H.—7a

permanent segregation would appear to be the only effective remedy, combining as it would the twofold advantages of preventing procreation and protecting the public from outrageous crimes. Experiences in America and the Continent have proved the economic impossibility of providing accommodation for all the feeble-minded in the population, but were this provision possible it would be neither desirable nor just. I would like to point out the importance of making a distinction between segregation for custodial and preventive purposes and admission to a residential institution for the purpose of training and if possible ultimate return to the community. It is desirable that institutions should be provided for the permanent detention of sexual degenerates, and also for the custody of the lowest grades of idiots and imbeciles ; but these would be entirely different in their construction and administration from the training-schools, with which I shall deal later. (c) Marriage Laws. Marriage between two persons any one of whom is on the register should be made illegal. It may be argued that this would not prevent illicit intercourse, but there is no doubt that in many ckses such a provision would render it less probable ; and in any event the registered person would be under the supervision of the social-service worker. It should be made an indictable offence for any one to have carnal knowledge of a registered person. It should also be provided that any parent or guardian who negligently allows or facilitates any registered person to have carnal knowledge of another person shall be guilty of an indictable offence. (d) Eugenic Education of the Public. This is a matter of great importance, which I deal with later in my report. 11. TO RENDER ALL KNOWN DEFECTIVES AS SOCIALLY ADEQUATE AS POSSIBLE. In addition to these prophylactic measures, which may be considered primarily as safeguards for the future, we have also to deal with the present generation of the feeble-mihded. It would be undesirable and impracticable to lay down any hard-and-fast scheme for the care and training of registered defectives according to their clinical classification, but it will be helpful to take stock of our resources and indicate generally how these may be applied to the best advantage. The travelling clinics would, of course, make the preliminary investigations and recommendations, and the Eugenics Board would deal with each case according to its apparent needs. The persons for whom provision would be necessary may be considered under the following headings : — (A) Retardates. (B) Feeble-minded : Idiots and low-grade imbeciles ; higher-grade imbeciles, moral or social defectives, and morons. (C) Social problem and border-line cases : " Oversexed " girls ; delinquents, juveniles ; male sexual offenders. (A) Retardates. The diagnosis between genuine retardation of mental development due to remediable environmental circumstances and innate or congenital or acquired lack of potentiality for full development, which is the essence of feeble-mindedness, should be made by competent psychiatrists, after a full investigation of the case on the basis of Dr. Fernald's system, described on page 13 of this report. The adoption of the Massachusetts Act referred to on page 12 would ensure that all children retarded three years or more would be examined by the travelling clinic ; but before this system came into operation it would be well to satisfy ourselves that the criterion of retardation was itself sound. In the report of the Committee on Mental Defectives is embodied, on page 13, a statistical table showing the ages of pupils in the several classes of the primary schools. Erom this table we learn that there were 12,693 pupils over the age of eight in the preparatory classes, and it is assumed that these children constitute part of the problem of retardation. The alarm which might be caused by these figures, which represent 18 per cent, of all the children in the preparatory classes, is decidedly allayed by the further discovery that of that number 9,000 are " retarded " only one year and 2,500 only two years. A psychiatric examination would not be likely to reveal that many of these children were in fact inferior in intelligence to the average child, much less to be feeble-minded, and the explanation of the apparently large number of these " retardates " is probably that the curriculum requires modification to suit the needs of the average pupil. I understand that eighteen special classes have been established throughout New Zealand, and their success justifies an extension of the system ; but these classes should be strictly reserved for genuine retardates to the exclusion of the feeble-minded, whose presence must detract from the really valuable work which the more individual tuition can accomplish. The decision of the clinic that a child is not mentally defective should not be taken to imply that nothing is necessary beyond the transfer to a special class. Retardation must frequently be the result of physical ill health, remediable or otherwise, and the mere fact of retardation should be sufficient reason for examination and treatment. The published, results of school camps in New Zealand offer great hopes from this line of treatment. I have previously expressed the view that the diagnosis of retardation from mental deficiency should be made by the psychiatrists of the Eugenic Board, and I have suggested that the special classes for retardates should be conducted, as heretofore, by the Education Department; but it is necessary at this stage to insert a plea for another type of pupil who is not usually considered to be in any way a problem case. The educational authorities are much perturbed regarding retardation, and are no doubt genuinely anxious to educate backward pupils to the maximum of their capacity ; but

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