THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1888.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9166, 22 September 1888, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1888.

The presence of two races in this j colony, the one claiming superiority in many respects to the other, must lead from time to time to social friction, despite what sentiments we may cherish as to the universal brotherhood of Man. At Rotorua, it appears the Native School has been closed, on retrenchment grounds we presume, and as a consequence the children of the aboriginal residents have been sent to the public school. Whereat certain European parents have taken umbrage, and have taken their children from the school, while others who have not gone to this length, feel dissatisfied with the arrangement of their children being educated on the same forms with those of the natives. The question, as will be seen, has been referred to the Board of Education, and that body, with a lack of decision which does not reflect much credit upon its administrative duties, rather evades the question, and so throws it back on the Committee as to lay the train for a good deal of bickering and strife in the district. We hold that in such a case as this the Board should have given a distinct instruction in the matter instead of merely referring the Committee of the district to the Act, to find its own interpretation, with a very broad and unequivocal hint that the Committee have power to set aside the mandatory sections of the Act under the clause, " the Committee shall have the management of educational matters 1 within the whole district." The Education Act admits of no doubt whatever as to its meaning. The Maoris have an absolute right to send their children to the public school, and neither the School Committee nor any others are entitled to prevent them. The Act says in the 10th section that " Any Maori shall be at liberty to send his children to a public school under this Act, subject to the regulations for the time being in force in such school and should the teacher or school committee refuse admittance to, or expel, any Maori child, merely because of its being a Maori child, an action for damages would certainly lie against them, or they could be forced to admit the child by a mandamus from the Supreme Court. Until the law is altered, the

right of the Maori is indisputable, so ] that no doubt whatever remains on i that matter. j At the same time we can quite under- ! stand the objection which a European \ might have to his child being brought constantly in contact at school with little Maori boys and girls, residing in perfect Maori fashion among Maoris. To say nothing else, the precocity of native children arising from the simple and unconventional nature of their social and domestic surroundings, is not such as most European parents would | like in the classmates and associates ! of their children ; and though the sentiment of universal brotherhood and equality is a noble and commendable one, there are feelings nobler and more sacred even than that. On the other hand, we cannot overlook the fact, that if the two races are to be brought up in harmony J and union under the same laws | and usages, it is not by training the I Maori children in isolation, that such results are to be effected ; and if we desire to thoroughly civilise and elevate

our aboriginal fellow-colonists, it will be best done by their being taught and trained in our public schools. Even in our Grammar Schools and High Schools all over the colony, aboriginal children have been pupils, and not only have they generally been unexceptionable in their demeanour and character, t?ut in many cases they have been very popular with their playmates and teachers. This, we know, is a different case from children living still in an aboriginal state and with aboriginal surroundings. But on the other hand, it may be answered that if Europeans

find it their calling or their interest to reside in districts where natives abound, they must he prepared for coming more immediately in contact with Maori life than those who have selected their domicile elsewhere : at all events, they can hardly expect that the State can specially exempt them from the natural consequences. If circumstances warranted the Government in keeping open a Maori as well as a European school at Rotorua, then the privilege of separate education might be enjoyed by the children of Europeans. But —and we assume that it is soeconomy requires the closing of one school, there seeras no help for it, but to combine the two classes of children in the remaining school. We feel disinclined to denounce the feelings of these European parents as unwarranted. It is not, we feel assured, a mere sentiment of social caste, which would be unworthy of colonists; nor yet from any fear of mere uncieanliriess, for that will no doubt be peremptorily obviated by the school regulations. But objection to associating one's children with a number of aboriginal children living in a purely aboriginal way and under aboriginal influences and surroundings, is not a very reprehensible parental feeling. In the circumstances the only course apparently open for those parents who object is to remove their children, and provide for their education in some other way, and, if necessary, at their own expense. The interests of the many must be considered before the interests of the few, and as the natives are absolutely entitled to admission to the public school, and as there is none other for them, the objecting parents must just pur, up with the consequences incident to their residence in a Maori district.