3

E.—4

farm provides for three distinct classes of boys : (1) the schoolboy varying in age from ten years to fifteen years ; (2) the boys from fifteen to seventeen years who on account of the laxity of parental control have been given too much liberty and have either become uncontrollable or have committed petty offences against the law ; and (3) the elder boys who have been convicted of offences or have failed to make good after one or more trials in situations. The schoolboys are maintained in a cottage entirely apart from the others, and are not allowed to associate with the older boys. This cottage is managed by a suitable married couple, and, on account of the small number dealt with (from ten to sixteen boys), the system provides all the elements of an ordinary home. The intermediate group are housed in the main building, and are managed mainly by the Matron and her assistant. The third group, consisting of the elder boys, are maintained in a separate cottage apart from all the other inmates, under the control of a married couple. The training of the boys in farm-work in all its branches is carried on under the personal direction of the Manager and Farm Overseer. In addition, boys are taught buttermaking and cheesemaking, gardening and orchard-work, and are thus equipped with such experience and knowledge as enables the Manager to place them in suitable employment as soon as it is found that their conduct warrants such a course. The fact that very few boys indeed are returned to the farm after being placed out is ample evidence of the good work that is being carried out by the Manager and his staff. For boys who have no taste for work on the land, provision is made for placing them at trades. The rudiments of bootmaking, carpentry, engine-driving, and motor-car driving and car-repairing are all taught at the farm under competent instructors. The whole of the land attached to the Training-farm, nearly 500 acres, has now been brought under cultivation ; the dairy herd has been extended on right lines, and the rearing of sheep and pigs has now been placed on a satisfactory basis, with the result that the revenue derived from all sources, including the cheesemaking plant, is now of a very substantial nature. So satisfactory indeed has been the development in this direction that it may be claimed that the Training-farm is now self-supporting. Care of the Feeble-minded. Important changes have taken place in the system providing for the care and education of feeble-minded children. The younger boys in residence at the Special School at Otekaike have been, transferred to the special school at Nelson, thus making it possible for the reservation of Otekaike for older boys who, although mentally subnormal and unfit to be at large in the community, are yet quite capable under suitable supervision of earning their keep in such an institution as Otekaike. The removal of the younger boys from direct contact with the elder boys is undoubtedly a step in the right direction. The,training of the small boys at the Special School at Nelson is in the hands of a competent teaching staff, and, while it is yet too soon to look for definite results of such training, the Department has every confidence that the teachers —one of whom has had previous experience in the training of the feeble-minded in Fngland —will work wonderful improvements, in the mental, moral, and physical condition of these boys. The question of providing special day classes in the various centres of population for backward children is now receiving consideration, and in conjunction with this movement it is proposed to establish special day classes with cottage homes attached for the training of the high-grade feeble-minded and for those who are considered unfit for the classes for backward children. The cottage homes would be utilized for the purposes of boarding children whose parents are unable to provide for them or whose homes are in the country districts. By means of these special day classes it is hoped to cater adequately for all feeble-minded children in such a manner as will permit of the majority of them remaining in their own homes under the supervision of qualified officers, who will keep in close touch with the parents and will assist in placing the children in suitable employment when the proper time arrives. For the older feeble-minded children who cannot be adequately looked after in their own homes, or who are unfit on account of mental defect to be placed in the industrial work, or who would prove a menace to the community if allowed their liberty, the institutions at Otekaike and Nelson will be available for the reception of boys, who, under capable supervision, will be employed in farm-work, garden and orchard work, and in the bootmaking, basketmaking, matmaking, a,nd carpentering shop. The older girls will be provided