EDUCATING THE NATIVE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18458, 23 July 1923, Page 9

EDUCATING THE NATIVE

A NEW MOVE IN FIJI. AGRICULTURAL; TRAINING. ;> ENTERPRISE OF METHODISTS [from oxra own CORRESPONDENT.] • ■/ '. SUVA, July 14. ;' Ever since : the -| various missions commenced work among the natives of Fiji, the extent, of their educational work' has been limited to teaching the three " R's, I but only in the native tongue. It. has ; been a much-commented-on fact that, after all the money which has been spent on Amission work, there i.3 nothing *■. to show for it j from a: commercial standpoint. The native, when he , leaves school, has proved nearly useless to the community. However, of late years, the native in the Government schools has been taught to read and write in English, and proved a very ' apt scholar. Now the missions have. followed suit, with the result that when he leaves school he can readily find employment. The native Fijian is, as a rule, a beautiful writer, and . many are now employed in Government and business offices. But there is a limit to office employment. The Methodist mission has recognised ' that it has a further duty, and so 1 it has decided to go & step further and follow up the ordinary curriculum with a technical course. With this object in view, they have leased the Navuso Estate, of : some 800 acres, from the Government, and at : the council meeting yesterday the Colonial Secretary, moved approval of the Governor's Message, 1 ' giving the official correspondence between tho Government and : the mission. He said the Government was in sympathy. wi-Vh the mission proposal to commence an agricultural college. £; Sir Maynard Hedstrom, in seconding the motion, said it marked a new era in the education of tho native race. They were working along the fight lines, and the cost to the country would only be £300 per annum. The motion was carried unanimously. The work will be carried on under the superintendence of Mr. Oesch, an expert on rice and other tropical cultivation, who has been brought from the Philip, pines by the mission. '.&fter a two or three years' course, the native will be fitted to be a very useful member of the community. He will then be able to compete in farming with the Indian.