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advanced to suitable parents to buy spectacles where
ordered, and small weekly sums have been received until the
whole has been paid off.
MENTALLY DEFECTIVE AND EPILEPTIC
CHILDREN.
The Elementary Education (Defective and Epileptic
Children) Act, 1899, is permissive in character, and Education
Authorities are empowered but not required to make
provision for Epileptic and Defective Children. One epileptic
child was reported to the Authority as suitable for special
treatment. In all other respects, save Epilepsy, this child
was of normal intelligence, but as the fits were of frequent
occurrence, it was undesirable to allow him to be educated
with the other children. Accordingly, the Authority arranged
for his admission to the special school at Lingfield, the
parents agreeing to contribute a small sum weekly to the
cost of his maintenance there. The parents took him down
to Lingfield, but as they objected to the school on various
grounds they only allowed the boy to stay one day, so now
this boy is excluded from school and is at home.
During the course of the Medical examinations many
mentally defective children have been discovered or have
been presented by the Teachers. At present I have not a
complete list of these children, but hope before long to go
into the matter so as to be able to say definitely how many
there are and their type. At present, of course, these
children are merely attending school and not receiving the
benefit they should do from so doing. In a district of this
size the question of these children is a matter of some
difficulty, as the numbers probably are not sufficient to
justify a special school; at the same time they are too many
to be ignored.