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10

Arithmetic. —Arithmetic is now generally well taught. The easy-problem -work, which was considered by many teachers to present insuperable difficulties, has been found to be not so formidable after all. The failures in arithmetic this year have been nothing like so numerous as they were at previous examinations. Geography. —ln some cases the results obtained have been excellent; they were surprisingly good at Waikouaiti. In most of the schools the subject is fairly well taught. Hawing. —St. Joseph's Providence and Hukarere, Napier, stand first in this kind of work; Generally the sewing done at our schools will be found to be well up to the standard. In one or two places, however, the needlework is far below the mark. Singing. —There has been a falling-off in the siriging this year; at many schools I have noticed that it is not quite so good as it used to be. Good singing is to be heard at the three Hawke's Bay boarding-schools, at Waikare, Ohaeawai, Waitapu, Kaiapoi, Pukcpoto, Te Wairoa. Waitapu has also a very effective fife band. Draiuing. —This subject is, lam glad to say, receiving much more attention. Several schools have made a very good beginning in it. The best drawing is to be found at Te Aute and Port Molyneux. Drill. —This very useful part of the school-work is very much neglected in some schools. In some cases, too, the Maoris make a difficulty about it; they are unfamiliar with the idea of physical education, and do not understand the advantages that are to be derived from school or military drill. As they put it, they cannot see why their boys, and still less why their girls, should be taught to be soldiers. In a few schools good progress has been made in school or military drill, or in both. Torere, Kaiapoi, Colac Bay, and Maketu may be mentioned as being commendable for their progress in drill. Miscellaneous. Causes that tend to retard the Progress of Native Schools.— Amongst the difficulties that prevent the best results from being obtained are those that depend on the ways in which Maoris get their living. In the North of Auckland districts gum-digging is the principal industry on which the Maoris depend for supplying themselves with clothing and such luxuries as they use. In some cases, too, they get part of their supply of food by the same means. Their practice generally is to go to the gum-fields, earn a small sum of money, and then return to their kaingas, where they remain until they are absolutely obliged to go gum-digging again. They may truly be said to live from hand to mouth. This mode of life, of course, prevents them from acquiring habits of steady industry, and from accumulating property. If bad times come the Natives are reduced to a state of semi-starvation, and, generally, they lead hopeless, aimless lives. One of the chiefs of this district said to me some time ago: "The education of our children is to a considerable extent thrown away, seeing that it leads to nothing, and is of little use in the occupation of gum-digging." This state of matters is much to be regretted, because the soil and climate are eminently adapted for fruit-growing or silk-culture. In this district the vine, the fig, the olive, the orange, and the mulberry—perhaps also the tea-plant—would succeed admirably, and there would be little to prevent the Natives from deriving, within a few years, an income from their land that would place them far beyond the reach of want. All that is needed to bring about this very desirable change is that it should be made clear to them that this kind of thing would be suitable for and profitable to them, and that they should be put into the way of cultivating these plants, and, in the case of the olive and the mulberry, getting the produce ready for the market. As the Natives have no capital it might perhaps be desirable that the Government should assist them to a certain extent by promising to supply a sufficient quantity of seeds, plants, grain, &c, to such Natives as showed willingness to undertake the systematic culture of fruit, or the production of silks or oil. This kind of assistance might be supplemented by small bonuses for the production of certain quantities of oil or silk ready for the market. If such plans were adopted I think it would be wise to give help to those Natives only who tried to help themselves by previously preparing considerable areas of ground, and securely fencing them in. It would not be necessary to continue this fostering policy long. If the Natives could once be made to see that their work would certainly yield a good return, as it assuredly would, and that the labour involved was neither continuous nor very arduous, they Would be sure now to carry it on of their own accord, seeing that they have learnt that it is necessary for them to do some kind of work, if they wish to gratify the liking for decent clothing, luxuries, &c, which their contact with Europeans has given them. The great difficulty in the way of setting Maoris to engage in any undertaking is to make them see that such an undertaking has a good chance of being permanently successful, and that it is by no means in the nature of things that everything they attempt, in order that they may hold their own, must necessarily end jjn failure. The Natives of Wairarapa, Te Kaha, Whakatane, Waikouaiti, Stewart Island, and other places have somehow found out that by patient industry they can get on just as well as Europeans do, and that they can increase their comforts indefinitely; they have consequently become industrious, and in some cases even frugal. There can be little doubt that nearly all Maoris would learn the same lesson if they had a favourable opportunity of doing so. Mutatis mutandis, these remarks apply to the bulk of the Natives, and it is certain that great good might be done to the whole race by mejhods similar to those mentioned. My excuse for speaking of things that would seem at first sight '\o be outside of the sphere of my duties is that, in my opinion, they have a very direct bearing on the chances of success of the efforts that are being made to educate the Maoris, and to enable them to thrive when in contact with Europeans and a higher civilization than they have been accustomed to.