17

E.— 4

Illegitimacy. For its obvious relation to the intentions of the Infants Act the following table is given : —

No. S.—SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF, SUMNER. REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR. glß _ School for the Deaf, Sumner, 20th April, 1912. I have the honour to lay before you my report for the year 1911. The number of pupils who have been under instruction during the year is shown in the following tabulated statement :- Pupils of the previous year who returned to school .. .. 53 36 89 Admitted at or near the beginning of the year .. 3 6 9 Admitted later .. .... .. • • ' ! * ? Absent during the year, but retained on the roll .. .. 1 .. 1 Total number on the roll .. . . •••• . . 58 43 101 Left before the end of the school year .. .. .. 2 Left at the end of the school year .. .. . • .. 2 .. 2 Sent to Ruakura Experimental Farm for training .. .. 1 .. 1 Pupils expected to return to Sumner in 1912 .. .. .. 53 43 96 The total number on the roll was the same as in 1910—viz., 101. Of these, 27 came from the Auckland District, 1 from Taranaki, 7 from Hawke's Bay and Gisborne, 26 from Wellington, 1 from Nelson, I from Marlborough, 2 from Westland, 20 from Canterbury, and 16 from Otago. During the early part of the year, owing to lack of accommodation at the school, 6 boys were boarded out but in July this number was reduced to 2, several of the boarded-in pupils then becoming day pupils ' During the latter part of the year 6 boys and 4 girls attended as such, and it is anticipated that next year all those children whose parents reside in the vicinity of the school will be able to attend in the same way. The horizon of a deaf child is necessarily very limited, and every opportunity of extending it should be welcomed. In the case of a day pupil the incidents of the daily journey to and from school are very effective in developing his faculties of observation and m creating self-reliance. The development of his powers of speech and, by consequence, of his reflective powers is furthered by the same means. Daily at the end of his journey he has something fresh to say ; at school to his teachers or schoolmates ; at home, to his friends or relatives. By frequent intercourse with the normal the child becomes at last almost normal himself, and displays fewer and fewer of those characteristics which, in the case of a boarded-in pupil, are at once a condition and a consequence of his too constant association with others similarly afflicted. . _ The health of the pupils during the year was exceedingly good. There were no cases of serious, illness, and what interruptions there were in the school-work on account of illness among the children

3—E. 4.

Provincial Districts. Number of ChildIllegitimate ren aged 12 Monthi Births registered or less brought during 1911. under the Act during 1911. ' Auckland Taranaki Hawke's Bay Wellington Marlborough Nelson Westland Canterbury .. .. 293 35 57 263 15 40 10 , 170 195 29 3 13 60 6 66 46 Otago Totals 1,078 223 Totals for 1910 1,162 211 During the year 122 registrations were effected under the Legiti imation Act. E. 0. Gibbes, Secretary for Education.