E.—4.

for committal: Indigent, 196 ; delinquent, 36 ; living in a detrimental environment, 46 ; neglected, 26 ; not under proper control, 121 ; accused or guilty of punishable offences, 75 ; and breach of supervision order, 3. The remaining 80 children came under the control of the Superintendent for the following reasons : — (a) Admitted by private arrangement 12, Child Welfare Act, 1925), 13 : (b) Temporarily admitted, 52 : (c) Placed under supervision, and ordered by the Courts to be detained in an institution for a period, 7 : (d) At the time of this report 8 were held on warrant, pending the decision of the Children's Courts (section 13, subsection (2), Child Welfare Amendment Act, 1927). Classifying the 583 children according to age at the time of admission, there were 79 under six months, 23 over six months and under one year, 72 from one to five years, 70 from five to ten years, 152 from ten to fourteen years, and 187 over fourteen years. Out of the 503 children committed to the care of the Superintendent, 89 had previously come before the Courts for other offences for which they had received terms of supervision. The length of period in residence for children temporarily admitted was from one day to eight weeks. At the 31st March, 1938, 138 of the children in foster-homes were receiving higher education at secondary or technical schools. Of these, 82 were over and 56 under the age of fourteen years. In addition, 15 boys residing in the Y.M.C.A. Hostel at Auckland were receiving secondary education, and 21 children were boarded at private secondary schools.

No. 2.—STATEMENT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE CHILD WELFARE BRANCH. FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH, 1938. FUNCTIONS OF THE CHILD WELFARE BRANCH. Those interested in the early history of the Branch are referred to the article published in " Fifty Years of National Education in New Zealand " (Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd.). This article sketches the growth of the work from the earliest recorded times up to the passing of the Child Welfare Amendment Act, 1927. The main functions of the Branch may be briefly stated as follows : — (1) Supervision and general placement and care of all children committed to the care of the Department through the Children's Courts : (2) Visiting and oversight of all children placed by the Courts under the legal supervision of Child Welfare Officers : (3) Inquiry and investigation of all cases coming before Children's Courts : (4) Inquiry into cases of illegitimate births, to ensure that proper provision is being made for each child, and for the mother where she is a young single woman : (5) Licensing of foster-homes under the Infants Act, and supervision of children placed therein : (6) Administration of State institutions for children and young people who cannot be placed in the community, including institutions for afflicted children : (7) Preventive work—that is, the inquiry in the early stages into cases of difficulty with children or bad adjustment in the home : (8) Inquiry into all applications for adoption of children : (9) Inspection and registration of private institutions and orphanages. Before giving details of the year's work, the following is a brief statement of the Department's organizations outside the Head Office. CHILD WELFARE OFFICERS. There are at present 47 Child Welfare Officers, male and female, stationed in all the main centres in New Zealand according to the needs of each district. For instance, Auckland has 9 officers, while places like Hawera and Invercargill have 2 each. Upon these officers devolves all the preventive, inquiry, placement, supervisory, and other work involved in the functions of the Branch set out above. These officers report direct to the Children's Courts, and are given a wide discretion by the Department in dealing with all matters in their districts. Certain activities or proposals must, of course, have the

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