ii.—7.

10

the school. The rule says that such articles are to be sold to the Maoris for cash. The teachers referred to have sold things to the Natives on credit. This should in no case be done, as it establishes the relation of debtor and creditor between the parents and the teacher, and often leads to serious complications. Of course the outlay that was required to provide a first stock of material'at the different schools will not have to be repeated. The stock will be replenished from the proceeds of the sales of the goods already on hand. Assistance given by Resident Magistrates and Local Officers. It is gratifying to note that the Education Department has been able to obtain the benefit of the services, formerly rendered to the Native Department, of several Resident Magistrates and Native Officers that take an active and generous interest in the Maori race. Were it not for the pioneer work formerly done by these gentlemen, and for the valuable assistance they are now always ready to give, the task of bringing the Native schools into a thoroughly satisfactory condition would be indeed a formidable one. Committees. In many districts the Committees are indefatigable in their endeavours to maintain a good attendance at their schools, and take the greatest interest in the progress of their children. As a rule it may be said that where there is a good Committee a good school is certain to be found. The converse of this proposition does not hold good, however. In some districts where the Committees take little active interest in the schools, the masters, by their energy and perseverance, manage to make their schools successful. Active Committees are to be found, as a rule, in districts where the Natives, through long intercourse with Europeans anxious for their welfare, have imbibed European ideas and have become desirous of giving their children the same educational advantages as Europeans are accustomed to receive. In not a few cases excellent Committees are to be found in districts that are under the influence of enlightened and far-seeing chiefs, who are able to see clearly that the future well-being of their people must depend entirely on the fitness of the rising generation of Maoris to cope with Europeans, and are wise enough to understand that, unless they receive a fair education, the Natives can hardly hope to be successful in holding their own. In some few districts the Maoris are so careless about the education of their children that they cannot be got to form Committees because they do not receive payment for their work. This feeling exists only where the Natives are not sufficiently intelligent to understand that, if they allow other tribes to outstrip them in educational progress, they must be prepared to fall behind in all matters. On the whole, however, the Natives display a very encouraging amount of interest in the education of their children. In proof of this, I may draw attention to the readiness with which Natives show themselves willing, when they can do it without actually depriving themselves of the means of living, to make over the school-site that the Government always requires from them as a guarantee of their good faith, and of their real desire to have and maintain a school in their kainga. Considering the tenacity with which a Maori clings to his land, even the smallest piece of it, we may conclude that the Natives generally are really alive to the importance of education, and are prepared to make sacrifices to obtain its benefits for their children. BOARDING-SCHOOLS. These schools have all been visited (once, twice, or oftener) during the course of the year. Without exception they are doing good work, and often produce highly beneficial results as far as the children educated in them are concerned. At the same time it seems probable that the education of the Maoris will have to be clone mainly by the village schools. A good village school (and there are many that deserve to be so called) benefits the whole neighbourhood in which it is located. By its means the Natives of a district become used to European ways, and gradually, and almost insensibly, adopt useful European ideas. Without losing their own better characteristics, or becoming demoralised in any way, they become fitted to pass, without injury to themselves, through the crisis that must come sooner or later when they are brought into complete contact with considerable European communities, and have to compete with them. On the other hand, the boarding-schools can, from the nature of things, deal only with individuals. Children have been sent to these schools, and have remained there perhaps seven or eight years. In such cases they receive a good education, and then return to their kaingas. For a while they strive to live as they have been accustomed to live during their residence at school, but the thing is not to be done, the genius of the place is too strong for them; they cannot go on living in the village with the feeling that they are out of harmony with their own people, and they end by becoming more Maori than they would have been if they had never gone to such an institution at all. There are, of course, striking exceptions, but this is what happens in perhaps a majority of instances; and, in any case, the good is done to the individual child alone. No effect is produced on the Maoris as a whole. The true use of the boarding-school is to give clever Maori children that have gone through the village school-course the chance of pursuing their studies somewhat further than the village school arrangements can conveniently allow them to do. A boy that has passed Standard IV. is able to read at sight any easy English book, with only a slight foreign pronunciation. He understands the meaning of nearly every word that he