E.— IA

1917. NEW ZEALAND.

INDUSTRIAL-SCHOOL SYSTEM (MEMORANDUM BY THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION, HON. J. A. HANAN, DEALING WITH REFORMS IN CONNECTION WITH THE).

Laid on the Table of the House of Rejiresentatives by Leave.

Office of Minister of Education, 17th July, 1917. Last year, by leave of the House, I laid on the table a memorandum dealing with educational progress. Reference to the annual report on the work of the Department will show that in spite of the present difficulties a substantial advance has been made in the direction, of carrying out the views expressed in that memorandum. This.year I desire to bring under the notice of Parliament and of the people of the Dominion a special phase of the work of the Education Department: this is the work covered by the industrial-school system, which deals" with a large number of neglected and delinquent children who have become wards of the State through the failure of the home or of society, or of both, to give them that minimum of care and guidance and that natural and wholesome environment without which childlife inevitably becomes blighted and stunted. All records and statistics show that, with respect to the number of neglected and delinquent children and to the seriousness of the cases dealt with, New Zealand has a much more creditable record than can be shown by most of the other parts of the Empire. Still, the fact that there were, at the end of the year 19.16, 4,128 such children in. New Zealand under the care of the Department is a matter of such pressing importance that it should cause grave concern, not only on account of the darkened and unhappy condition of so many handicapped lives, but on account of the national loss resulting from this threatened wastage of human resources. Jn view of the fact that so many of our finest men have been killed or disabled during the war we should make every effort possible to save this small army of children, most of whom, if the State stood, aside, would not only be lost to the State as citizens, but would become a hindrance or a menace to the public well-being. The Problem. The children who come under the care of the various industrial-school agencies may be classified as follows : — (a.) Very young children, mostly infants, who for various reasons are boarded out by their parents. Under the Infant Life Protection Act the Department is responsible for the registration of the fosterhomes of these children and for their regular supervision. (h.) Neglected children whose homes are such that the children cannot be allowed to remain under the charge of their parents. (c.) Children who have been deserted by one or both of their parents, or whose parents have died leaving the children destitute. (d.) Children who are beyond the control of their parents. (c.) Children who have committed some offence against the law, or whose character makes them a danger to society. I—E. la.