“On the other hand, circumstances exist which may reasonably be held to modify the conclusion that there has been a large relative increase of the deaf. The spread of education, the development of local government, and an improved system of registration, may have had the effect of procuring fuller enumeration and more appropriate classification than heretofore, while 1368 persons described simply as dumb, and who therefore probably belong, not to the deaf, but to the feeble-minded and aphasic classes, are included in the ‘deaf and dumb’ total. It is also to be noted that some of those who described themselves as ‘deaf’ though not born so may have been educated in the ordinary way before they lost their hearing, and are therefore outside the sphere of the operation of schools for the deaf.
“In connexion with the census of 1891, it has been remarked in the report of the institution that no provision was made in the schedules for distinguishing the congenital from the non-congenital deaf, and that it was desirable to draw such a distinction. To ascertain the relative increase or decrease of one or the other section of the class would contribute to our knowledge of the incidence of known causes of deafness or to the confirmation or discovery of other causes, and so far indicate the appropriate measures of prevention, while such an inquiry as that recommended has, besides, a certain bearing upon educational views.
“The exact number of ‘deaf and dumb’ and ‘deaf’ children who are of school age cannot be ascertained from the census tables, which give the numbers in quinquennial age-groups, while the school age is seven to sixteen. It is a pity that in this respect the functions of the census department are not co-ordinated with those of the Board of Education.”
John Hitz, the superintendent of the Volta Bureau for the Increase of Knowledge Relating to the Deaf, Washington, D.C., U.S.A., gives the number of schools for deaf children, and pupils, in different countries in 1900 as follows:—
Africa.
| Country. | Schools. | Teachers. | Pupils. |
| Algeria | 1 | 3 | 37 |
| Egypt | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Cape Colony | 4 | 9* | 77 |
| Natal | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| 7 | 16* | 127 | |
| * Incomplete. | |||
Asia.
| Country. | Schools. | Teachers. | Pupils. |
| China | 3 | 10 | 43 |
| India | 3 | 13 | 73 |
| Japan | 3 | 24 | 337 |
| 9 | 47 | 453 |
Australasia.
| Country. | Schools. | Teachers. | Pupils. |
| Australia | 6 | 41 | 282 |
| New Zealand | 1 | 5 | 50 |
| 7 | 46 | 332 |