E.—4.

little girl was so seriously ill that, after being some weeks in the Hospital, she had to be sent home for the rest of the year. She has, however, made a perfect recovery. In October the school was attacked by a severe epidemic of measles, about forty of the pupils taking the infection more or less seriously. In two cases pneumonia of a very severe type supervened, with a fatal termination in one case— that of a boy of nine, whose death a few days before the Christmas holidays cast a heavy gloom over the school. The annual picnic and the breaking-up festivities were consequently abandoned. Miss Craig, the Matron, whose powers had been overtaxed by attending to the sick children, also fell a victim to pneumonia, and was seriously ill for some weeks, but has now made a good recovery. The services of the honorary nurse, Mrs. Crawford, were of great value during the epidemic, and thanks due to Miss Craig, Miss Gibson, and Miss Fitzgerald for their assiduous attentions to the invalids. In order to cope with the large number of new pupils, two additional teachers, Miss M. J. Miller and Miss H. B. Anthony, were appointed in February. Both have made good progress in the art of teaching the deaf. The two teachers appointed in 1907, Mr. J. S. Hilson and Miss A. C. Gemming, have also made considerable advancement in their knowledge of the art, and are now in a position to second t he efforts of the more experienced members of the staff, on whom the main burden of the work of instruction naturally falls. Mr. L. P. Longuet, in July, after five years' training, qualified for a certificate of proficiency as an oral teacher of the deaf. In September Miss M. A. Bell, who had been appointed in 1906, resigned from the staff, and a new teacher to take her place was advertised for at the end of the year. Besides the usual branches of school-work, classes have been taught in the following subjects : Kindergarten work for the younger children; sewing, dressmaking, cooking, and laundry-work for the girls; and elementary woodwork and gardening for the boys. The older girls have also been trained in general housework, and the older boys have learned to milk. The thanks of the Director are due to the members of the staff for the loyal and conscientious manner in which they have carried out their duties during the year, both in and out of the school. The continued growth of the school makes the successful carrying-on of the work more than ever dependent on the intelligent and sympathetic co-operation of the individual members of the staff. It is by cordially seconding each other's efforts, and by subordinating personal considerations to those connected with the common cause, that permanent results of value can be obtained. In the actual striving after these results and in the gratification obtained from their complete or partial attainment will the teacher find his principal reward. The undesirability of crowding the deaf together in large communities, and the danger of forming a separate class of deaf-mutes in society, have been frequently alluded to by me. Any scheme of education having a tendency in this direction is to be regarded as faulty. The harmful effects of this segregation of the deaf from the hearing, it should not be forgotten, are not limited to the period of school life, but are continued afterwards, and are particularly noticeable in large towns in England and America among the deaf who have been educated in large overgrown institutions. The bringing of the deaf into association with their hearing brothers as fully as possible should be constantly aimed at; and this cannot be achieved in a large institution, however lavishly it may be equipped and however fully it may be staffed. There is every indication that the number of our pupils will shortly reach 100, a number that, in my opinion, is larger than in a single institution is desirable. The time appears to me to be ripe for the commencement of a system having in view the subdivision of the school and the classification of the pupils. The system in operation in Denmark and in the majority of the German States appears to me to be in many respects an admirable one. The former country had in 1905 the large number of 334 deaf pupils of school age to deal with, and could therefore go in for a more elaborate system of classification than would be necessary here under present conditions. The children are sent, to begin with, to a preparatory school at Fredericia, where they remain from one to two years, according to the rate of their progress. They are then graded, according to their mental and auditory powers, into four other schools. Of these four secondary schools, two are at Fredericia, one at Nyborg, and one at Copenhagen. One of the secondary schools at Fredericia is in conjunction with the preparatory school (a disadvantage to my mind), the other is at a considerable distance. In 1905 the children were distributed as follows : Preparatory school at Fredericia, 70 pupils (unclassified) ; A school at Fredericia, 50 pupils, bright and totally deaf ; B school at Fredericia, 66 pupils, dull and semi-deaf ; school at Nyborg, 73 pupils, bright and semi-deaf ; school at Copenhagen, 75 pupils, dull and totally deaf. In the case of our smaller population, it would probably be best to commence by the establishment of a preparatory school, so as to keep the number of pupils at the main school at about seventy or seventyfive. I have, &c, The, Secretary for Education, Wellington. J. E. Stevens, Director.

JUBILEE INSTITUTE FOR THE BLIND, AUCKLAND.

This institution is administered by a Board of Trustees, of whom four are appointed by the Government and five elected by the voluntary contributors. 2-E. 4.

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