E.—4.

In v ® r y man y cases Parents whose children are difficult to manage avail themselves of the services of Child Welfare Officers for the purpose of supervision and friendly guidance. At the end of the year there was a total number of 1,182 children being dealt with in this connection. Table 1 shows the number of cases notified during the year. Table 2. —Preventive Cases. The following table shows the number of preventive cases notified by Child Welfare Officers during the year ended 31st March, 1937.

Children under the Guardianship op the Superintendent op the Child Welfare Branch. At the 31st March 1937, there were 4,241 children under control (excluding those mentioned under separate heading below), and of these 184 were in residence at Government receiving-homes (many of these only temporarily), training-farms, and training institutions ; 253 in Special Schools oT'u wl! Backward Children ; 70 in the four Roman Catholic Schools recognized under the Child Welfare Act; 2,011 were boarded out in foster-homes ; 866 were in licensed situations • and 611 residing under license with relatives and friends. The remainder were in various private institutions. 1 Nature of Employment. Young persons over school age in employment numbered 817 males and 422 females (a number of whom are residing with friends), included in the total of 4,241. Of the males 556 were farm-workers (198 skilled in dairy-work and cheesemaking, and 358 competent to milk and'carry out general farm-work), 80 factory employees, 31 labourers, 28 shop-assistants, 13 clerks, 7 warehouse assistants 9 bakers, 5 butchers, 4 motor-body builders, 6 carpenters, 4 cabinetmakers, 4 plasterers 6 bootmakers, 5 printers and bookbinders, 9 garage attendants, 3 electrical engineers, 4 messengers' 4 tailors, 2 gardeners, 4 drivers, 3 grocers' assistants, 3 jockeys, 3 railway-workshop employees' 2 painters, 2 freezing-works employees, 2 salesmen, 1 upholsterer, 1 engineer, 1 coachbuilder, 2 racingstab le hands, 1 fisherman, 1 builder, 1 sawmill hand, 1 nurserv-gardener, 1 seaman, 1 waiter 1 milkman 1 plumber, 1 market-gardener, 1 miner, 1 office-assistant, 1 basketmaker, and 1 presser. Of the girls, 280 were domestic workers, 10 tailoresses, 7 dressmakers, 3 fur-factory employees, 13 shop-assistants 3 clerks, 4 waitresses, 2 laundresses, 3 teachers, 6 typistes, 6 machinists, 99 factory employees, 2 wards maids, 1 bookbinder, 1 hairdresser, 1 nurse, and 1 cook. by the State* o™'0™' 116 75 b ° yS anA 41 glrls ' illcludin S some apprentices) were being partly maintained Infant-life Protection (Infants Act, 1908). At the end of the year 830 infants and young children were supervised in 750 licensed fosterhomes Of these homes, 687 had 1 child each, 52 had 2 children each, 7 had 3 children each 3 had 4 children each, and 1 had 6 children. Payments for maintenance, which were made bv the relatives ranged from 2s. to 30s. per week for each child. Out of the 1,378 infants who were residing in licensed homes throughout the year there were three deaths.

8

District. Number of Families, j Number of Children. North Auckland .. .. .. .. _ 17 , n Auckland .. .. .. .. '' q , Hamilton .. .. .. _ _ " ' R „ a Gisborne .. .. ,. .. '' 2 2 Hawke's Bay ........ 3 g Hawera .......... 4 Wanganui .. .. . .. _ g Palmerston North ..... is 00 Wellington .. .. .. .. _ g g Nelson and Marlborough .. .. .. . . West Coast (South Island).. .. .. ,. . _ 1 2 North Canterbury .. .. .. .. q jg South Canterbury .. .. .. .. jg 0ta g° .' 27 54 Southland .. .. .. .. _ 24 (■:{ - Totals - - 166 392