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144. Have any of the well-educated Maori youths been appointed in charge of schools?—At present we have one who was trained at St. Stephen's. The conditions attached to the appointment of teachers of Native schools would, I think, prevent many of the Te Aute or other boys from applying. The Department's idea is that the teachers of Native schools shall be married men, because the Native school, being a pioneer school, has to do the work of civilisation, and the Maoris are supposed to see, as far as they can see, a pattern of European family life. If we appointed single men and single girls their interest in the school would begin at 9 and cease at 3. When you have a married man with a family there is a permanency about his appointment, and he has to act practically as the father of the whole settlement. He takes a general interest in the affairs of the kainga without coming into conflict with the elders. He is supposed to help them in sickness, and to give them whatever assistance he can. So we have always found that a married man and his wife are the best, and the Department has consistently refused to appoint to Native schools unmarried people. In one or two cases where we have not been able to get a good married man we have taken a well-qualified lady teacher, but there is no unmarried man, either Maori or pakeha, appointed to a Native school. 145. Is it not possible to find married men amongst the Maoris to take aharge of these Native schools? —As I say, we have only found one so far, and I should be very sorry to part with him. He is a good-living man, he is steady, and he is a conscientious worker, and his school will bear the strictest comparison with any European school in the district. But I should not, as a general rule, be inclined to recommend the Maori on the ground that the Maoris themselves do not always repose the greatest confidence in a Maori as a teacher of English. 146. Mr. Ngata.] I suppose, too, the elements of tribal prejudice would come in?— That is so. Again, there is not in the Maori character, I have noticed, that constant application that is necessary in teaching, and especially in teaching young Maoris. Again, a life of confinement in a school is not in the best interests of a young Maori. 147. Mr. Hogg.] Do many of the Europeans that are in charge of the Maori schools possess an intimate knowledge of the Maori language?— Most of them do not, I am glad to say. 148. Is it not a disqualification that they know nothing of the Maori language?—lt is not. 149. Then, if the experiment should be recommended to translate from one language into the other these teachers would not be competent to carry it out?—lf you intend to begin in the preparatory classes I should be very sorry for them. You get a Maori at six years of age, and you are going to teach him English by translation. Take the word " dog " which to him is " kuri." How far have you advanced by that method? If, on the other hand, you had a dog or a picture of a dog, and you take that boy up and say to him, " That is a dog," that boy, instead of knowing one single isolated word, has got an English sentence, and you know the unit of language is a sentence and not a word. So long as the Maori boy thinks in Maori he will never speak in English. What we want to do is to get these boys to speak in English right away, and they do it. 150. Am I to understand that, as a result of the education in our Native schools and colleges, none of the boys or girls are supposed to be taught to read their own language?— That is so. We do not consider it necessary to teach a Maori to read Maori. It would be rather like carrying coals to Newcastle. 151. Then, I want to know why should the Government be put to the expense of translating into the Maori language Acts of Parliament and the various notices that appear in the Gazette from time to time with a view to enabling the Maoris to know for themselves exactly what is taking place affecting their own interests, if they are not able to read these documents?— But every Maori can read Maori, because that is his mother-tongue. 152. How Can he read Maori if he is not taught Maori in the school? —I am not prepared to Speak on his behalf in that respect, but I know he can read it. I know that Maoris who have never, been to school can read and write Maori —that is to say, they are self-taught. 153. You say they are not taught to read and write in Maori at school: Well, I want to know whether you can put any reliance, for instance, on petitions that occasionally come before the House bearing the signatures of Maoris, simply because they are written in Maori. Are the Maoris able to read them and to understand them? —Oh, certainly. 154. Where do they gain this education if they are not taught to read and write Maori while at school?—I suppose mother nature has helped them and they help themselves. I know as a fact, however they get their knowledge, that most Maoris now can write Maori. They have picked; it up by watching the others. " 155. Do you not think it. is a sad oversight in connection with the Maori that the means to translate from one language into the other is not taught in our Maori schools? —No. I would say this, further: that in nearly every school I go to, the Committee objects strongly to the children talking Maori, and one man lately gave me as his reason for sending his girl to Victoria College that he wanted her to get away where she would hear nothing but English. 156. When visiting Te Aute, have you observed how the boys are treated, and how they are fed?--—I think they are treated and fed well. You have to know that, as a general rule, Maori boys get two meals a day—one in the morning and one at sundown. Latterly, owing to famines, these meals have been very scanty, and a boy who is sent from a Maori district to Te Aute College, where he gets plain food and—l think. I am justified in saying—plenty of it three times a day, never complains about the food. And when he returns his general appearance shows that, so far as food is concerned, there is nothing to complain about. 157. Have you heard of much sickness there?— No. 158. Have many deaths occurred in your time?— No. 159. Have you heard of boys going home very ill?—I have heard of cases where boys have returned home very ill, and I have known cases where some died. 160. You never heard of numerous instances of this kind in connection with Te Aute College? —I know of three cases within the last three or four years.

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