Direct Veto by a bare majority. This they will never get. The Beer interest is too strong for them, and is finding the money for the Liberal Association, which backs up the Ministerial candidates.

November 28th.—At nine precisely, the polling places throughout the colony were opened, and here in Auckland the women were the first to enter. Only six are allowed at a time in each polling place, but by a liberal interpretation of the law there may be several polling places in one building. There was no confusion, no cries or jeers or interference of any kind with the voters, and very little more excitement than at an ordinary election; that is, not half so many people about the streets as on Sunday afternoon when the children are going to Sunday-school, or on Sunday evening when people are going to church. Perhaps a few more women were walking about than are usually to be seen in the morning. Cabs and carriages arrived constantly at the polling places with 'lady voters.' All went on just as if the women had had votes as long as the colony had had responsible government. The day is beautifully fine.

During the whole day not a single drunken man was to be seen anywhere, and the women passed to and from the polling places without any annoyance, and with only the inevitable but extremely courteous solicitations of the canvassers for the different candidates. As I never saw an election in England since the Ballot, I do not know what particular plan is adopted; but ours, which is used all over Australasia, is simplicity itself. The voter goes up to the returning officer, mentions his name, and waits for a ballot-paper. As soon as the name is found on the roll the returning officer writes the number it bears on the roll, on a corner of the ballot-paper, which he then turns over and gums down. The voter takes his paper to a temporary screen, where there is a desk and pencil (which is tied to the desk). The paper contains the names of all the candidates, printed in alphabetical order. The voter then strikes out the names of the candidates he does not intend to vote for, folds the paper, and in the presence of the returning officer places it in the ballot-box.

All this seems as simple as A B C, and yet some persons contrive to make a muddle of it. The paper is informal if more names are left than there are seats vacant, or if the voter makes any marks or remarks on the paper, except the erasure of the names. Of course plumping is managed by crossing out all the names except one, when, as in the large centres, there are three members for a; constituency. All our electoral districts return only one member each, except the four principal towns, Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin, and Christchurch, which have three members each. The following is one of the voting papers for Auckland, issued by the Liberal Association. These papers are distributed amongst the voters by the agents of the candidates.

VOL. XXXV—No. 204

T

AUCKLAND CITY ELECTION

HOW TO VOTE

BUTTON, CHARLES EDWARD

CROWTHER, WILLIAM

FERNANDEZ, THOMAS

GREY, SIR GEORGE

NAPIER, WILLIAM JOSEPH

SHERA, JOHN MCEFFER

THOMPSON, THOMAS

TUDEHOPE, THOMAS

VAILE, SAMUEL

WITHY, EDWARD

Directions:

The voter is to strike out the name of every candidate for whom he or she DOES NOT intend to vote, by drawing a line through the name with a pen or pencil.

The voter must take care not to leave uncancelled the names of more than THREE (3) candidates, or this paper will be invalid.

Be sure and strike out the names of the candidates whose names are crossed out as above, then fold up your ballot-paper and put same into the ballot-box.

Printed by GEDDIS & BLOMFIELD, at the OBSERVER Office.

During the afternoon a mistake was made. The Licensed Victuallers' party, thinking that Mr. Napier was certain to be elected, issued another ticket, substituting the name of Crowther for his. It is a curious example of the impossibility of foreseeing how an election will go under the Ballot that the one man, and the only one, whom everybody thought sure of a seat was actually only fifth on the list.

་་

December 1st.-The result of the elections is now known, and it is a crushing defeat for the Opposition party, which is in fact almost annihilated. From the South Island only four members of the Opposition are returned, and the leader, Mr. Rolleston, has been defeated. In the North Island they have not been quite so unlucky. In Wellington Sir Robert Stout was returned at the head of the poll. He was formerly Premier, and is at present without office. He is an advanced Liberal, with strongly Socialist views on some subjects, a pronounced Agnostic, and the author of the Direct Veto Bill. He is a candid friend of the present Ministry. It is impossible for him to join any Cabinet in which Mr. Seddon is Premier. The other two members for Wellington are Oppositionists.

In Auckland we have returned the veteran, Sir George Grey, K.C.B., at the head of the poll by a large majority, and with him two Opposition members. Sir George is another candid friend of the Ministry, and a former Premier. There is no doubt that he was brought in by the women's vote, as he is immensely popular with them.

Altogether, including the four Maori' votes, which will certainly be given to such a strong Ministry, it may be reckoned that in a House of seventy-four members they will have fifty-four votes at least, even if all the Independents vote against them.

The one little 'rift within the lute' is the election of so many members pledged to the repeal or alteration of the Government Licensing Act. It is hinted that these members, who form with the Opposition a majority of the new House, will unite in an address to the Governor praying him to call Parliament together in January, as the first general election under the Licensing Act is appointed to take place in March. I do not think it in the least likely that this request will be complied with. The Premier will certainly not advise the Governor to call Parliament together just in order to endanger, if not to repeal, an Act which was passed with infinite trouble only a few weeks ago. The banks will put on the screw, as they are so largely interested in public-house property.

It seems to be the general opinion that, whatever may be the changes made in the personnel of the Ministry, the colony is now committed for three years to a course of extreme Radical legislation. The Opposition is powerless. All the most powerful members have either been defeated, or, like Sir John Hall, have given up politics. We must trust to beer and the banks to save us from absolute ruin. The men elected are nearly all, with only one or two exceptions, of the most uneducated class in the community, either the lowest bourgeois or mere carpet-baggers. They have displaced men of education and experience. Such are the results of the Female Franchise! It is to be hoped that it will be a warning to English Conservatives. We shall probably for some years to come be a dreadful object-lesson to the rest of the British Empire.

AUCKLAND, N.Z:

December 2.

R. H. BAKEWELL.

FEEBLE-MINDED CHILDREN

AT the meeting of the International Congress of Hygiene and Demography held in 1891 one of the subjects prominently discussed was the importance of making special provision in our elementary schools for training those children who are more or less defective in make, or who are suffering from maldevelopments which are much associated with defects of the brain. Backward, ill-developed and feeble children are not only sufferers from the inadequacy of the school training when not specially devised for their behoof, but are a source of irritation and difficulty in the school to their class-mates of average capacity.

To Dr. Francis Warner belongs the credit of having suggested and devised methods for carrying into effect an inquiry into deviation from the normal in children in various London elementary schools. Previous to the meeting of the Congress, this inquiry had been promoted with the aid of funds furnished by the Charity Organisation Society and the British Medical Association, but the Congress urged that an extended scientific inquiry should be made in several countries in Europe, under the auspices of an international committee which was duly appointed at this Congress.

The Royal Commission on the blind, dumb, and children requiring exceptional training presented a very full report as to the conditions existing among the afflicted classes. Information was obtainable as to the numbers and distribution of the blind, dumb, and imbeciles who have been collected into institutions; but when the question was raised as to the existence of 'children not imbecile, but presenting a mental deficiency,' who are thereby incapacitated for the ordinary methods of school training, it appeared that no full account of the physical and mental condition of the school population had ever been attempted, and no compilation of facts was at hand for reference as a census of the conditions of children and the special needs of certain classes.

A description of the methods of inquiry to be explained subsequently, and a few figures derived from the early portion of the work (1888), resulted in a recommendation by the Commission That with regard to "feeble-minded" children, they should be separated

from ordinary scholars in elementary schools, in order that they may receive special instruction, and that the attention of school authorities be particularly directed towards this object.'

After studying for many years methods of observing and describing points seen in children, and their significance as indications of physical and mental status, Dr. Francis Warner arranged a systematic mode of procedure, and has now reported on over 80,000 children seen individually by him in 148 schools, having taken notes of all cases presenting any visible defect, i.e. 14,297 children. The method of procedure was as follows: As the children stand in rank each is viewed separately, without being touched or questions asked. The child is then directed to imitate a few simple movements. Any deviation from the normal in bodily development, or in conformation of the head or a feature, is recorded; also any abnormality in expression, balance, movements of eyes, or action in the hand or fingers is noted as an 'abnormal nerve-sign,' indicative of the state of the nerve-system, and these particulars are recorded in schedule forms. A full description may be found in the report on school children by Dr. Warner to the Charity Organisation Society, 1892, and in the interim report of the committee appointed by the International Congress, and published at their office at the Parkes Museum in Margaret Street, W., in July 1893.

Here is an example where the application of the scientific method to a difficult problem has, as on many previous occasions, thrown a new light and indicated lines of practical procedure for amelioration of the misery and failure resulting from physical and mental feebleness. It will be noticed that the basis of the inquiry was to see all the children in the school and take notes of every case presenting even a single defect or abnormal nerve-sign, whether accompanied by an abnormal state of the brain or not; in giving descriptions of children they are grouped as cases presenting such a defect, or combination of defects. Groups of cases can, of course, be arranged for groups of schools, as has been done in dealing with the social classes and nationalities, &c.

Statistics of the first 50,000 children seen-1890-91-have been arranged and presented to the Local Government Board, quotations from which are here made. Four primary groups of cases were easily arranged: 'Development cases,' including all children presenting one or more defects; Nerve cases,' each child presenting one or more ' abnormal nerve-signs;' Nutrition cases,' children pale, thin, delicate; 'Dull children,' as reported by the teachers in school.

The same children often appear in more than one group: thus of the 'Development cases,' 52.4 per cent. also presented abnormal nerve-signs ;' and of the 'Nerve cases,' 60 per cent. were also 'Development cases.' Of the children pale, thin, and delicate, 71 per cent.

This report is now published by the Bureau of Education, Washington.