5

E.—3

Up to the present time (July, 1900) the following progress has been made : A suitable property has been bought by the Grovernment at Mount Albert, near Auckland; the Auckland Industrial School has been transferred there, and is in full working order. A house, with nine acres of land, has been taken on a ten years' lease, with the right of purchase, at Burwood, near Christchurch ■(" Te Oranga Home "); the necessary alterations have been effected, the staff has been appointed, and.the home will be opened very shortly. All the girls have been removed from Burnham, to which boys needing a larger degree of control have been sent from Caversham. The " industrial-school boys " proper at Burnham occupy the quarters formerly assigned to the girls, and are kept as distinct as possible from the "reformatory boys." The " industrial-school boys" from Burnham and Caversham will be transferred to the new industrial school as soon as it is ready. An official correspondent has been appointed for the purpose of looking after industrial-school inmates boarded out and industrialschool girls licensed to service in the Wellington District. There were already official correspondents at Christchurch and Dunedin, and the manager of the Auckland Industrial School performs these duties in addition to her other duties. The Visiting Officer of industrial-school inmates having found the work too heavy to allow him to see the inmates frequently enough, a second Visiting Officer has been appointed to visit inmates boarded out or licensed to friends or employers in various parts of the colony. Negotiations for the receiving-homes at Wellington and Christchurch are almost completed, and the homes will be opened shortly. These homes are intended for the temporary accommodation of children committed to industrial schools (not of reformatory cases), and of industrial-school girls who have left the service of one employer and are waiting for another situation. One important purpose to be served by these receiving-homes is that children may be boarded out or licensed out to service in the districts to which they belong without having to be transferred (except in reformatory cases) from one part of the colony to the other. Technical instructors have been appointed at Burnham, and the same course will be followed, as occasion arises, at the other main institutions. Except where it is shown that an inmate boarded out is receiving a due amount of industrial training, it is proposed to remove him, at the age of twelve or thirteen, for two years to the institution to which he belongs, in order that he may be properly taught a trade. These remarks apply to Grovernment industrial schools (including reformatories). It is, however, desirable that the organization of the private schools should be modified, if necessary, so that they may fall into line with the general scheme, and be controlled by the same general regulations. It is not anticipated that there will be any difficulty in accomplishing this. The principle of punishing the parent for the consequences of his neglect to exercise due control over his children is recognised in the Young Persons Protection Bill. The same principle might, with advantage, be extended to cases in which want of parental control brings a child within the Industrial Schools Act or any other similar Act— e.g., Eeformatory Act—that may be passed. During the year 1899 113 inmates passed out of the control of the schools, namely: Discharged, 79; having reached the age of twenty-one years, 17; by transfer to the Costley Training Institution, 8; by marriage, 1; by death, 8. Of the eight deaths three were those of resident inmates—two girls, one from tubercular meningitis, and one from pneumonia, at St. Mary's, Auckland, and one girl at St. Mary's, Nelson, from pneumonia; three were deaths of inmates licensed to parents or friends —viz., one girl from pneumonia, one from pulmonary consumption, and one boy from cardiac disease; two were boys licensed to service—one from pneumonia, the other, from blood-poisoning. Table U gives the fullest details available regarding the character of the parents of children admitted during the year and in respect to the causes of committal. It cannot be regarded as accurate in every detail; more especially as to the causes of committal it should be noted, as remarked in last year's report, that