P.—No. 3a.
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nearest sea ports ; and this object has been systematically carried out —and I should point out, with regard to the Napier road, in the face of great engineering difficulties ; a coach is now running twice a week between Napier and Taupo, excepting about five miles, which will, however, in a short time, be available for coach traffic. A great portion of this road work has been performed by Native labour, under contract, and invariably finished in a most satisfactory manner. The dray road from Taupo to Tauranga is being rapidly pushed on, and the Ngatiraukawa Tribe, the principal owners of the land on the proposed line of road between Taupo and Cambridge, have long withdrawn the aukati, and are now urging that the road should be proceeded with. lam informed that a good line of road has been found between Whanganui and Taupo. This road would open up the rich Karini, Murimutu and Patea Plains, and the country around Eotorua and South Taupo, all of which is well adapted for settlement. The whole of the road work in this district has been done by Native labour. The policy the Government has pursued in employing the Maoris in these newly opened districts in public works, has been the great means towards the peaceful settlement of the country. The Maoris in the interior are exceedingly poor, partly caused from the wars and excitement of the past ten years, and the present chance of employment offered them habituates them to regular work, and supplies them with means for purchasing necessaries for cultivating their own land. An analysis of the various mineral springs in this district, and a plan showing their position and stating their different properties, might be of essential service to the public. Dr. Gibbs, the doctor of the Armed Constabulary stationed at Taupo, has expressed his readiness to co-operate in carrying out such an object. Eumoured finds of gold in West Taupo and Tuhua have long been in circulation, but nothing definite is yet known as to their qualities. The state of agriculture in this part of the country is of a most primitive nature; any advice or assistance would be of great benefit to the people. Articles in the Waka Maori on the growth of the hop, and other subjects of a like kind, would be very useful. His Excellency the Governor visited this district in May last, and appeared to be very much pleased with the loyal feeling evinced by the Maoris, and with the splendid scenery and natural wonders of the country. The necessity of educating the rising generation of Maoris has taken a firm hold of the Native mind. Schools have been erected in Hawke's Bay, under the provisions of the Native Schools Acts, 1867-71, at Pakowhai and Omahu ; the former is in full operation, and an average of sixty-five scholars, of both sexes, attend daily ; the latter school will be opened in the course of a week or two. Eenata Kawepo has offered a large block of land, estimated at 20,000 acres, at Patea, as an endowment for these schools. Schools have also been erected at Poverty Bay, and applications have been made by Ngatiporou for some at East Cape. The Wairoa people have not yet commenced a school, neither have the Taupo Natives, although they are anxious to have one erected. , A college has also been erected at Te Aute, for European children and more advanced Maori scholars culled from the village schools. From the opportunity I have had of witnessing the working of the school committee of management, composed of Europeans and Natives, I find the system works well—the Maori taking more interest in the question from the fact of his being placed in a position in which his ideas will be heard and entertained than if everything was done for him. The great difficulty in the future will be the maintenance of the children from a distant part of the country, the parents being unable to pay enough to maintain their children at school, although perfectly and anxiously willing to pay the small fee required for the master's salary. The beneficial effect of these schools on the rising generation will in due course manifest itself; but to expect that a barbarous people should in one generation rise from a condition of the lowest grade of cannibalism to a comprehension of the civilization of the nineteenth century, is the rock on which so many well-intentioned people too often split. It has been stated by an able authority, that " the passage from barbarism to civilization is a slow and gradual process continued almost imperceptively." The education of a single generation cannot raise the natural standard ; the work must be continued through a succession of ages —and so with the conception of religion—experience has proved that. We may as well expect that seed shall quicken on the barren rock as that a mild and philosophic religion should be established among ignorant and ferocious savages. The religion of mankind is the effect of their improvement, and not the cause of it. One part of this question which should not be lost sight of, is the education of tho girls, which should aim principally in the beginning at making them clean and provident housewives. In keeping up and fostering the present desire of the Maoris to further the education of their children, it cannot be lost sight of that, after the first novelty is worn off, many difficulties will arise in inducing them to keep to their purpose, and, to those who wish for its success, very disheartening. The most hopeful feature in the present scheme is that the committees of management are principally composed of Maoris, thus teaching them to trust to themselves, and feel much more interest in the question than they otherwise would. There is a desire springing up among the Natives to have local government, or District Eunangas, composed of their leading chiefs, elected by themselves, with an officer of the Government as their chairman, to discuss their requirements and represent them to the Government. This would tend much to encourage the Maori to depend upon his own energies, in place of alwrays looking to the Government for assistance, and too often receiving it with suspicion. There is another material question which I would draw attention to. It is as follows : if reserves could be fixed by obtaining an approximate estimate of the Maori population, showing the number in each district, and the quantity and position of land still unencumbered, as I stated in my report last year, and have reserves inalienable either by sale, lease, or mortgage without the sanction of the Government, fixed in proportion to population, in such localities as would be most suitable to Maori habits, it might in some way remedy the unequal and often detrimental manner in which the country is now closed, under clause 17 " Native Lands Act, 1867 " —a few people having a large extent of
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