14

E.—4a.

see me because I knew the master " who had given them light." They spoke to me in the highest terms of praise of the present Director of the Sumner Institution, and of his uniform kindness to them. I have, &c, The Director, Institution for Deaf-mutes, Sumner. A. G. Hobton.

K. Memorandum from the Director, Institution for Deaf-mutes, Sumner, Christchurch. Please answer queries below anent charges recently lodged by Mr. Herbert Crofts, Assistant. Teacher in the Institution for Deaf-mutes, against the Director, Mr. G. van Asch, so that your replies may be forwarded under seal to the Minister of Education. 29th July, 1892. G. van Asch. Query a. Has Mr. Van Asch made any reference to you to any charge or charges recently lodged by Mr. Crofts against Mr. Van Asch ? Charge 1. Having lent money to the parents of a child in the institution, and so run the risk of unpleasant complications arising. Query :Do you know personally anything about this ? Charge 2. Overworking the boys. Query : Please state how long the boys are engaged in the school, out at play, and for meals, and then answer, Are the boys overworked? Charge 3. Having engaged the boys in domestic work to the neglect of their education. Query :Is the boys' education neglected, in your opinion ? Do you think domestic work of a light kind out of school is an advantage or a detriment to deaf-mutes ? I mean from an educational point of view. Charge 4. Having used undue severity in chastising the children, and allowed his daughter to do the same. Query :Is this true'? State, please, how long you have been in the institution, and how often you have seen Mr. Van Asch chastising a child, and also, whether with or without reason. Do you think boys in the institution are chastised more or less than those in an ordinary school in New Zealand ? Charge 5. Having shown partiality for certain children. Query :Do you think this is correct ? Charge 6. Having allowed the members of his own family to torment a boy residing in the house to such a degree that the boy wrote to his father asking that he might be taken from the house, and placed with the other boys at the Boys' Home. Query : Have you any knowledge whatever about that ? and, if so, state the source. Charge 8. Having used salt mutton to a large extent in feeding the children at the beginning of 1891. Queries : (a.) Do you think the children in the institution get more salt or pickled meat than they do in an ordinary household ? (b.) Are the inmates starved or ill-fed ? (c.) Are they in general properly supplied with proper food? (d.) Are the children in the institution happy or unhappy ?

Answers to Queries relating to Charges laid by Mr. Herbert Grofts against Mr. Van Asch, Director, Deaf-mute Institution, Sumner. Query a. No. Mr. Van Asch has not mentioned the matter to me, nor referred to it in any way. Query 1. I know nothing whatever of the matter. Query 2. Hours of schoolwork —Morning, 9 to 10.55, 11.5 to 12; afternoon, 2to 4. Mealhours—Breakfast, 8 to 8.30 ; dinner, 12.45 to 1.30 ; tea, 5.15 to 5.45 in winter, 5.30 to 6 in summer. The time mentioned as end of meal-hours is not fixed. Time for walking, 4to 5 : little boys all Wednesday afternoons, and generally all the boys on Saturday afternoons. The boys are not overworked. At certain seasons, when any special piece of gardening or other work is being done, some of them have to work hard during its course. Query 3. The education of the* boys is not neglected, but is, on the contrary, always made of the first importance. At the same time I think that there have been a few occasions when some of the children have had too much domestic work to do —rather of a tedious than a hard character, and not enough to be detrimental either to their health or to their lessons. Light domestic work, out of school-hours, is, in my opinion, of great educational benefit. Query 4. I have been in the institution for seven years. During that time I have seen Mr. Van Asch chastise children slightly a good many times, severely only twice. On both occasions, some four or five years ago, it was a big boy named Ford who was punished—a good boy on the whole, but dreadfully stubborn; and it was for some display of that fault that he was punished on both occasions. I remember thinking at the time that the punishment was rather severe, but I may have been mistaken, and it certainly was not more so than I have often seen administered in other schools. The boys in the Deaf-mute Institution are chastised far less than boys in any other school I have ever been in. Query 5. Some of the pupils are treated with more consideration than others. This may be due to partiality, but it may also be due to regard for differences of constitution and of temperament. Query 6. All I know about the matter is that Mr. Crofts mentioned it to me some time in June or July of this year. Query 8. (a.) The children in the institution do not have more salt or pickled meat than they do in an ordinary household. On one occasion—perhaps that referred to in charge B—they had more than usual, but never before nor since, (b.) The inmates are well fed and nourished, (c.) The , food is of excellent kind, and plentiful in quantity, (d.) The children on the whole are certainly contented and happy. Of course there are a few exceptions in the case of children of a melancholy disposition.