13

8.—3

Mount Magdala, Christchurch.

Visited on 15th September, 1900, by Mr. E. H. Pope, in company with the official correspondent for the Canterbury District. The visit was unannounced. There were fifteen industrial-school girls in residence. The laundry provides the principal occupation for the inmates, but gardening is carried on by them. Assurance was given that no inmate is required to do work beyond her strength. The dormitories are large and lofty and give sufficient air-space. The bedding was satisfactory. There are not sufficient ventilation-inlets. The breakfast provided is bread with butter or jam ; this is not adequate. The clothing was examined by the official correspondent, who reported that it was sufficient, but hardly up to the standard required at Government industrial schools. The girls appeared to be healthy. Classification is adopted to some extent, but a new building, then ready for occupation, would give greater facilities in this respect. There seemed to be a lack of cheerfulness and homeliness. As a reformatory for young girls Mount Magdala is somewhat disappointing. Visited on Saturday, 18th May, 1901, by Mr. E. H. Pope, Assistant Inspector, in company with Mrs. Branting, manager of Te Oranga Home. The dormitories were very clean and orderly. The bedding was warm and clean. At dinner some of the inmates had only bread-and-butter. The girls under Government control were, speaking generally, not tidy. There were eighteen of these in residence. Each one was allowed to speak alone with Mrs. Branting in a private room. As regards food, two complained that it was poor. All complained that they were not sufficiently clad. Mrs. Branting indorsed the latter complaint. All the girls appeared to be healthy, cheerful, and on good terms with the Sisters. Protestant girls express strong aversion to being required to attend the Eoman Catholic services. While recognising that Mount Magdala is doing an important work in the colony, it is thought that the Government would do well to have all committed reformatory girls immediately under its control. Enclosure No. 2 in No. 2. Education Department, Wellington, 26th February, 1901. The Under-Secretary for Justice, — I am directed to ask you to be good enough to bring under the notice of the Stipendiary Magistrates the following statement of the position as it appears to this Department in regard to the sending of children to the Government industrial schools. In past years, when there were but three of these institutions —at Auckland, Burnham, and Caversham —and each of them accommodated both boys and girls, it was a simple matter for a Magistrate to determine the school to which he would order a child to be sent; in fact, the locality in which the case occurred generally settled the question. Now, however, that the Government has set about a reorganization of institutions under the Industrial Schools Acts, and has adopted and already to a large extent carried out a system of classification of the inmates, it is desirable that Magistrates should be made aware, as fully as possible, of the circumstances of each institution and the class of children for which it is intended to provide. The sending of a boy to a school that is now intended only for girls, or vice versa, of a child that is qualified to be boarded out to a school in which only inmates that require discipline are to be dealt with, of a reformatory case to an industrial school where inmates of the better class are being trained, and so on, gives rise to a great deal of trouble, and frequently considerable expense in the action that has to be taken, under the Governor's power of transfer, to adjust the case to the facts. The following is an account of the institutions at present existing, with a statement of the purposes to which they are applied : — Auckland Industrial School. For girls of any age, so long as they do not need reformatory treatment, and for boys not too old or too wild to be boarded out, or who can be placed at once at service or in the Costley Training Institution. Wellington Receiving-home. (Gazetted 31st January, 1901.) For young boys and girls fit to be boarded out, and for older girls that can be trusted at service. Burnham Industrial School. This ia now a reformatory for boys. The classification of the inmates will provide for their separation according to various degrees of improvement. Te Oranga Home, Ghristchurch. (Gazetted 31st January, 1901.) This is a reformatory for girls whose character requires that they shall be kept under strict discipline. Te Oranga is not a refuge, and although girls of vicious and depraved life may be formally ordered to this home, the Department makes provision for their transfer to the guardianship of institutions more specially fitted for the care of such persons. Ghristchurch Receiving-home. (Gazetted 31st January, 1901.) The purpose of this institution is similar to that of the Wellington Beceiving-home—viz., to receive young boys and girls fit to be boarded out, and for older girls that can be trusted at service. Gaversham Industrial School, Dunedin. This institution has not yet been specialised to the same extent as the others. The intention is to make it a place for the industrial training of girls of good character and of an age that fits them to receive such training. The boys will be transferred to another industrial school, which is