E.—4a

1893. NEW ZEALAND.

EDUCATION: SCHOOL FOR DEAF-MUTES (REPORT OF COMMISSION ON).

Laid upon the Table of the House of Representatives by the Hon. Mr. Reeves with the Leave of the House.

EEPOET. In pursuance of a Commission issued under the hand of His Excellency the Governor of New Zealand, and dated the 14th day of October, 1892, authorising and directing Herbert William Brabant, Eesident Magistrate, and J. Veel Colborne-Veel, M.A., Secretary to the Education Board of North Canterbury, to make inquiry into the management of the Sumner Institution for Deafmutes, particularly with regard to the statements set forth in a letter addressed to the Hon. E. J. Seddon by H. S. Eish, Esq., M.H.E., a copy of which letter is attached to the said Commission. May it please youb Excellency,— We, the above-named Commissioners, sat at the said institute to take evidence on the following days, viz.: 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, and 29th October, and 2nd and 4th November; but before doing so we duly gave notice to the parties concerned, and particularly to the above-named H. S. Fish, Esq. We received from the said H. S. Fish, Esq., a telegram (which is attached to the depositions) declining to attend or to conduct the inquiry. We therefore, on the day and hourof which notice had been given to him, read your Excellency's Commission, and proceeded to inquire into the premises in his absence. Besides taking evidence, minutes of which we submit with this report, we inspected the buildings and premises used for the purposes of the institute. We witnessed Mr. van Asch's method of instruction; and we read a large number of letters, reports, and other documents laid before us by the Secretary of the Education Department and the Director of the institution. The charges made in the said letter of H. S. Eish, Esq., may be divided into the following heads :— I. That the Director of the institution, Mr. van Asch, has himself, and that his daughter has, received private pupils without the sanction of the Education Department. 11. That the boys in the institution are employed in doing farming and other work for the Director's private benefit; that far more attention is paid to the work of the house and the garden than to their education; that the boys are worked far too hard. In a supplementary charge, contained in a letter addressed to Mr. Eish by Mr. J. Jones, it is stated that proper attention is not paid to teaching the girls sewing. 111. That the Director contracts with the Government for the board of the children, and that he has at times supplied improper food. Mr. Eish urges that the boarding should not be in the hands of the Director, whose attention should be confined to teaching and supervising the teaching. IV. That no provision is made for teaching trades or placing out the children when they leave the institution, which, Mr. Fish urges, should be made, in order that the pupils may become breadearners and useful citizens. V. That, while the total cost to the Government for each pupil is about £80 per annum, no commensurate results have been obtained for the large expenditure incurred. Having divided the charges made into these five heads, we beg leave to report on them as follows :— I. It is not denied by Mr. van Asch that he takes private pupils. He has five pupils who are treated differently from the others in the institution —one who is under the tuition of Miss K. van Asch, such tuition being paid extra for by the pupils' parents, and four who are what Mr. van Asch calls parlour boarders, and have closer relations with his own family than the pupils generally. For these he receives extra remuneration from the parents, the sums paid him varying from £20 to £60 per annum for each pupil, the aggregate extra amount receivable this year on account of these pupils being £180. He argues that he understood that he was allowed by the Government to make these arrangements. In two cases he obtained direct leave, and in the others he assumed that there would be no objection.