NATIVE EDUCATION

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 93, 14 January 1926, Page 6

NATIVE EDUCATION

AN IMPORTANT CONFERENCE

Education in the Pacific Islands is expected to benefit materially- as the outcome of a conference which was held in the Parliamentary Buildings during the past two days. Those present comprised the Minister in Charge of the Cook Islands (Hon. Sir Maui Pomare), the Administrator of Samoa (Major-General Sir George Richardson), the Secretary of the External Affairs Department (Mr. J. D. Gray), the Director of Education (Mr. J. Caughley), the Assistant-Director (Dr. E. Marsden), Mr. T. B. Strong (Chief Inspector of Primary Schools), Mr. J. Porteous (Chief Inspector of Native Schools, representing the New Zealand Education Department), Mr. W. D. Hoodless (Director of Education, Fiji), Mr. D. A. J. Rutherford (Superintendent of Schools', Samoa), and Mr. H. Binstcad (Superintendent of Schools, Cook Islands). *

The purpose of the conference was to define a suitable basis of education for the native people in the Pacific Islands and to co-ordinate the work of the different administrations. The conference decided upon the general principles upon which the curriculum for the Island schools should be drawn up, and it is considered by those concerned that the conference served a most useful and valuable purpose, the results of which will be of the greatest advantage to the inhabitants of those groups.