E.—ll

The hours shown above are occupied in ordinary schoolwork, excepting the Wednesday afternoon and the Saturday, as pointed out. It would be impossible for me to give a tabular form of the work done during those hours in the various classes without reference to our time-table. 49. Will you give us, roughly speaking, what would be the first, second, third, and fourth year's instruction, and so on ? —Yes. First year : The elementary sounds, with names of .common things around us; short sentences, using simple verbs, adjectives, &0., as "table," "chair," "horse," &c, "I walk," "I jump," "That is a bag," "The bag is black," &c. Second year : Advance on first year, with use of adverbs and prepositions, to giving a simple description of common objects around us, and reading simple sentences; arithmetic (additioii and subtraction), and the geography of the local district. Third year: Advance in reading and composition, in grammar, letter-writing, geography, and arithmetic. Fourth year : Reading simple tales and newspaper reports; advance in grammar, composition, geography, and arithmetic, with use of money. Fifth year : Same subjects as previous year, with a little history and elementary science. _v Sixth year-: Same subjects as previous year, though of a higher standard. 50. Is the education of the deaf and dumb compulsory in New Zealand? First of all, will you state whether education is compulsory for all ?—ln the ordinary way it is. 51. Then the same thing applies to the deaf and dumb, I suppose?—lt is the law, I believe ; but the law is not enforced —at any rate, not in the case of the deaf and dumb. It is a deplorable fact that several parents of deaf children keep them at home to do the work. 52. Do you get children from both the Islands ?—Yes, from all parts of New Zealand, and we have one child from Adelaide, in Australia. 53. You are, I suppose, aware that they have an institution at Adelaide ?—Yes ; they have a deaf-and-dumb institution at Adelaide. I visited it. 54. Has Mr. Laishley's report been considered by the Government ? Has any action been taken upon it ? —No action has been taken upon it at present. 55. Is there any probability of day-schools being established instead of boarding-schools, except in cases where the parents live at a distance ? —I believe that the Government is trying to do something in that way. 56. That is to say, that where parents live at a distance the pupils should be boarded out —Yes. 57. Is your school inspected by any one for the Minister of Education ?—lt is visited by the Inspector-General. 58. And how do you obtain teachers ? Are they entirely trained on the spot ?—They are trained on the spot entirely. lam the only one that has been trained at the present time. There are two other male assistants.being trained, and one female assistant. 59. You said that you would give us your curriculum year by year ?—The ordinary workingtime is, in the beginning of the year, from about the 6th February—we generally begin at that time— up to about the 17th July ; then we take about a fortnight's holiday, and from that time again we work on to about the 18t'h December. Our daily work is from 9in the morning till 12, and from a quarter past 2to a quarter past 4. Wednesday afternoon is employed by the boys in gardenwork, and by the girls in sewing. 60. One day a week is devoted to that ? —Yes, Wednesday afternoon. Saturday morning is occupied entirely by the boys doing some outside work, and the girls doing some work in the institution. The afternoon is spent in recreation. 61. Are drill and gymnastics and the Kindergarten exercise included?—No; there is nothing done in that way —not systematically. 62. Are any trades taught, or is anything beyond gardening taught outside the institution?— No; there is nothing taught. Mr. Van Asch has often called the Government's attention to this matter. The distance from Christchurch to Sumner being eight miles, and there being no railway communication, the difficulties are of course great. 63. Have you any land connected with the institution? —We have ten acres of land connected with the institution. 64. Is that cultivated by the pupils ? —Yes; part of it is cultivated by the boys. 65. And part is in grass?-—Yes. 66. Is there any difficulty in getting places and situations for the boys after they leave ?—Of course we have had very few leases of boys leaving up to the present time ; but the.boys who have left us just happen to be the sous of farmers, excepting one case, and that boy was the son of a blacksmith. They are all working at home now^with their parents. A boy left us at the close of 1887, and he was immediately engaged on a farm near his home at Bs. or 10s. a week.

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Morning. Afternoon. tfonday Duesday" Wednesday 9 to 12 2.15 to 4.15 // Boys engaged in gardening ant out-door work, and the girls ir sewing. fhursday Friday... Saturday II The boys are engaged in the girls in the dom< 3utside work during the day, anc istic work of the institution.