6

P.—No. 5.

PAPERS RELATING TO NATIVE SCHOOLf

furnished to me, and I am unable to give any details from my personal knowledge, but I understand it to have been lately inspected by yourself, in attendance upon His Excellency the Governor, and that you were much gratified by the result of your inspection. Tauranga. —Here there is a school, conducted by Mr. Oldfield, with a salary of £100 a-year. I have lately supplied it with books, &c, as I have also done that at Opotiki; and I understand it to have also been lately inspected by His Excellency and yourself, and to have been found in satisfactory operation. Eotoiti.—Major Wood has lately been established here by yourself, with a salary of £100 a-year, and I have subsequently, at his request, supplied him with books, &c. lam not able'to furnish further information at present, but have applied to the Civil Commissioner of the Bay of Plenty district, and will visit the several schools myself at the earliest opportunity. (Resuming the report of my own proceedings)—I proceeded from Napier to Auckland. I found but one Native educational establishment now existing of all those which were founded in this neighbourhood. St. Stephen's. —This is an institution in connection with the Church of England, upon which large sums have been expended, and which possesses large and valuable lands and buildings. 1 found eighteen pupils present, whose ages varied from seven to fifteen years. As in the case of St. Joseph's, Napier, nothing could be more satisfactory than the appearance of health, comfort, cleanliness, and care, which ■was shown by these children ; but I was informed by the Rev. Mr Burrowes, who has the general superintendence of the institution, that he receives £18 per pupil from Government, and that the total expenditure (from all sources) is not less than £25 per pupil a-year. It is true that they are clothed, fed, and housed in this case, also in addition to their being educated ; but I could not ascertain that these children had any greater claims to be clothed and fed at the expense of the State than any other similar number of Native children. But I beg to submit that this institution, having large and valuable buildings and endowments —and perhaps one other, such as Te Aute, in the South —might well be applied to tho higher purposes of Native education ; that they might be constituted schools of a superior class, to which, as an incentive to emulation, the best pupils from the village schools might be annually drafted. (I have suggested, page 4, that those institutions and endowments should bo brought under the control of the Legislature, when I think they should be secularized, and belong to no religious body). The Colony might thus select, cultivate, and ultimately utilize the most promising Native talent, by appointing the best pupils from such superior schools to interpreterships, surveyorships, clerkships, assessorships, &c, as they might show themselves competent to fill such offices. In a merely educational point of view, the same effect is produced in the village schools, at less than one-tenth of the cost of the larger institutions. Indeed, as these large endowments (aided as they have been by large grants from Government) have been hitherto applied, I conceive that however faithfully administered, they have failed to adequately benefit the colony. The Wesleyan institution near the Khyber Pass, that at the Three Kings, the Roman Catholic institution near Auckland, and the college at the North Shore, I understand to have all ceased to exist for Native educational purposes. I submit for your consideration that the control of all these endowments should be resumed by the colony. Erom Auckland I proceeded to the Bay of Islands, and thence to Waimate, the neighbourhood of Wiremu Katene, the member for that part of the Island. This being a comparatively populous part, I was called upon to arrange for the establishment of no less than five schools, within a radius of twenty miles, and as 1 found every disposition on the part of the Natives to contribute land and money in fair proportion, according to their ability, I arranged with them for the erection or establishment of schools, each to contain fifty pupils, at Waimate, Ohaeawai, Kaikohe, Pakaraka and Punakitere. As I have had the honor to furnish you with all the details in my letter from Waimate, of the 16th April last, I will not repeat them here, but I may remark generally, that as I found the land to the north of Auckland much poorer than in the south, and as from that and other causes,-the Natives did not appear to have as good money resources as they have in those parts of the colony, whore they have more intercourse with Europeans, I did not as a rule feel justified in requiring them to furnish so large a proportion as one half of the expenditure. I proceeded from Waimate to Whangaroa, where I made preliminary arrangements for establishing a school at Kaeo, where there is a Native'church (not now used as such) available, and where also an experienced schoolmaster already resides, who is desired by the Natives, and is willing to undertake the duties. lam at present in correspondence with the Resident Magistrate (Mr. Edward Williams) upon the subject, and hope soon to have the school in operation. From Whangaroa I went on to Kaitaia, in the Mangonui district, and established a school at Awiinui, where I found a building already available for a school, and Mr. Ernest Matthews, a son of the resident clergyman of Kaitaia, desired by the School Committee as master, and apparently well qualified for the office. I was able on my return to Auckland to supply tho school with books, &c , and it is now in successful operation. Pukepoto. —As I have reported very fully upon this school, which is of an interesting and peculiar character, I annex herewith my letter of 14th March, 1872, and will merely remark here that it continues in successful operation. Ahipara. —I have arranged for a school hero which is now nearly completed, and Mr. J. Masters, a brother of the master of Pukepoto school, is nominated as schoolmaster. I hope daily to hear that the school has been opened. I have arranged with Mr. White, the Resident Magistrate of the district for establishing a school at Parengarenga, near the North Cape. I had received no application when in the neighbourhood, and was not therefore aware of their desire for a school, but the Natives have proposed arrangements precisely similar to those which I have had the honor to report as having been made for Ahipara, to which I have assented on the part of the Government. Returning from Kaitaia to Waimate I proceeded thence to Mangakahia, a remote and isolated place very difficult of access, but having rich land and a