E.—l

XXIII

TABLE S.—Parentage of Non-committed Children admitted to Orphanages in 1883.

The fathers only of 11 children and the mothers only of 4 were dead, and 13 had lost both parents, showing that, out of the 37 children placed m orphanages, 28 had been deprived of one or both parents ; 4 children had one or both parents sick or in a lunatic asylum , 2 had been deserted by both parents , 2 had a father and 1 had a mother of bad character The following is a summary of the ages of the children maintained by Government that were resident at all the schools on the 31st December, 1883 :—■

TABLE T.—Ages of the Children.

At the beginning of the year 25-51 per cent, of all the resident committed children were under seven years, at the close of the year the percentage of children under that age was only 12-37 This large decrease in the number of very young resident children is owing to the large number (205) that had been boarded out with foster-parents, almost all of whom are under seven years of age. About 915 of the resident children were receiving day-school instruction at the end of the year, the numbers being as follows Auckland Industrial School (Howe Street and Kohimarama), 129 , Burnham, 210 , Caversham, 236 , St. Mary's, Auckland, 44, St. Mary's, Nelson, 132, St. Stephen's, Parnell, 18; St. Joseph's Providence, Wellington, 22; Motueka, 24, Lyttelton Orphanage, 82. Those at the Thames School, 18 m number, are included in the returns of " public " school attendance. The amount of payments made by parents on account of the maintenance of their children is larger for 1883 than for 1882. The amounts for the two years were as follows :— £ s. a. Total for 1883 1 335 ig 7 Total for 1882 l' ; 130 13 4 Increase £205 3 3 The Industrial Schools Act provides that the earnings of the children when at service shall be placed in the Post-Office Savings-Bank, after defraying the cost of clothing and other necessaries. The repayment of these moneys, with accumulated interest, is contingent on good conduct. The boys usually receive theirs on reaching manhood and showing that the money will be satisfactorily expended by them. The girls' money is usually paid to them on their marriage with the approval of the manager * The following is a summary of the wages account for the Government Industrial Schools for 1883 :—

. * Last year two brothers received £91 Is. Bd. and £29 17s. lOd. respectively, or £130 between them. They were committed in 1872 for seven years, their father being dead and their mother a drunkard. In addition to the amount in the bank, they had accumulated other moneys and a good stock of cattle. The stock of the elder brother began in 1874 with three heifers, two of which were presents from his mistress, and a third from a friend of his employer who had become interested in the boy. The brothers have jointly taken a farm of two hundred acres in a well-settled district, and, being good practical workmen and of highly respectable character, there is every reason to expect that their undertaking will prove a successful one. Two young women, who had conducted themselves with great propriety for a number of years, recently received their money from the savings-bank on being married. in one case the amount received was £13 145., in the other about £5.

Mother! described Children of Sick, i Of Good Lunatic, [ Character Disabled, &c. | (or poor). Total. Dead. Not known or not stated. Of Bafl Character. Deserters. 'athers described as— Dead Sick, lunatic, disabled, &o. Of good character (or poor) Not known or not described Of bad character Deserters • 13 2 1 1 2 1 9 2 1 1 24: 2 3 2 2 4 1 2 Total 17 12 37

Under 1 Year. 1 and under 2. 2 and under 3. 3 and : 4 and under under 4. 5. 5 and under 7. 7 and under 10. 10 and 13 and under under 13. 15. Over 15 Total. Years. Committed children * 7 9 i 15 64 262 269 135 65 37 35 800 Non-committed children 1 i 1 4 1 2 j 4 24 62 6 202 Total 8 11 19 88 324 334 172 41 1,002