lem of retardation, and in some of the larger centres special
classes for retardates have been established.

It will also be seen that the actual number of children retarded three
years or more, including the preparatory classes and up to Standard
III--beyond which the higher grades of the feeble-minded do not progress
as a rule--is 4,917 out of a total of 212,709 children attending school,
or a trifle over 2 per cent. In some countries three years' retardation
is regarded as _prima facie_ evidence of mental deficiency. Probably New
Zealand has much the same proportion of mental defectives as other
countries. This is stated by Goddard to be between 2 and 3 per cent. of
the population.

A recent survey made by the Education Department of the children
attending the primary schools in a typical area disclosed the fact that
out of a total school population of 16,499 no fewer than 950 pupils,
constituting 5.7 per cent. of the total school enrolment, are retarded
two years or more. Some of these may be classed as dull normal; some may
be suffering from remediable physical defects; others may be merely the
victims of unfavourable circumstances, while others again may be what
Burt calls "late bloomers"--_i.e._, cases of slow development. Many of
them, however, will ultimately prove to be mental defectives. Deficiency
sometimes does not reveal itself definitely until the pre-adolescent
period or early adolescence.

Of the total number on the school registers 266, or 1.6 per cent., are
retarded three years or more. It is interesting to note from information
supplied by Mr. N. R. McKenzie, Inspector of Schools, that this is
exactly the percentage of defectives discovered in the schools of a
section of the city of Toronto as the result of a psychological survey.
It also corresponds with the number in the Vancouver city schools, where
nineteen special classes are operating with a school population of
19,000--_i.e._, one class per 1,000 pupils.

For the purpose of this report a preliminary survey from information
supplied by social workers, school-teachers, police, Hospital Boards,
&c., has been made by the Education Department of what may be regarded
as the obviously feeble-minded and epileptic cases known to exist
outside institutions in the Dominion.

The following figures show the number of such cases reported, but these
figures are incomplete--the actual number must be greater:--

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