X—4

1892." NEW ZEALAND.

EDUCATION: INSTITUTION FOR DEAF-MUTES. [In Continuation of E.—4 1891.]

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

No. 1. EXTBACT FBOM FIFTEENTH ANNUAL EePOBT OP THE MINISTEB OF EDUCATION. There were 50 pupils in the school at Sumner at the end of the year —8 more than at the beginning. The expenditure was rather less than that of the year 1890, the total amount being ,£3,618 15s. 6d., and the details as follows: Salaries, ,£1,175 3s. Bd.; board of pupils, ,£1,542 17s. 6d.; rent, £605 ; travelling, £100 14s. Id.; sundries, £180 11s. 6d. The contributions of parents amounted to £324 Is.

No. 2. Eepobt of the Dieectoe. Sic, — Institution for Deaf-mutes, Sumner, 20th May, 1892. I have the honour to report that the educational task of the past year has differed in no sense from that of previous years. Considerable skill, patience, and physical exertion were required in the treatment and instruction of a large batch of newcomers. Forty-nine was the total number of inmates present throughout the year, this number being an increase of seven over last year, and the largest as yet assembled in the institution. Of these forty-nine children, ten entered the school as beginners, two returned after an absence of one year, and one after an absence of three years. Five left the school for good at Christmas time, and one for a year through indifferent health. The proportion of inmates from the South Island to that of the North was as twenty-eight to twenty ; and one pupil was present from South Australia. At the end of the year all pupils were, as usual, taken or sent to their respective homes—that is to say, four went to Dunedin, one to Eiverton, one to Greenhills, one to Invercargill, one to Lawrence, one to Sterling, one to Mosgiel, one to Portobello, one to Moeraki (twelve belonging to the Provincial District of Otago) ; one to Hook, two to Timaru, one to Methven, one to Kaiapoi, two to Papanui, one to Eiccarton, one to Governor's Bay, one to Heathcote, and six to Christchurch (sixteen belonging to the Provincial District of Canterbury) ; eight to the City of Wellington, one to Upper Hutt, one to Marton, one to Bull's, two to Wanganui, one to Patea (fourteen belonging to the Provincial District of Wellington) ; one to Olive, one to Gisborne, one to Thames, and three to the City of Auckland. To house and comfortably maintain such a congregation of deaf-mutes was no light matter. The buildings, hitherto insufficient for the accommodation of all, proved now quite inadequate; and to guard against the evils of overcrowding, immediate steps were taken by hiring an additional cottage. This, however, could be only a temporary measure, and at the end of the year, when the leases of the institution's premises, including the cottages known as the Boys' Home, expired, a better and more permanent measure became needful. Large and, for our purpose, suitable nouses are, of course, few and far between at Sumner, and the director's mind was somewhat relieved, therefore, when Mr. Wiggins offered to let the department his private-school premises in addition to the institution proper. By Mr. Wiggins's invitation, these were visited and critically viewed by both the Secretary for Education and myself. We found them much more spacious and better ventilated than when occupied in 1883 ; provided with two baths; and, what is of special advantage in Sumner, supplied with an ample water-supply in connection with the well at the present institution. As a temporary arrangement, the director unhesitatingly recommended Mr. Wiggins's offer to the favourable consideration of the Minister of Education. The advantages of the present arrangement are already manifest, for, in addition to the comfort of more freedom for the boys in the institution proper, the girls also experience the benefit of residing apart from the boys, under one roof with the director and his family, thus upholding the principle of separating the two sexes out of school, as originally laid down. I— E, 4.