9

8.—3

Miss Barrett recommends " Separate trials of juvenile offenders, and a complete separation of juvenile offenders from adults during their trial, while awaiting trial, and while undergoing punishment." This recommendation, made in the first instance for the United Kingdom, would be a good one to adopt here. The system of private trials for children has been a marked success in South Australia and many of the American States. For some years the Department has had in hand a " Eegister of Past Inmates," in which has been entered from time to time any information that could be obtained respecting the character of previous inmates of industrial schools. Inquiries made in connection with applications for payment of earnings have, for instance, supplied a large proportion of the information that has been recorded. To make the record complete, a confidential circular has been sent to the police, and the Department is now able to furnish an interim report of the results. Information has been obtained with regard to 1,111 persons out of 3,529 discharged from industrial schools between the Ist January, 1883, and the 31st December, 1896. Of these 1,111 persons, 174 are accounted for as follows: Sixty have left the colony, fifty-nine are dead, three are in lunatic asylums, fifty-two cannot be traced. Of the remainder (937), 828 are of good character, six are of fair character, 103 are of bad character. Thus, 89 per cent, have certainly done well or fairly, and only 11 per cent, are certainly bad, and if to the former is added a proportion of the 174 above named (the fifty-two that cannot be traced would be known to the police if they were bad), the department is entitled to claim that not more than 10 per cent, of industrial-school children have failed to do well. It is to be remembered that this inquiry has been made long after the persons concerned have been free from Government control —for as long as ten years in some cases. Out of the 1,111 cases referred to above, 296 at time of their discharge were licensed to friends, and 428 were at service ; of the former, 260 turned out well, three were doing fairly, and thirty-three, or 1116 per cent., were of bad character; of the latter, 395 turned out well, and thirty-three, or 771 per cent., were of bad character. These figures probably show that even greater care should be exercised in returning children to friends than has been the rule in the past. Eeferring to England, Miss Barrett, in the paper already quoted, makes the remark that "the return of industrial-school children to relatives is generally a great mistake." Without going as far as that, it may yet be said that it would be wise not to relax, but rather to increase, the strictness of the conditions under which inmates are allowed to go back to their relatives. Indeed, the very fact that such a child has been sent to an industrial school by a Magistrate may be taken as primd facie evidence that the home of the parents is, in the judgment of the Magistrate, an unsuitable place for securing the proper care and control of the child. The examination returns for the children in the day-schools attached to the industrial schools will be found at the end of this report. The Department has to thank the Inspectors of the North Canterbury and Otago Boards for their services in examining Burnham and Caversham for many years past, and the Education Boards for allowing them to examine the schools. Inasmuch, however, as the conditions under which the children at these schools are instructed, more especially in regard to industrial education, differ considerably from those prevailing in the ordinary public schools, it is proposed in future to have the inspection and examination conducted by officers of this Department. It will be interesting, however, to note the following facts: There are on the books of Caversham and Burnham, our two largest industrial schools, the names of seventy-one inmates who have passed Standard V., and of twenty inmates who have passed Standard VI. Of those now in residence under instruction in the day-schools attached to Caversham and Burnham—l32 in all —twenty-four, or 182 per cent., are being prepared for Standard V., and eight, or 6-06 per cent., are being prepared for Standard VI.; totals for Standards V. and VI., 24-3 per cent. The corresponding percentages for children attending public schools are : for Standard V., 11 - 06, and for Standard VI., 763 ; total for Standards V. and VI., 1869 per cent. The children now in the industrial schools are therefore in a better position as regards the standard classes than those in the public schools. It should be borne in mind that many of the children entering the industrial schools are very backward when they are admitted. Our general rule is not to send an inmate to service until he or she has passed Standard V. or is fourteen years of age ; the condition for exemption in the public schools is the passing of Standard V. or being thirteen years of age. Here, again, the advantage is on the side of the industrial-school child. Boarded-out children are required to attend 94 per cent, of times the school is open, or cause must be shown. It is very rarely that complaint has to be made on this account. Geokge Hog-ben, M.A., Inspector-General of Schools.

Enclosure No. 1 in No. 2. SUMMARY OF REPORTS ON THE SEVERAL INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS BY OFFICERS OF THE DEPARTMENT. Auckland Industrial School, Mount Albert (Gibls and Young Boys). This small school has been visited four tirr.es during the year ended 31st March, 1901. Mr. E. H. Pope, Assistant Inspector, visited it on the Bth March, 1901. He found the premises scrupulously clean in every respect. The inmates were healthy, and appeared to be very happy. This Home has been under Miss Jackson's management for many years, and has always held a high place among our industrial schools. The removal of the school to Mount Albert gives greater scope for satisfactory results. 2—E. 3.