1.—3.

TABLE S.—Inmates, 1901 and 1902.

The term " industrial schools " includes* institutions which, although all are "industrial schools" in the meaning of the Act of 1882, are in reality very different in character. First there are the two reformatories—one for boys at Burnham, and the other, Te Oranga Home, near Christchurch, for girls. At Burnham there are many who, if they had not been sent there, would probably have been waifs whose liberty would be periodically restricted ; but where they are they are regularly trained in farming, gardening, poultry-keeping, dairy-work, carpentry, bootmaking, or tailoring, and have every chance of being reformed in character. No boys are sent to Burnham who are merely destitute, or who need only some degree of careful control to make them like ordinary boys living in good homes. The institution is reserved for those who, from hereditary taint, or more frequently through the neglect or vice of their parents, or from both causes combined, have fallen into vicious ways. The process of reclamation in such cases is necessarily a slow one, and requires intelligence, patience, and sleepless vigilance on the part of those who are to carry it out. Classification of the inmates is an important feature of the work, and an essential element in its success. The boys are accordingly divided into three main classes, although it has been found desirable to make a separate subdivision for certain individuals who show signs of serious moral degeneracy. Promotion from a lower to a higher class is made to depend principally upon two factors— good conduct and diligence in school and in learning a trade. Those in the first and second classes receive small payments as pocket-money, besides other privileges, and any boy in the first class who earns more than the cost of his maintenance may have the surplus paid into the account of his earnings in the same way as if he were licensed out to service. So far as there is room, also, those belonging to the first class live in cottages on the farm under the supervision of married attendants, and enjoy thus a taste of home life and considerably more liberty than boys belonging to the other two classes. The period of probation under conditions of partial liberty is a valuable means of fitting them for fuller freedom and responsibility when they leave the school. Those in the workshops and on the farm receive sufficient training to enable them to earn their own living afterwards, and in many cases they can step at once into as good situations as any other boys of the same age. It should be remembered that a training that shall do this is even more necessary in their case than in that of a boy whose parents are able and disposed to direct him in the first years of manhood, for the latter has both heredity and environment to assist his own voluntary efforts, whereas the reformatory boy can have a fair chance of an honest and respectable career only by being well equipped for the struggle of life.

2

Boarded out. In Residence. At Service, &c. Totals. •h s> g ". 6 g S o ® 2 <o <d q fl a a os ScStSS os e3=a o> H . 8 B * * £ S . 03.0 o ogao CDS* <D <ciajco Q £ P Q Q^PP o 01 o Q a3 o5 ei I 3 a goo 2 © o> 8 a a rovernment SchoolsAuckland Receiving Home, Wellington Receiving Home, Christohurch Burnham Te Oranga Home, Christchuroh Caversham 'rivate Schools — St. Mary's, Auckland St. Joseph's, Wellington.. St. Mary's, Nelson St. Vincent de Paul's, Dunedin 48 39 147 184 9 35 '2 14 57 74 133 2 174 19 2 10 115 17 130 2 10 1 1 8 12 18 : 1 I 2 103 19 14.0 30 28 69 166 29 194 24 2 23 3 31 25 93 166 31 217 97 69 226 281 46 508 9 31 2 4 23 10 106 100 228 271 50 531 10 96 39 194 6 2 17 90 37 177 34 37 110 10 5 26 44 42 136 130 76 305 4 3 9 134 79 314 i X 19 4 23 8 3 11 27 7 34 Totals .. 419 46 24 441 641 16 47 610 705 94 3 796 1,765 92 10 1,847