealand shared in the benefits of the school. Exceedingly vague, I find, are the notions of the general public on the subject of terms. Parents, when applying for the admission of their young deaf children, are not often any better informed. It may serve a good purpose, therefore, to plainly inform all concerned that there are no monetary terms to hinder the admission of the children of the poor, and that the charges to the more fortunate members of the community are both moderate and reasonable ; and again, that it would be a real kindness to the afflicted if parents or friends would, by letter, report all cases of deafness between the ages of four and seven to the director or to the Hon. the Minister of Education, so that an expert might visit and report upon them whenever suitable opportunities •occur.