E.—ll

School Hygiene. It is necessary to ensure as far as possible that school premises form a healthy environment for the child. There has been great improvement of late years in the character of the buildings erected, but very substantial alterations are necessary to make the older buildings conform to the modern conception of school hygiene. In the older schools defects in lighting, ventilation, and heating abound; overcrowding is common, and furniture clumsy and old-fashioned. As a typical room of the undesirable class take the following : All the light in this room comes from the back. It is 43 ft. long and 17 ft. wide. By no feat can the teacher standing in front of the class have every member of it under observation at once. For blackboard work the children at the extreme ends of the room have either to read from a distance of 20 ft. and at a bad angle when the board is half-way down the room, or of 40 ft. if it is at one end. There are ninety-four children in the class, giving an average floor-space of- only 77 ft. per child. The school furniture consists of the old-fashioned long desk and seat at which children are ranged regardless of height. This state of affairs is bad for the children and very trying for the teachers. Lighting. —Many rooms depend entirely on back lighting. This is unsatisfactory for children, who write in their own shadow, and for teachers, who are obliged to face the glare all day, many of whom complain of defective eyesight in consequence. Remote corners of schoolrooms are often in twilight. The newer schools depend as much as possible on lighting from the left, and make adequate provision for it. Ventilation in the newer schools is, as a rule, satisfactory, but very inadequate in many of the older buildings. We have found rooms where windows have never been made to open. We are of the opinion that, though many more or less complicated experiments have been tried, the old-fashioned window which permits of top and bottom sash being pushed up and down gives most satisfaction in airing a room. Cross-ventilation should always be provided. School Furniture. —Single and dual desks are gradually replacing the old-fashioned long desk and form. In five education districts the long desk is practically abolished. With regard to furniture of the infant department, the introduction of the little individual chairs with backrest is excellent. Heating is carried out by means of open fires, by stoves, or by hot-air apparatus. Where the hot-air system is in use the air seems to acquire a stale and flat quality even when the windows are opened. The open fire is an admirable means of ventilation, but its total inadequacy for heating a class-room was shown by observation made in winter in Otago Central and in . North Canterbury. In the large majority of the schools of New Zealand the temperature in winter is far below that which is prescribed for shops and factories. Roxburgh, 26th May : A bright sunshiny day. A good fire was burning in the infant-room when school opened at 9.30 a.m. Temperature of the infant-room at 9.30 a.m. (in corner remote from fire), 39° F.; temperature of the infant-room at 11 a.m., 44° F. ; temperature of the infantroom at 12 noon, 48° F. ; temperature of the infant-room at 2.30 p.m., 50° F.; temperature of the Standard VI room at 11 a.m., 38° F.; temperature of the Standard VI room at 2.30 p.m., 48° F. Both of these rooms got little sun. At Naseby, 4th June : temperature in infant-room at 11 a.m., 38° F.; at Hawera Flat, 22nd June: temperature in infant-room at 10 a.m., 39° F.; at Lowburn, 25th June: temperature in infant-room at 10.30 a.m., 39° F. These last three schools are heated by stoves. Where such conditions prevail it is essential that small children should be warmly clad and given frequent opportunity for exercise. It is a serious drawback to an infant-room when it has not a sunny aspect, but in many districts rooms are built with the object of presenting their good side to the street rather than to the sun. School-cleaning under the present system is obviously inadequate. The difficulty of getting caretakers who will perform their duties thoroughly is often very great. For instance, many caretakers object, on account of the extra labour, to sweeping floors with sawdust damped with disinfectant. In towns where the schools are bigger and the salary of a caretaker is higher the work is, as a rule, better, but both here and more especially in the country the condition of the school premises is often most unsatisfactory. Dust collects quietly year after year upon rafters and in undisturbed recesses, and, though floors are scrubbed out in periods of from six weeks to three months, there is often no effort to ensure a complete cleaning and airing of the rooms. Under such circumstances it would be of great advantage had the Department in its employ regular officers whose duty it was to undertake at stated periods throughout the year the systematic cleansing and disinfection of school buildings. The work of such officers would be additional to and would in no way supersede the ordinary duties of caretakers. They would take the various schools in rotation, and see that they were once or, if possible, twice a year thoroughly cleaned. Their services would also be available after an outbreak of infectious disease to thoroughly overhaul school premises. The Education Department in Victoria for several years has had in its employ regular officers for school-cleaning, with most satisfactory results. The cost is found to be moderate. With regard to sanitary arrangements, the accommodation is sometimes inadequate and the cleansing very much so. This again is worse in the country. A few teachers fail to recognize their obligation in supervising these buildings. As a rule where some water-carriage system is provided conditions are satisfactory, but where, as in the country, labour is scarce and the work despised they are sometimes very bad. The newer buildings with cement floors and glazed walls are, of course, much superior to the old wooden buildings. School Property. —Pencils, books, plasticine, &c, should be used in common as little as possible owing to the probable spread of infection. Drinking-water. —Under present conditions there is no satisfactory means of preventing the spread of infection from this source. Even where common mugs are abolished it is practically

11