PAPERS RELATING TO NATIVE SCHOOLS.

F.—No. 5

16

accommodation for the master, at an expense of £150, in which case the Government would pay half, provided there are fifty children of all ages who would regularly attend school. With respect to that part of my letter (of 13th ultimo) which relates to Ahipara, Mr. White informs me, the Natives on his return from Parengarenga held a meeting, and an agreement was entered into in all respects similar to that at Parengarenga. And they request " the consideration of the Governnent" (otherwise its contribution) towards the sum of £58, which they have contracted to pay for the erection of a school, for which they have already placed the timber on the ground, as reported in my letter above referred to. As they desire to nominate a brother of Mr. Masters, of the Pukepoto school, who lives near Ahipara, no master's house will be necessary, and I have upon that understanding, agreed to furnish one half the cost of erection (viz., £29), upon the usual conditions as to school site, &_., and also to remit from their yearly contribution of £40, so much rent as the Trustees may be able to obtain for the twenty to thirty acres of good land with which they propose to endow the school. I have, „c. A. H. Russell.

No. 15. The Inspectoe of Schools to the Hon. the Native Ministeb. Sib,— Auckland, 16th April, 1872. In continuation of my report of the 28th ultimo, from Waimate, I have the honor to inform you that upon that day I held a meeting in the court house of that place, which was attended by all the leading men of the district, including Wiremu Katene, the member for the Northern Native District. I explained at considerable length the intentions of the Legislature and of the Government, as shown by the Acts of 1867 and 1871, and by my instructions, and I invited discussion thereupon, and questions upon any point which they did not fully understand. This was freely responded to, and several chiefs addressed to me frequent questions of a pertinent character. A long discussion ensued, and apparently resulted in a perfect understanding and an appreciation of our wish to join heartily with them in their efforts to educate their children in our language. I arranged with them for the establishment of schools at the following places, viz., Waimate, Pakaraka, Ohaeawai, Kaikohe, Punakitere, and I will state in detail the circumstances under which each is to be constituted. 1. At Waimate. —Some difficulty arose here as to the means of compliance with that requirement of both Acts, that one or more acres should be set aside for a school-site, partly from the difficulty of providing a site sufficiently central to be useful to all the district which they wished to constitute for Waimate, and partly because of their excessive internal jealousy as to land, of which I had this curious evidence, that, with thousands of acres of their own land available and unoccupied, they propose to purchase an acre at a probable cost of £20 from one of the European residents at Waimate. But this will be necessary only in compliance with tho _.ot, for there is in rear of the court-house an excellent building, intended originally for a hostelry, but never now used for any purpose, which is all that can be desired as to central position and adaptability for a school; and I have, at the request of Wiremu Katene and the others interested, and also with the concurrence of Mr. Edward Williams, the Resident Magistrate, authorised the use of that building for the school, whereby the Government will be saved the expense of half the cost of a new building. The committee propose to nominate Mr. James Davis, a son of the late clergyman of that name, as their schoolmaster, whose acquaintance I made, and ascertained that he was duly qualified ; and, being a resident of Waimate, will require no schoolmaster's house to be built for him. The Waimate school will, therefore, be established at very small expense to Government. As regards salary, the Natives undertake to guarantee one shilling each per month for forty children, and at the same rate for all above that number. The Government to make some small alterations, and to find school furniture —the whole not to cost more than £15. Archdeacon Clarke kindly consents to act upon this committee, and to do all in his power to secure the success of the school. Pakaraka.—Here they have a house already erected, forty-eight feet by twenty ; and they propose to make it over with the acre upon which it stands to trustees, in conformity with the Act It is not lined or floored, but I have undertaken to do that, as the contribution of the Government —the expense not to exceed £60, including the dividing off two rooms for the schoolmaster. The contribution towards the master's salary to be the same as at Waimate. Ohaeawai. —They are to give one or more acres, to find all the necessary timber, and to place it on the ground, the Government to find all other material and to erect the school—the expense not to exceed £60. The salary as at Waimate. Mr. Henry Williams is elected chairman. Kaikohe. —They have a kind of township here, and the land is very valuable. They are to make over one acre, and they asked what remission of their contribution (which we fixed upon the same scale for salary as at Waimate) would be made if they gave four additional acres as endowment. I told them for every additional acre, £1 of annual contribution should be remitted; but I understand it might be let by the trustees (for building purposes) at a rate which would probably cover the whole of the Native contribution. The same arrangement as to building was made here as at Ohaeawai. Archdeacon Clarke undertakes the supervision of this school also. Punakitere.—l was much gratified at receiving from the Natives of Punakitere the first offer which I have received of an endowment of land upon such a scale as is to be desired for school purposes. They proposed making over to trustees 100 acres of good land, sufficient, as they believe, to realise a rental equal to the contribution which would otherwise be required from them. I have, as a rule, pointed out to the Natives that a permanent endowment of land to be vested in Trustees (proposed by themselves, and if approved by his Excellency to be appointed by him), would be the easiest, the most