WORK AMONGST MAORI GIRLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 234, 4 October 1927, Page 12

WORK AMONGST MAORI GIRLS.

A quiet and unobtrusive work which is but little known, and yet must have a lasting effect on some part of the life of the province, goes on all the time in Auckland. It is the educating of the Maori girls by the Queen Victoria Association. The school has now been so lqng in operation that one of the present pupils is the daughter of a former student, showing that one mother wished her girl to be taught as she was taught. Many of the Maoris cannot afford to pay the full board fees which the upkeep of the school entails, and this difference has to be made up in any manner possible. One of them is to be by a bazaar, which is to be held shortly to try and augment the funds. The sehool was, like so institutions, hard hit by the war, wliich raised the price of everything, whereas the Government did not raise the amount granted, £20 as board wage for the girls, although now the school gets £30 for their upkeep. Tliis is not a very large sum to keep a young and growing girl, and an effort has to be made at various times to raise funds to augment what is available. That the work done by the school in educating the young Maori girl is not wasted' is proved by the visitors who mingle amongst the natives in their settlements, and who report that wheTever a girl from Queen Victoria School lives they can see the effect of the teaching in hygiene shown in the lives of the women of the pah. The girls are taught not only what they usually learn in school, but housewifery crafts, sewing, washing, mending, a very useful art to the Maori,, generally, cooking and generally "become capable women fitted to be wives and mothers of healthy children. Many of those girls who wish to come cannot afford it, and the present bazaar to be held is to provide funds for scholarships for these girls. So interested are the girls that others shall benefit by the instruction that they raise money themselves, when away from school, by singing and giving concerts and doing needle work, and by this means to keep one girl at least at the school, which they feel has done so much for them. The forthcoming bazaar 't is hoped will assist the school if friends not only attend the gathering but bring with them groceries, which help the school' through the year.