A.—4

The Advisory Board of Education, consisting of the heads of the London Missionary Society, Methodist, Roman Catholic, and Mormon Missions ; Secretary for Native Affairs : Directors of Health, Agriculture, Education ; Engineer in Charge Public Works Department; Superintendent of Wireless; Technical Instructor; and a Native chief (Faipule) meets twice annually, and the objects kept in view are as follows :—- (1) How, by means of education in the schools, the material welfare of the Native can be promoted. (2) To inculcate in the minds of all scholars the importance of agriculture, and to ensure that they receive training in improved methods in the cultivating of land. (3) The teaching of Natives in all those matters which will enable them to play their part in the management of their own affairs. (4) The importance of instruction in hygiene and all matters concerning the improvement of the health of the Natives, and the welfare of children. (5) Vocational training in crafts such as are needed in villages, and so endeavour to make the Natives self-reliant. Grade II Mission Schools. Forty-one schools continue to prove their worth to Samoa. Some years ago there was a keen desire on the part of parents to send their children to Apia for education given chiefly in English. This had an undesirable effect —-the pupils had no desire to return to their villages or to work in their plantations. The present effort to decentralize has met with success at every turn. Village schools and teachers have improved. This circumstance has promoted happier villages, and pupils leave school with a desire to work in their plantations. The improvement in the village schools is chiefly due to the efforts of the European organizing teacher and his Native inspectors, who visit all schools frequently for the purpose of assisting teachers. Modern method is now found in schools in the remotest villages, a result accruing from the establishment of training-schools, the headquarters of all organizers and inspectors. It is in these schools that probationer teachers are trained, and at the completion of their course, extending over two years, they are transferred to new schools being opened, or to replace weaker teachers. This system of training aims at providing a competent staff of Native teachers to educate their own race and to carry education into the villages. The Government may not be able to control or supervise the whole of the schools, nor can the missionaries do so ; but the latter have done splendid work in the past, and are still doing the bulk of the Native education in Samoa, but in order to progress they need Government co-operation and advice in educational matters. Refresher Courses for Native Teachers. As a means of assisting the Native teachers, and all others willing to attend, refresher - course classes were held at Malifa School in the month of January, when ninety-two teachers attended. The course extended for over three weeks. Each day's work commenced at 6 a.m. and closed at 9 p.m. A large staff of voluntary workers cheerfully contributed lectures, demonstrations, and model lessons on subjects that were selected and adapted to the needs of the Samoan people, with a view to fitting them to play their full part in the lives they have to lead in their villages. The syllabus of instruction chiefly embraced agriculture, health, and technical instruction, thereby supporting the aims of the established policy. The Director of Agriculture, assisted by his staff of District Inspectors—men who regularly inspect the whole of the villages and plantations of Samoa—were of great service in compiling useful information and delivering lectures thereon to the assembled teachers. The European teachers of the Education Department converted this subject-matter into interesting model lessons, which were given daily for the purpose of showing Native teachers how knowledge of their own land and environment may be usefully presented through the medium of lessons at school. Managers of large plantations delivered ably-demonstrated lectures on rubber, cocoa, copra production, and stock. The Medical Department arranged for a series of lectures on the diseases commonly met with in the villages, and at the close of these lectures a visit was paid to the laboratory and X-ray room at Apia Hospital, where special demonstrations were made by the bacteriologist and Medical Officer. Each teacher was supplied with a small medical oufit to take back to his school for the purpose of assisting the Medical Department in the remote villages. During the course each teacher attended the Apia Technical School, where the instructor in charge gave special lessons on the making of school-furniture. Blackboards, easels, tables, chairs, boxes, bookshelves were made by teachers, and taken back to equip their schools. Opportunity was also taken to give special lessons in the care and use of tools. At the close of the course the Administrator, who had addressed the teachers on several occasions, presented the certificates gained by teachers from examinations, awarded badges to those who had qualified, and delivered an address on the work and worth of a Native teacher to Samoa. Apia Technical School. It has been resolved— (1) That the course of instruction in Samoan schools should include a large amount of manual training in woodwork, plumbing, and engineering not as a complete preparation for trades, but to make the Native more self-reliant, and less dependent on the white man :

B—A. 4.

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