B.— 4

1899. NEW ZEALAND.

EDUCATION: SCHOOL FOR DEAF-MUTES. [In continuation of E.-4, 1898.]

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

No. 1. Exteact fbom the Twenty-second Annual Repoet op the Ministee of Education. School for Deaf-mutes. At this school, as most people are aware, deaf-mutes are taught to hold communication with their fellow-men, not by the use of finger or other signs, but by what is known as the oral method. They are trained in such a way that they can follow the speech of any person who will take the trouble to articulate properly, and can themselves speak so as to be easily understood by others. Their general intellectual and moral education is also well attended to. It is worthy of note that the roll of the school includes all the known deafmutes of school age and of sound intellect in the colony who have been brought under the notice of the Education Department. It is possible that there are a few, say, in the North Island, whose parents have not responded to the invitation to bring the cases of their children under the notice of the Director in his periodical visits to the various parts of the colony. As the Director pointed out in his report for 1897, " 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 Secretary for Education, so that an expert might visit and report upon them whenever suitable opportunities occur." Four boys and one girl left at or near the beginning of 1898, and seven boys and one girl were admitted during the year. At the end of 1898 the number in the institution was thirty boys and twenty girls. The Director, besides exercising a general control, takes the chief part in the instruction of the pupils, and in this work is assisted by a staff of five teachers; the boarding arrangements and the care of the inmates when out of school are in the hands of a steward and matron. The gross expenditure for the year ended 30th December, 1898, was £3,342 14s. 7d., made up as follows : Salary of Director and teachers, .£1,373 10s.; steward, matron, and servants, £481155.; rent, £470; housekeeping, £742 19s. Bd.; travelling-expenses, £128 12s. 6d.; school material, £8 19s. 6d.; repairs and works, £26 Bs. 7d.; clothing, £23 9s. Id. ; medical attendance and medicine, £9 16s. 7d.; water-supply, £30 4s. ; sanitary precautions, £15 Bs. Bd.; sundries, £31 lis. Less amount contributed by parents, £207 12s. 7d. Net expenditure, £3,135 2s.