Ē. —4.

In addition to the above, there were 18 cases dealt with by the Magistrates under the provisions of section 17 of the Amendment Act, 1927, and the informations dismissed as trivial; while there were also 86 cases in which, as a result of consultation between the Child Welfare Officer and the Police, the informations were regarded as of insufficient importance to warrant Court action, the children concerned being adequately dealt with otherwise, usually as preventive cases under the supervision of a Child Welfare Officer for a period. Preventive Work. An important part of the work of the Child Welfare Officers is that of adjusting conditions in homes and in connection with families in order to prevent the committal of children to the care of the State, or of coming before the Courts at all. In very many cases parents whose children are difficult to manage avail themselves of the services of Child Welfare Officers for the purpose of supervision and friendly guidance. At the end of the year there was a total number of 1,143 children being dealt with in this connection. Table 1 shows the number of cases notified during the year. Table 1. —Preventive Cases. The following table shows the number of preventive cases notified by Child Welfare Officers during the year ended 31st March, 1936 : —

Children under the Guardianship of the Superintendent op the Child Welfare Branch. At the 31st March, 1936, there were 4,269 children under control (excluding those mentioned under separate heading below), and of these 203 were in residence at Government receiving-homes (many of these only temporarily), training-farms, and training institutions, 240 in special schools for mentally backward" children, 71 in the four private Roman Catholic schools recognized under the Child Welfare Act, 2,066 children were boarded out in foster-homes, 934 were in situations, and 556 residing under license with relatives and friends. The remainder were in various private institutions. Young persons over school age in employment numbered 896 males and 478 females (a number of whom are residing with friends), included in the total of 4,269. Of the males 650 were farm workers (182 skilled in dairy work and cheese-making, and 468 competent to milk and carry out general farm work), 53 labourers, 50 factory employees, 25 shop-assistants, 6 drivers, 11 garage assistants, 15 bootmakers, 1 upholsterer, 2 painters, 8 carpenters, 22 messengers, 4 engineers, 2 motor-body builders, 1 salesman, 1 teacher, 10 butchers, 1 tinsmith, 4 tailors, 6 warehouse assistants, 3 clerks, 3 bakers, 1 artist, 5 nursery hands, 2 timber hands, 2 cabinetmakers, 3 plasterers, and 5 racing-stable hands. Of the girls 389 were domestic workers, 56 factory employees, 8 dressmakers, 4 shop-assistants, 7 clerks, 2 waitresses, 1 usher, 4 tailoresses, 3 machinists, 2 teachers, 1 book-binder, and 1 laundress. Of the above, 128 (94 boys and 34 girls, including some apprentices) were being partly maintained by the State. Blind children : Where necessary the Department arranges with the New Zealand Institute for the Blind for the admission of pupils. At the 31st March, 1936, 23 such pupils were maintained as Government pupils. Infant-life Protection (Infants Act, 1908). At the end of the year 836 infants and young children were supervised in 757 licensed fosterhomes. Of these homes, 689 had one child each, 59 had 2 children each, 7 had 3 children each, and 2 had 4 children each. Payments for maintenance, which were made by the relatives, ranged from ss. to 255. per week for each child. Out of the 1,298 infants who were residing in licensed homes throughout the year there were two deaths.

3

District. Number of Families, j Number of Children. _J I North Auckland .... .. .. •• •• 19 49 Auckland .. .. .. • • • • • • 21 41 Hamilton .. .. .. •• •■ •• 4 13 Gisborne .. .. • • • • • • • • 8 Hawke's Bay .. .. .. • • • • • • 8 26 Hawera .. .. .. .. • - • • • • 4 6 Wanganui .. .. .. .. .. • • 14 34 Palmerston North .. .. .. • • • • 15 38 Wellington 21 42 Nelson and Marlborough .. .. .. .. •• 8 19 West Coast (South Island) North Canterbury . . . . . • • • • • 17 35 South Canterbury .. . . .. .... 25 46 Otago 24 72 Southland .. .. .. •• •• ■• 19 32 Totals 207 462_