MAORI SCHOLARSHIPS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23181, 29 October 1938, Page 12

MAORI SCHOLARSHIPS

Cordial approval can be given to, the action of- the Taranaki Maori Trust Board in deciding to make an annual allocation of £IOO for the purpose of establishing a scholarship tenable by a Maori youth at the Hawera Technical School and the New Plymouth Boys' High School. In every respect the idea is com-

I mendable. It will be a Maori scholar- | ship in a threefold way: it will be i associated with the name of Mr. j Rima Wakarua, a former chairman of the board, whose wise zeal for the highest welfare of the Maori people is fully worthy of such remembrance ; it iB intended to assist in advancing the education of the younger Maori generation in commendable directions, as he would have wished; and the funds for maintaining the scholarship in perpetuity will be provided from a Maori source. As yet, the necessary details of control and administration have not been definitely arranged, but the principals of the two schools have undertaken to co-operate heartily. It is sufficient now to know that one scholarship will be awarded each year, possibly for a term of two or three years, and that the Aotea Maori Association is being asked to assist with practical suggestions. The effect should be wholly good. Those holding the scholarship will doubtless be selected on merit arid on the prospect of their making good use of the privilege. They will consequently be assured of high standing among their pakeha fellowpupils, and something toward a real union of the two races will be effectually and steadily accomplished as the years go by. A scholarship of this type should usefully supplement what is already being done in various ways by the Education Department and by Bchools on special foundations. The idea could be advantageously adopted by other Maori Trust Boards as one fostering close scholastic co-operatiqji by Maori and European. Boys profiting by such an arrangement should form, in time, a splendid group of educational leaderß among their own people.