E.—l.

sum expended during the year upon the new build ng was £1,976 Bs. lid. In 1905 the amount was £1,325 16s. 3d. The Director's report and other information respecting the school appears in a separate paper (E.-4). Institute foe the Blind. The Jubilee Institute for the Blind at Auckland is not a Government institution, but by an Act the year four of the nine members of the Board of Trustees constituted under the Act are to be appointed annually by the Governor, the remainder being elected from time .to time by the voluntary contributors. By this Act the Trustees are required to admit to the Institute every blind child between seven and sixteen years of age that the Minister of Education directs to be sent there, the Government paying for maintenance not more than £26 a year in each case. The total amount paid by Government on account of pupils during 1906 was £618 17s. lid. A sum of £14 was also paid for the separate tuition of a pupil in Christchurch. Maintenance contributions by parents and others amounted to £111 2s. 6d. The number of Government pupils at the close of 1905 was 24 ; of these, 4 left and 7 were admitted during 1906; thus at the end of the year the number was 27. Homes foe Mentally-Deficient Childeen. The Government has had under consideration the question of giving suitable education to those young persons who, not being imbecile, are by reason of lack of intel! gence incapable of receiving proper benefit from the instruction in the public schools; but are not incapable by reason of such deficiency of receiving benefit from instruction in schools specially set apart and equipped to meet their needs. Provision has already been made for the education of the deaf and blind, and it is equally important that attention should be given to those that are mentally weak. At present numbers of these children, who under favourable conditions could be trained at least to maintain themselves, have no other prospect than to be a lifelong burden upon their people or upon charitable aid. The experience of other countries shows that much can be done by special education to develop children of this class to teach them to earn their livelihood, either out in the world or, in the case of those whose deficiencies are rather more pronounced, to maintain themselves under supervision without cost to the State or to their friends as the case may be. To obtain thoroughly good results from such training, healthy situations for the institutions are needed, where the inmates can lead a free outdoor life, and at the same time receive the manual instruction — agricultural training, &c, which must be the chief means of awaking and stimulating their mental faculties. The Government has now decided to establish an institution of this kind for boys, and with this end in view to acquire the house and grounds of the Otekaike Estate, near Duntroon, in north Otago, at a cost of about £7,000. It is considered that the conditions there are most suitable for this work, and the existing buildings can be made, with very little alteration, to accommodate some fifty boys and the staff. The matter of providing a similar institution for girls is also engaging the attention of the Government. Teachees' Supeeannuation. The Teachers' Superannuation Act, which was passed by Parliament on the 31st October, 1905, and came into force on the Ist January, 1906, was amended by a supplementary Act on the 29th October, 1906. Every person who at the date of the coming into operation of the principal Act was permanently employed for not less than twenty hours a week in the Education service had the option of becoming a contributor to the Fund ; such contributors are " original members," and, as such, are entitled to special benefits. The number of persons who have entered as original members is 2,720 ; of these, 127 have left

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