E.—l.

XXXVII

The expenditure on the institution for the year 1907 was : Salaries of Director and teachers, £1,589 13s. 3d.; Matron and servants, £859 65.; housekeeping, £957 7s. 10d.; travelling-expenses (including transit of pupils), £161 6s. Id.; school material, £6 16s. Bd.; clothing, £26 16s. 3d.; medical attendance and medicines, £29 11s. Bd.; water-supply, £114 55.; boarding-out of pupils, £126 18s. lid.; general maintenance of buildings, and furniture, £289 os. lid.; laying-out of grounds, erection of dairy and fowlhouses, £788 2s. 10d.; sundries, £162 6s. 2d. : total expenditure, £5,111 11s. 7d. Deducting parents' contributions, £538 4s. 4d., the net expenditure was £4,573 7s. 3d. Jubilee Institute for the Blind. This is the only school in the Dominion for the education of the blind. It is not a Government institution, although the Trustees are required by law to receive, at the direction of the Minister of Education, children who are between seven and sixteen years of age—the period fixed for the compulsory education of blind children. Notwithstanding the difficulties under which the work is being carried on at present, owing to rebuilding operations, there is much evidence that the pupils are being efficiently taught according to modern methods. . At the close of 1906 the Government was paying for 27 pupils; during 1907, 5 left and 6 were admitted, making 28 the number maintained by the Government at the end of the year. The total net amount paid by the Government during 1907 on account or the blind in New Zealand was £540 14s. 10d. A sum of £648 ss. 9d. was paid for pupils at the Jubilee Institute for the Blind; a pupil in Christchurch received special instruction at a cost of £28; expenses of inspection by an officer of the Education Department were £8 9s. 4d.; and the contributions recovered from parents and others towards the maintenance of pupils amounted to £144 os. 3d. Special Schools for the Education of Mentally Deficient Children. During the year the house of the Otekaike Estate, in North Otago, with 342 acres of the surrounding land, was acquired for the purposes of a school for boys who, by reason of deficient intelligence, cannot receive proper advantage from the ordinary public-school instruction. The appointment of a principal has also been made. Mr. George Benstead, who has had long and varied experience in the intricate work of educating this class of children, having been selected in London for the position. Before leaving England for New Zealand he visited a number of the most advanced institutions for the care of the feeble-minded, and spent a large amount of time inquiring generally into the most modern methods for their instruction. Before the institution at Otekaike actually commences operations Mr. Benstead will visit the main centres of population in the Dominion, thus obtaining a knowledge of the conditions which is necessary to a proper organization of the work here; and at the same time he will examine applicants for admission. It is hoped that the necessary alterations to the buildings at Otekaike will be far enough advanced to permit of a beginning being made with a small number of pupils before the close of the current year. The need for a similar home for girls is very pressing, but it is thought prudent to defer definite action in this respect until the institution for the boys has been established. Public Libraries. By a vote of last session a sum of £3,000 was again granted for subsidies to public libraries. Notice thereof was inserted in the Gazette of the 7th November, 1907, and forms of application were sent to all libraries known to the Department. The method of distribution of the vote was the same as that adopted in previous years — viz., a nominal addition of £25 was made to the amount of the income of each library derived from subscriptions, donations, and

vi—E. 1.