39

E.—l

Twelve pupils were removed from school at the end of the year, having reached a satisfactory standard of education. The length of their school life varied from five and a half to eleven years. The necessity of sending deaf children to be properly treated at as early an age as possible is imperative, although often overlooked, as it is clear that the process of educating them must be slower and more arduous than in the case of normal children. Of twelve new pupils received during the year six were over ten years of age, and three of these were over twelve years of age, the difficulty of educating these children being thus immeasurably increased. The expenditure on the school for the last two financial years respectively was as follows:— 1913-14. 1914-15. £ £ Salaries .. .. .. .. .. 3,574 3,959 Maintenance of pupils and sundry expenses .. 1,796 1,883 Maintenance of buildings and water charges .. 216 270 Additional buildings .. .. .. 1.553 7,139 6,112 - Less — Amount collected from parents by way of maintenance contributions .. 1,173 1,027 Amount collected from Charitable Aid Boards .. .. ..1,210 1,100 Sundry other recoveries .... I 6 —— 2,384 2,133 Net expenditure .. .. .. .. £4,755* £3,979* * Including for 1913-14 £274, and for last year £300, paid from national-endowment revenue. Jubilee Institute for the Blind, Auckland. This institution is governed by a Board of Trustees, four of whom are appointed by the Government and the remaining five elected by the subscribers to the funds of the Institute. As the Institute comes within the scope of the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act, subsidy at the rate of 245. in the pound is payable by the Government on voluntary contributions received by the Board, and 10s. in the pound on the value of bequests. The amount paid by the Government towards the cost of training thirty-four pupils was £804, and the amount refunded to the Government during the year by parents and Charitable Aid Boards was £646, the Boards paying £381. The sum payable by the Government as subsidy to the Board of Trustees under the provisions of the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act was £1,803 ss. Id. Special School for the Feeble-minded, Otekaike. Numbers as at the 31st December, 1914: — Males. Females. In residence .. .. . . . . . . 61 Boarded out .. .. . . .. 2 4 Temporarily absent with friends . . .. . . I Total of both sexes .. .. .. .. .. 71 Of the above number under control four were between the ages of five and ten, thirty between eleven and sixteen, twenty-eight between seventeen and twentyone, and nine were over twenty-one years of age. The procedure in regard to the retention of control beyond that age is similar to that already described in respect of inmates of industrial schools. The inmates are instructed in the occupations of basket-making, coir-mat making, and wood-carving, and the quantity and quality of the articles produced is evidence of the usefulness and success of the instruction given. Farm and garden work is also carried out by the inmates, the institution producing more of such commodities as milk, fruit, and vegetables than its own requirements demand. Much of the school-work undertaken takes the form of handwork and kindergarten occupations, and decided improvement in the work is reported.