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(4.) Extension of boarding-out system, carrying with it an all-round increase in the boarding-out rate. (5.) Better supervision of those boys and girls placed in situations, particularly in regard to the rate of wages paid. (6.) Reduction of numbers in residence at each industrial schoo' and reformatory. (7.) Reservation of the Boys' Training-farm, Nelson, for boys of school a B e< (8.) Reservation of the Boys' Training-farm, Weraroa, for the training of boys over school age. (9.) Establishment of central training-school for girls combined with a receiving-home for children at Christchurch. (10.) Closing of the Girls' Industrial Schools as such at Auckland and Caversham, and converting them into special schools for feebl..minded children. (11.) Establishment of receiving-homes for children at Auckland and Dunedin. (12.) Closing of the day schools attached to the training-farm at Weraroa, the Burnham Industrial School, Te Oranga Home, and the Caversham Industrial School. (13.) More systematic methods of dealing with the collection of contributions from parents and others for children belonging to industrial and special schools. (14.) Thorough and regular inspection of all institutions. (15.) Standardization within certain limits of the dietary scale at all schools. (16.) Standardization of all materials and equipment. (17.) Establishment of central store for supplies and material for industrial and special schools, and interchange of commodities produced at certain schools. (18.) Centralization of the greater proportion of the official work carried out by the clerical staff attached to each school. (19.) Supervision of all farming operations in connection, with the schools by expert officers of the Department of Agriculture. (20.) Establishment of a proper system of farm and store accounts at each industrial and special school and in the Head Office. A few notes with reference to each of the above will serve to explain the general aim of the reforms I have under consideration. 1. Owing to the overcrowding of institutions under the control of the Department it seemed as if it would be necessary to provide — (a.) A fourth institution, at a cost of not less than £21,000, with a recurring annual charge of about £6,000. (b.) A subsidiary institution on the Burnham School estate for the detention of incorrigible boys, at a capital cost of at least £8,000 and an annual maintenance charge of £2,500. (c.) The rebuilding on a much extended scale of the first division building at Te Oranga Home, Christchurch, destroyed by fire some time ago. The cost of building was estimated at about £6,000, and the increased annual cost at about £1,400. (d.) Additional buildings at the Auckland Industrial School at a cost of £1,500, carrying with it an increase of £650 in annual maintenance. Extension of Probation System. —The need for relieving the different schools of a considerable number of inmates and for regulating the numbers that are being admitted to these schools has caused the recent extension of the juvenile probation system to the four centres of New Zealand. As far back as 1913 a system of probation was established in the City of Auckland, and the result of its working has been highly satisfactory, not merely financially, but from the point of view of the children's welfare. During the period Ist January, 1913, to 30th June, 1916, 197 boys were nominally committed to industrial schools, but were placed on probation with friends in the City of Auckland alone. During that time only in eleven cases had the probation to be cancelled and the boys sent on to an industrial school— that is to say, in nearly 95 per cent, of the cases the system was successful in reforming the boys under normal conditions.