5

B.—4a

evening till 8 o'clock next morning, and to keep their clothes in repair. I held it from the 14th March to the 13th December. I came back again after a holiday of ten days. Prior to that Mrs. Van Asch had asked me, on the 19th October, not to engage with any one else. She said there would be alterations. I returned at the end of December, under the impression that I was to have all the boys on the 23rd January. Mrs. Van Asch wanted me to go to Beach Glen. That resulted in my giving Mrs. Van Asch notice. I left at the end of the month. By Mr. Van Asch: The boys scrubbed twice a week, Wednesday and Saturday. Herbert Cron told me his knees were bad from scrubbing. Arthur Belcher refused to scrub.

Wednesday, 17th August, 1892. Lucy Buckingham, sworn, saith :I am assistant mistress to this institution. I have been here five years. I was engaged in July, 1887, to look after the girls after school-hours. Prior to that I held the appointment of governess to Mr. Van Asch's children. lam paid by the Government. My present position is assistant. I look after the boys after 6 p.m. As a rule Mr. Van Aseh and I have got on very well together. I have complained of the treatment I have received from Mr. and Mrs. Van Asch. The paper produced is my writing [Exhibit F]. The treatment I complained of was about this time last year. Since that time the treatment has been good. I have nothing to complain of. I had told Mr. Crofts that I should be compelled to resign my position. Ido not remember any one advising me to stick to my present position. Mr. Van Asch told me at the beginning of the year that he was not quite sure that I was a suitable person to hold my position. In this building there are living, besides myself, the deaf boys, the two masters, and the servants (three). Last year I asked Mr. Van Asch to give me a specification of my duties. I never received a specification of my duties. I received instructions both from Mr. and Mrs. Van Asch. I have never been instructed to treat Mrs. Van Asch as a member of the Civil Service. I have never known either boys or girls to be overworked. Never knew either boys or girls to suffer from overwork. I never knew them to be suffering from swollen knees from overwork. Ido not think they are overworked. I know that some girls leave the school on Saturday afternoons to iron. Ido not think it is required that the girls should learn ironing in school-hours. I have never allowed the children to neglect their evening lessons to do work. Sometimes the boys have been engaged in doing the washing. Do not remember the boys neglecting their lessons for that work. I have never seen any of the children suffering from the effects of punishment. I saw McWatters after he ran away. I did not see that his ears were marked. I never knew Mr. Van Asch's daughter to tease Charles Horton. Salt mutton was used at the beginning of last year— during February and March, I think. I cannot remember if there were plenty of vegetables. We were never without potatoes. We may have been rather short of potatoes once or twice. I wrote to Mr. Van Asch about the salt meat. Mr. Van Asch asked me to write to him to say how often we had salt meat. 1 said, as a rule, we had more salt meat than any ordinary household would have. I did not consult with the assistants as to the answer I should give. Ido not know anything about the expense incurred in sending the children home. By Mr. Van Asch: Mr. Crofts came to the side-door one morning to see me, and I purposely avoided him. I thought he felt hurt, so I wrote him that note. Mr. Crofts has been to the sidedoor more than once. I knew you had an objection to Mr. Crofts coming to the side-door : there was a w.-c. there. By the Commissioner.] I looked upon that note as a private communication. lam very much astonished that it has been put into my hands this morning. John Charles Allan, sworn, saith: lam head assistant master. I have never known the boys overworked. I do not consider the amount of work the boys do is more than can be expected of them now. The parents have never complained to me about it. On one occasion Mrs. Belcher said she thought her son was doing too much milking. I never knew boys to suffer from swollen knees from the scrubbing they had done. I never pointed out to Mr. Van Asch that the boys were doing more work than was proper. I have known both boys and girls to be taken out of school to do outside jobs : it was some time last year some boys were taken out to help with the washing. Two or three girls go out once a week to help with the ironing. That affected the school-work somewhat. The fact that Van Asch caters for the children affects the education of the children. The boys have to help in getting the food ready; that does not interfere with the school-hours. Ido not consider more time is spent by Mr. Van Asch in the domestic part of the work rather than the educational part. I have seen Mr. Van Asch chastise boys severely twice. I thought at the time it was too severe. Twice the boy Ford; that was four or five years ago; once he hit the boy with his hand, and once with a stick. The hand bruised the boy's ears. Ido not know anything about the beating of the boy McWatters. I know the boy ran away ; Ido not know why. Sometimes McWatters is very bad; he is a peculiar and troublesome boy. I have had trouble in dealing with him. I have not known Mr. Van Asch show any partiality to boys. Salt mutton was used in the institution last year—say a week or two ; I cannot remember, I do not think it was two months. I did not complain to Mr. Van Asch about the food. I did not like the salt mutton. I know that Mr. Van Asch has more than once gone to Dunedin with the children. I have been sent down to Dunedin with the children. I cannot say if Mr. Stevens travelled with me ; I think not. Ido not know if unnecessary expense has been incurred. While Miss Budden has been here I have been working at drawing and painting with the pupils. I think now that I could teach the children drawing. The paper produced [Exhibit G] is my writing. Joseph E. Stevens, sworn, saith :I am assistant master at the institution. I do not consider the boys have been overworked so as to suffer physically from it, but that they have had more to do than they ought to have had. A boy named Daniels, who suffered from swollen knees, had that