TEACHING THE MAORI.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 298, 10 September 1908, Page 4

TEACHING THE MAORI.

ENCOURAGING, PROGRESS. FACTS AND FIGURES. The number of Maori villago schools in operation at tho end of 1907 was 99, as against 100 at tho end-of 1906. Four new schools'were, opened during the year, viz.—at Rawhitiroa (near Raglan), Waikare (Bay of Islands), Reporua (East Coast), and Motuti (Hokianga district). The schools at Turanganui (Wellington district), Waimana and Kokako (Urowera Country), Whangapo (Hokianga), and Waikawa (Marlborough) were closed, and tho AVairau school was transferred to tho Marlborough Education Board. 0 The number of children on tho roll at December, 1907, was. 4183, as against 4174 in the previous year. . Several schools reached a high percentage of attendanee, one, indeed, practically reaching'loo per cent;' : Tho past ten years, reports tho Minister for Education, showed a vory noteworthy in : creaso in tho number of children in Maori schools./ Since 1897 over twenty schools, had been added, and tho increase in scholars in that period had been. 1319. ..This pointed to an increasing desire for education among the Natives. CHURCH. SCHOOLS. < In addition to the _ Native schools there were six Native mission schools, at which primary, education was given to Maori children, while secondary education was provided by six boarding schools under the control of tho various Church authorities. Ono hundredand forty-nine Maori boys and 125 girls wore 011 the rolls of these schools at tho end of tho year. Six Maori girls were receiving training at various hospitals. The number of workshops in the village schools was now twelve. STAFFS AND SALARIES. Tho total expenditure during the year was £31,783, and deducting recoveries, £31,492, as against £29,65 l in 190 G. Tho new scale of staffs and salaries had caused'an' increaso of £3653. , ; Tho staffs'of the village schools-included elghty-ono masters, nineteen mistresses in chargo, 107 assistants, and threo sewingteachers. Of the 4183 children attending Nativo schools at the end of 1907, 78.8 per cent, wero Maori or nearly Maori, 7.9 wore half-castes speaking, Maori in their homes, 3.4' wero halfcastes or nearly so speaking English in their homes, and 9.9 woro Europeans.Of the 3988 children of Maori or mixed race attending public sphools, 60.7.per cent, were of Maori race, 5.9 por cent, were of mixed race living as Maoris, and 33.4 per cent, woro of mixed race, living as Europeans. Seventeen certificates of cqmpetency and thirty of proficiency.'were obtained during tho year. ■ ! . FOPPISH TENDENCIES. , ' "During one of my inspection journeys," said tho Inspector of Native Schools, "a request 'camo from a boy to his friends for a six-guinea tailor-made suit and somo linen collars not less ,than 2Jin. in width. I have 'seen a girl engaged in cutting flax dressed in a blue silk blouse which she had got t.while at school. On tho''day of tho examination of ono school a cream voile dress .which had been made to order by a dressmaker arrived for a girl whoso parents livo.in a guinficlds district:, This kind of thing is happily not common to all tho. schools, but I am afraid that unless stern measures are talcon to prevent it- tho 'cult' will spread. Indeed, I hardly recognised .in' an overdressed young fop 1: met recently at a Maori gathering an ex-pupil, of a school whero dungareo trousers and bare- feet woro onco do riguour. WHAT IS THE-USE?' : "The question is frequently raised as to tho ultimato good of giving higher education to Maoris when in so many instances apparently 110' uso is made of such education by those who havo received it. It is, of course, no defence to say that one meets with not a few' cases whero the same may bo said of Europeans, and'it is;possible that in the/case" of tho Maoris the number, of. instances'is. not so - great as people are inclined to think, while there appears to bo more excuse for them than for tho pakeba. As often as it is x possible to do so the Department admits as junior, assistants in. Native, schools girls who havo'completed their course in a higher school,-and I have formed a vory high opinion of them as teachers Indeed, with proper direction and encouragement from tho head teacher they do exceedingly good work, following very faithfully the advice givon them for improving their methods of teaching. It may bo possible in the futuro to make use of these girls as teachers in small aided schools in places where the number of children does not'warrant the erection of largo buildings. ■ Boys from the higher schools are gradually finding their way into various trades, seme being already in mechanical or clerical divisions of the Government service. I frequently receive applications for employment, some of them quito pathetic in character, from girls and boys who havo passed through tho schools, and in most of the cases within my knowledge I can say that the 'return to the mat,' as it is sometimes unfeelingly termed, is the result not of de-. liberate choice but of the want of opportunity." -