lU-4,

1896 NEW ZEALAND.

EDUCATION: SCHOOL FOR DEAF-MUTES. [In Continuation of E.-4, 1895.]

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

No. 1. ExTEACT PEOM NINETEENTH ANNUAL EePOKT OF THE MINISTEE OP EDUCATION. There were 46 pupils in the institution at Sumner at the end of 1894, and the same number at the end of 1895, seven having left and seven entered in the interval. The expenditure in 1895 was .£3,025 11s. 3d., and the receipts were £180 4s. Bd. The expenditure is made up of the following items: Professional staff and occasional tuition, £1,117 os. 4d. ; salaries of steward, matron, and wages, £472 12s. Id.; rent, £470; housekeeping, £669 10s. 7d. ; travelling, £100 6s. 5d.; school material, £11 9s. 10d.; repairs, £50 9s. 9d.; clothing (for some needy cases), £16 13s. 9d.; medicine, £13 19s. 4d.; drainage and removal of refuse, £36 14s. ; sundries, £66 15s. 2d. The instruction is on the pure oral or articulation method —that is to say, the teachers teach by word of mouth, and the children are not taught to use arbitrary signs, but actually acquire the power of audible speech.

No. 2. Eepoet of the Diebctoe. Sik, — School for Deaf-mutes, Summer, 10th March, 1896. I have the honour to report that, as the years roll on, a steadily-growing feeling of confidence in the value of the educational work of the institution is becoming more and more apparent. The increased number of pupils now in actual attendance, the anxious inquiries made on behalf of prospective ones, as well as occasional glimpses at the conduct and the life of many of the pupils of former years, furnish proof of this assertion. Forty-six was the total number of scholars receiving instruction in 1895, twenty-four of whom are boys, and the rest—that is, twenty-two— girls. Weighed in the scale of intellectual capacity, thirty-two of these scholars must be returned as of average and six of superior ability, whilst eight cannot be classified otherwise than of inferior ability. The lack of sound mental power in some of these approaches the verge of imbecility, and frequent repetition therefore becomes in their case an absolute necessity. That distance has not acted as a deterrent to parents in sending their afflicted ones to our institution is clear from the fact that our pupils hail from the most northern as well as from the most southern parts of the colony. A copy of the school register indicates that from Riverton, in South Otago, and from Upper Waiwera, north of Auckland, there were two pupils each, and twa each from Timaru, Geraldine, Papanui, Masterton, Gisborne, and Auckland. There were five pupils from Dunedin, four from Christchurch, four from Wellington, three from Wanganui, and one each from Pembroke, Miller's Flat, Evansdale, Moeraki, Eaugiora, Springfield, Kumara, Hokitika, Greymouth, Eeefton, Nelson, Bull's, Eketahuna, and Napier. With regard to the six young learners who entered the institution in February, I have to remark that four went through the introductory task of elementary exercise with ease, and one did so with labour. The sixth barely reached the final stage, so that it is doubtful whether she will be able to keep abreast with the rest of her class during 1896. Both teacher and pupil might be saved much trouble and time if parents of infant deaf-mutes of, say, four, five, and six years of age, bore in mind the following hints : teach your children to walk upright, to run and hop, to throw