E.—4.

making a most artistic piece of macrame work to a certain pattern, where one would think that only byjjCareful calculation could one adhere to the pattern. Girls, also, who are athetotic, often become very proficient with the needle, under training, which shows that much can be done for this class of patient. Boys, also, of this class often take kindly to wood-carving and woodwork. Feeble-minded children are very indolent, as a rule, and work must be made a habit before it comes agreeable in any way to them. Once they have fairly learned to work, many dreary hours in their fives may be filled up, and they may become useful to others. Remembering the old adage that " All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," I intend to make suitable provision for recreation for the children at Otekaike. Children who are mentally feeble have no idea of combination, even for games. Games of ball, rounders, cricket, football, trundling hoops, skipping, playing horses, battledore and shuttlecock, will all have their place at Otekaike. Indoor recreations will not be lost sight of. Entertainments and concerts are eagerly looked forward to by these children, and often it is quite sufficient punishment for a boy to tell him that he will be debarred from the weekly entertainment. In connection with our entertainments, we shall always welcome outside talent. I hope, also, to make considerable use of the magic lantern, educationally, as a pictorial aid in descriptions of things one cannot actually obtain. Much fun can always be obtained also from a lantern entertainment. Many of the indoor games are useful in one way or another, and are good for wet days and winter evenings. Bagatelle and dominoes give ideas of numbers, and " musical chairs " induces alertness and intelligence and the anticipating of another's movements. We shall also not forget the " children's hour," for if normal children sleep the better for a romp before going to bed, it should also be beneficial for the Otekaike children. Mentally deficient children are usually lacking in will-power, and are easily led, hence the necessity of a good moral training—a» bad example is easily followed. With regard to the results we hope to achieve at Otekaike, one cannot look into the future and forecast. At the Royal Albert Training Institution, Lancaster, England, Dr. Shuttleworth, who is recognised as one of the leading authorities in England on the treatment of feeble-minded persons, states that, with regard to the after-career of pupils discharged from that institution, — (1.) 10 per cent, were or had been earning wages. (2.) 5 per cent, were remuneratively employed at home. (3.) 3-5 per cent., in addition, were capable of earning wages if suitable situations could be found for them. (4.) 22 per cent, were reported to be more or less useful to friends at home. (5.) 22 per cent, were said to be of little or no use. (6.) 29 per cent, gravitated to workhouses or lunatic asylums. (7.) 8-5 per cent, had died at the time of report. Again, Dr. Kerlin, of the Pennsylvania Institution, states that about 17 per cent, of his cases were capable of earning their own support, " under the influences of favourable protection." This " favourable protection " is thus defined by Dr. Kerlin : " It is certain that, of those sent out from institutions of this kind as ' self-supporting,' there are few individuals who will not always need judicious and considerate guardianship. They lack that judgment and forecast which anticipates and provides for the future ; they possess little or no insight of character ; they are either irritable and suspicious or weakly credulous, lacking that combativeness which is self-protection, and gives equality amongst fellows : hence without the guardianship of merciful relatives or friends, who are considerate of their defects, they fail of success, are bitterly imposed upon, or may become the easy dupes and facile tools of rascals and knaves." Time, however, will prove what can be done ; everything that can be done for the amelioration of the affliction of these children will be done. By Act of Parliament, the education of mentally defective and epileptic children is compulsory to the age of sixteen years. Powers of detention, without certification as lunatics, should be granted after this age, so that all those young people who are unfit to take their place in the world, or who have no friends to take them, should be allowed to remain indefinitely at Otekaike, or some kindred Government custodial institution, where they can, by their work, contribute somewhat towards their maintenance. Unless deterioration and degeneration take place later, a mental hospital is not the proper place for them. Provision should also be made at present for those improvable cases who are over the compulsory age. It should be borne in mind that many of the young children here are of delicate constitution, and are not able to do much in the nature of work. A certain number of older cases would, when we have the necessary buildings to place them in, be a distinct advantage from an institutional point of view. This plan is adopted in all kindred institutions at Home. Accommodation, likewise, must be provided for the mentally feeble girls, who require this provision even more than the boys. In teaching them to be useful in laundry-work, needlework, and cooking, one again lessens the cost of administration. We have plenty of space for' t buildings for a girls' school, and I would recommend to you that this step should be taken in hand in the near future. Educable epileptic children who are unsuitable for the ordinary elementary day-schools also should be provided for. The numbers would not be great, and it would be an excellent thing to make a start in this direction also, as the necessary buildings would not be very costly. In concluding this portion of my general report on feeble-minded children, and the outline of a scheme on which I propose to work, I cannot do better than quote a few more words of Sequin, who, in speaking of the children under his care, says, " All of those poor children may be taught to love by being loved. We may bring skill, even genius, to our task, we may speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and if we have not love it will profit us nothing." I will now pass on to that portion of my report which will be mainly statistical and descriptive of the actual work attempted during our initial stages.

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