E,— 3.

engaged in practical health activities. Reports received from all head teachers concerned were unanimous in their praise of the special benefits derived from this health crusade. In addition to this special work, Medical Officers of the Health Department and district nurses frequently visited the schools and assisted the teachers in their constructive health programmes. The personal cleanliness of the children is of major importance and, in addition to regular daily inspection, an endeavour is made to develop a pride in personal appearance. For this reason many schools have adopted a school uniform. Individual towels are now generally in use, and footbaths have been provided in many schools. In connection with hygiene, beyond a brief explanation of the reasons for the various habits necessary to health, little theoretical teaching is done, nor is it encouraged, as the Maori child learns best by doing. Health activities, therefore, take the place of formal talks. First aid, however, is included in the programme, and, in the case of girls, is extended to include home nursing and infant-welfare. Diet has received much more attention and forms an important part of the programmes in agriculture and cookery. During the winter months it is customary in many schools for hot cocoa or soup to be provided. Physical drill could be enhanced in its importance. The need for good posture was stressed at the refresher courses and remedial exercises were amply demonstrated. The need for close attention to the physical attitudes of pupils at all times is apt to be overlooked, especially when the pupils are sitting in their desks or working at the blackboards. In addition to remedial exercises, folk-dancing is commonly taught. Basketball and football are the two chief organized games, and in several districts school competitions have been organized. Tennis is another favourite game, and many schools have equipped themselves with tennis courts. In several schools pupil control and responsibility are well developed by breaking the classes into small groups under squad commanders. More schools, however, could avail themselves of the opportunity afforded to develop self-confidence and command, particularly with the girls. In the infant-classes there has been an increase in the number of teachers who can devise suitable exercises and games involving the use of singing and dramatization. The second essential for the Maori is social cohesion, the power of integration with the environment — material and human. This is one of the greatest difficulties now being experienced by the Maori people. The need for a more thorough understanding and exploitation of the physical environment has been recognized by the Government and, by various means, the Maori is now being placed in an economic position on the land. In this connection much remains to be done. The assistance so far rendered will provide a basis, and a necessary one, for social readjustment, but, without support from educational, sources will prove inadequate for the task. The Maori has not yet found his proper place in the larger community of New Zealand. He is socially maladjusted, as is evidenced by his lower standard of living, by his improvidence, and by a comparison of his high birth and death rates with those of the European community. In certain parts of the North Island the maladjustment of the Maori youth is the cause of many social misdemeanours of a minor kind, a matter of serious concern to all interested in Maori welfare. Constructive measures of various kinds are employed in the Native schools to deal with these problems. In the first place, by means of clubs and similar organizations, an endeavour is being made to develop interests and hobbies which will provide leisure time occupations. By means of child activity and various types of pupil government it is hoped to build up personality and knowledge to the point where the qualities of initiative and self-reliance are established. Practical agriculture is taken by both boys and girls, and the linking-up of the school with the Native-land-development schemes has not been overlooked, some correlative work having been done by the pupils not only in agriculture, but also in woodwork. Another aspect, most important if social equilibrium is to be attained, is the conservation and strengthening of the home, including the care and sound development of infancy, childhood, and youth. The Maori has not yet reached that unity of family life known to the European. With the dispersal of the pa community by the land-settlement schemes the social ties of the larger tribal family life are beingloosened, and the Maori is approaching, more nearly, the family organization of the European model. The primary importance of the right kind of home in the nurture and training of the earlier years of life is unquestioned. At present, however, many of the duties rightly belonging to the home are being undertaken by the school. The teachers of many Native schools are compelled, in the interests of the children, to attend to their cleanliness, and, in some districts, to provide them with adequate clothing. In an endeavour to improve home conditions the formation of women's institutes, junior red cross circles, sewing groups, and organizations of a similar nature requiring the co-operation of the mothers is encouraged. In a number of schools small model cottages, properly equipped, have been erected by the combined efforts of teachers and parents, and these are proving very valuable in providing useful home-training. Home-management, home-decoration, cooking, and housecraft are activities now found in many Native schools, from the primers upwards. Another essential of social and individual well-being is re-creation, the strengthening of personality, which involves the whole man and is rooted in the unity of life. Beyond physical health, development of mind and character, appreciation of Nature and of art, re-creation is that from which flows the inspirational force that gives life a meaning. The Maori, once strong in racial idealism, is in need of this integration of character. The means adopted to assist in this strengthening of personality is the method of child activity, the encouragement of growth through exercise of emotional and intellectual powers, other than the mere acquisition of knowledge by absorption. The secondary implication of re-creation, that of the provision of leisure time occupations, is recognized. The mischief occasioned by some of the Maori youth of to-day is due to the overflowing energy of these young people with " nothing to do." Finally, it has not been overlooked that for intelligent living one must be master of'those crucial skills, the training in which is the primary function of the Native schools. Throughout 1936 oral and . written expression, reading and number, have suffered neither in importance nor in quality. On a sound ; basis of social understanding and through child-activity the ultimate aim of the Native .schools has been the happiness of the Maori child.

2