E.—4

6

HOW CASES DEALT WITH.

Assisted Service, Higher Service, and Employment of State Children over School Age. An important part of the work carried out by Managers of institutions, Boarding-out Officers, and Juvenile Probation Officers is the placing of State children in suitable avenues of employment. On the care and discrimination exercised by these officers in this work depends the future, of the children, and also the question whether, when they reach the adult stage, these young charges will become assets or liabilities to the State. The Department is fully alive to the importance of this particular phase of the work, and, as a matter of fact, reviews the action taken in each individual case. As a general rule these young people are encouraged to take up rural occupations, as experience has shown that for the majority of lads, who are taken from the crowded city areas, life in the country offers the best chance of complete reformation. There are a considerable number, of course, who are eminently suitable for trades and similar occupations, and for those the Department finds suitable openings, hi the case of the latter considerable difficulty is experienced in boarding them in suitable homes ; probably this difficulty could be got over to a certain extent by utilizing part of the accommodation at each receiving-home and probation home for the purpose of housing these young people in the early stages of apprenticeship at least. At the end of 1920 there were 28 children at service receiving assistance. Assisted service in most cases refers to apprenticeship. At the end of 1920 there were 27 children receiving higher education —17 technical and 10 secondary. In addition a considerable number of children over the age of fourteen years are still attending the public schools and being maintained by the Department. Nature of Employment at 31st December, 1920, of Boys who have left School. At the end of the year there were 494 farm-workers—ll skilled in dairy-work and chcesemaking, and 483 others competent to milk and carry out general farm-work. There were 41 boys apprenticed as follows : 5 bootmakers, 5 carpenters, 5 painters, 4 engineers, 3 basketmakers, 2 electrical engineers, 2 plumbers, 2 cabinetmakers, 2 foundry employees, 2 saddlers, 2 shipwrights, 1 baker, 1 blacksmith, 1 cycle-manufacturer, 1 jockey, 1 motor mechanic, 1 plasterer, and 1 upholsterer. Boys otherwise employed (not apprenticed) totalled 148, as follows : 22 factory hands, 19 shop-assistants, 17 labourers, 13 sailors, 10 sawmillers, 7 bootmakers, 7 clerks, 7 motor-drivers, 7 orchardists, 6 Post and Telegraph Department, 6 Railways, 5 painters and decorators, 4 general helps, 3 gardeners, 2 bakers, 2 coachbuilders, 2 drivers, 1 assistant in warehouse, 1 blacksmith, 1 butcher, 1 commercial traveller, 1 dyeworker, I fire-brigade hand, 1 miner, 1 milkman, 1 porter, 1 pilot-station hand. Total number of boys employed, 683 (494 farm-workers, 41 apprentices, and 148 others). Nature of Employment at 31st December, 1920, of Girls who have left School. There were 292 domestics; 16 apprentices (12 tailoresses, 3 dressmakers, and 1 boot-factory employee) ; 13 factory employees ; and 17 in other employment, as follows : 3 shop-assistants, 2 dairymaids, 2 nurses, 2 waitresses, 2 dressmakers, 1 typist, 1 laundress, 1 kindergarten trainee, and 1 Post and Telegraph Department. This gives a total of 338 girls employed (292 domestics, 16 apprentices, 13 factory employees, and 17 others). Admissions during 1920. During the year 535 children were committed to the care of the Department (517 to Government schools and 18 to private industrial schools), as compared with 864 for the previous year. The following table shows the new admissions classified according to age : — Boys. Girls. Total. Under six months . . .. .. . • 20 37 57 Over six months and under one year .. . . 13 10 23 One year to five years .. . . ... 47 61 108 Five years to ten years . . . . .. 92 63 155 Ten years to fourteen years . . .. .. 97 38 135 Over fourteen years .. .. .. 49 8 57 Totals .. .. .. ..318 217 .535

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