SUMMER SCHOOL.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 18, 22 January 1926, Page 5

SUMMER SCHOOL.

CAMP PROVING SUCCESSFUL. (From Our Own Correspondent.) CAMBRIDGE, Thursday. The first Xorth Island school teachers' summer school and camp is proving highly successful, a largely contributing factor being the high educational Standard and value of the lectures delivered by the lecturing staff at the various sessions. The teachers are entering into the spirit of the school and camp with marked enthusiasm. All the lectures and instruction classes are very well attended. The residents have literally received the visitors with open arms, and their hearty co-operation is contributing much towards the success of the school.

The afternoons are given up to entertainment, and the 200 teachers have made themselves at home on the various tennis courts, bowling greens, golf links, swimming baths, and ether sports facilities of the district. To-day a river excursion was held to*the Narrows, the steamer being packed with visitors and local residents. The teachers were loud in their praises or the Waikato. The object of the school and camp is to enable the teachers "to get together to] exchange views and ideas, to broaden i their outlook by the aid of educational j lectures on Dominion and world wide ] topics, enabling them to go back to j school and give instruction to their j pupils from a more practical standpoint.! It is safe to say that the purpose of the school is being handsomely achieved. Coming of the Maoris. On Tuesday evening the Town Hall was crowded with teachers and local residents when Dr. P. H. Buck. D.5.0., delivered a delightful and interesting lecture entitled "The Coming of the | Maoris,*' Dr. Buck is well-known j throughout the Dominion as one who ha*j | delved deeply into the traditions and , folklore of the Maori, and his lecture | was surrounded with the typical and ; charming atmosphere of the race. Dr.! Buck opened his address by remarking I that the Maoris weie part of a people who are ncr oven a nation, but a people who have been absorbed in a na.tion in the Pacific.' The lecturer went on to i interestingly portray the early colonisation of the Pacific islands by the Polynesians, and their discovery of Hawaiki. or the Society Group, the sea travels of the Polynesians long before they came to Xew Zealand, and their j finding of Samoa. Tahiti, and the Cook Group. The lecturer said that it was established that about the year 050 Kupe set sail from Polynesia and ultimately discovered Xew Zealand. Dr. Buck interestingly referred to the Maori method of education, and how by word of mouth traditions were handed down and Kupe's sea road to Xew Zealand preserved, finally to be made use of by the big Meet and its members who deserted their own land for Xew Zealand in 1350. Dr. Buck painted a vivid word picture of the big fleet's arrival, and their landing in the Bay of Plenty. Dr. Buck gave an "indication of the depth of his studies by his references to the old traditions aud folklore of the race, aud then brought a spkndid address to a close with an eloquent appeal for their preservation. He unred that the people of Xew Zealand should to maintain and foster the recognition ot the Maoris. He recognised that in time Clio race would lie absorbed, but the tann-ible ovidpnre of Xeu- and its Maoris' close associations with 01.l Polynesia should never be allowed to pass into complete obscurity.