CORRESPONDENCE.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14644, 19 April 1913, Page 5

CORRESPONDENCE.

MAORI COLLEGES.

I TO THK EDITOK OV "'THE PEES 3." Sir, —In your article of a few days ago. on the opening of a .Mormon College for Maori Boys, you stated That it is rather a reflection upon other organisations interested in the Maori ! rr.ee that the first agricultural college I should be established oy a people alien Ito New Zealand. May 1 point out a few facts which will perhaps correct the impression left by your words? The Church of "England has irom the very first mail- consistent and continued efforts to impart technical instruction to Natives. The very lirst missionaries sent by the Church Missionary Society under the Her. S. Marsden's auspices, arriving in -\<;v Zealand in 1814. wero mostly artificers, af?d their instructions were to impart the arts of civilised life, including ngrietilture. to the natives. In the missionary days, before the war. .schools wore opened at every mission sttitiun, and many Maori children also wore taken into the. homes of the mis.sronr.rie.s, there to receive all prm-tical iustruction possiblo at that time. At some at least of these early schools, a- at Wncrenga-ji-hika, f.'isborne, the pupik supplied (as far as possible) all their own needs, (jrowihg wheat and Tejvt.'iblVs, grinding their own corn, baking their own bread, and doing their own Work. A writer on this subject say*: ''The principle of the New Zealand Mission has always been to encourage v industry among the, Natives." . In-more recent times we tiud several schools and colleges of the Church do ing this work. Clartvilln College, Heu. Cart'erton, opened in I!KXS, , stands on 150 acres of Church ground. It lias about thirty boarders, and is.entirely free to Maori boys. Besides ordinary education it provides instruction in farming and pardoning, carpentering, bootmnking, etc., taught by practical men. }Vaerenya-a-hika was reorganised in li) 07, as a secondary school, with agriculture as the main .subject of twiehIt is, in fact, an agricultural college. Obiki, which accommodates one hundred, day boys and twenty Ivourders, gives technical instriietinn. -To Auto has includod technical work-sinco 15KJ7. St. Stephen's School, l'iirnell, though not suitably situated for agriculture on a- largo scale, has always, given instruction in gardening, carpentering, and other arts. Of girls' schools, it js unnecessary to speak of the well-known Hukarorp School at. Nanier, Queen Victoria Collego at Parnell. and our own inore-reeentiy established To AVaipounainu College at Ohoka, all of which give technical and domestic instruction suited to Maori girls.

: There arn> also several ■ schools provided by other Christian bodies in Now Zealand, where'the work is of. similar character. It seems only lair to those who are spendinp "their lives in theso" good works to make- these facts known. —Yours, etc.. J. Mc B. GAUVEY. The Vicarcg.?, I/ower. Riccnrton. THE SIEGE OF . LAI>YSMITH. TO THE KMTOR Of "TUE I'lUffiS." Sir, —Without in any way trying to detract from the courage or hnnchncas of our naval men, I consider that the article in to-day's "Press," by It. \V. Reid, is open to adverse criticism from anyone who may have taken part in tho of the."little Natal town," as your correspondent terms it. The fact of the four guns arriving at Ladysmith was certainly a great factor in the holding of it. But Ido not consider it quite fair to give the naval detachments credit 'for'- work dono by other corps. • - .

The guns on "'Giin Hill", and "Surpriso Hill" wore blown up by men. of the Royh! Engineers—the 23rd Field Company of that corps being in the garrison—who also had tho work of making redoubts wherever it, was decided to place guns or change them during the siege. And of course- tho volunteers who comprised tho different "sorties" wore. moa6',ui},of other, corps, the Rifle BriEndo'iind. an artillei-y detachment a hand ml it. There was inoroi than one telescope watclung the "Long Tom" on Uinbtilwana mountain, and there' was" also'no' doiibfas to its : having.time to take aim before firing, ,as tho way. in" which it \ raked the town from-end to end ; damply showed. "All our naval men's .efforts were, in vain," says ybqr .correspondent. That at least is as the , enemy put, up a derrick arid dismounted/their gun before retiring/ taking it; away after dosing us \vith its projectiles-for four months, in spiio 6i' obi , long-range guns' attempts to stbp .'them. . Thejwritpr, of to-day's article ; Bi>iejns to, teen lucky to ;have, v a- ."quiet hotel garden", to sit in. while Mr. Melton Prion. and other welllniawn artists and" correspondents hnd •tordujgh" it on the rocky sides of tho KHji river, at "Dawson Gity',' or other fairly , plnces. • ; A.ll credit to ;tho * Naviil . Brigade—particularly the small detachment who helped to hold "Wagon.Pbitit on the 6th January, 1900. ftiit wo imist not forget that the men who* hold Ladysmith we're the British iflfaritry, tfritl the officer 'commanding was Sir George- White.j who -thoroughly deserved the high honour he afterwards received,' and who . will.' .always be remembered' as the chief .defender of Ladysmith'.—Yours,: etc., ■\ ..'.-. : ONE OF;THEM. ..Christclmroh, April 18th.