11

E.—2

Land Courts. —Perhaps it is unavoidable that the process of ascertaining the titles to Maori lands, and of transferring these lands to European owners, should be attended by circumstances of such a kind as to produce very disastrous effects on the Natives—that they should be kept away from their homes for months together, and that, by the time their land is gone, what they have received for it should have gone, too, for rum, beer, and other refreshments. At the same time it is a matter for regret that the Native lands cannot be acquired and utilized without so much injury to the Maoris, old and young. lam sure that all persons interested in Native education earnestly hope that the idea that has lately been mooted of getting the Maoris to settle all questions of title before the land is brought into the Land Court will be given effect to, and that the work of the Court being merely to validate and register titles, and not to ascertain them, the irregularities (to call them by a mild sort of name) that now render the Maoris attending a Court remarkable may be done away with, and the Natives may have some chance of getting home to their kaingas after they have parted with their lands with something better and more useful than utterly depraved habits and ruined constitutions, —the net final result to them of their attendance at a Land Court. This matter, too, bears directly upon Native education. It often happens that one-half of the children belonging to a Native school go away to attend a Land Court. They see what goes on there, and, though perhaps they may learn things they would not have learnt if they had remained at school, it is extremely doubtful whether the knowledge so acquired will do them anything but harm. Liquor Traffic.—lt would probably be of little use to enlarge upon the evils that result from the facilities for getting drunk that are offered to Maoris in nearly all parts of the colony. No one who has business to do with the Natives can fail to see that intoxicating liquors are the cause of most of their failings, or to feel sure that if they could be made a perfectly sober people they would soon become industrious and thriving. At the same time there are so many interests involved in the liquor traffic with the Maoris, and so many Europeans turn an honest penny by supplying them with drink, that it would perhaps be very cruel to interfere with what may be considered as their vested interests, even though a whole race were to be saved from destruction by such interference. Industrial Scholarships.—lt has been suggested that it might be advantageous to institute some sort of industrial scholarships for boys and girls that have passed the Fourth Standard. It has been thought that either apprenticing boys to a trade, or even in some cases sending them to the Agricultural College in Canterbury, might sometimes be of more use than giving them two years' higher education. This suggestion merits careful consideration. _ The Maori Language in Native Schools. —Maori is not taught in the Native schools, nor are the children ever examined in it. It is, however, certain that the language may be of great use when it is desired to test a child's knowledge of English. If a boy can render an English sentence into his own language he gives the best of all proofs that he thoroughly understands the sentence. In the same way, if a child that is being examined for Standard 111. succeeds in translating three or four easy Maori sentences into good English, he shows that he can clothe his ideas in the foreign language. It would be useless to deny the excellence of this test. It is for this reason that, while the use of Maori should be reduced to a minimum by Native school teachers, it may be made of considerable service in an examination. I notice that the same practice obtains in English schools in districts where Welsh is spoken. I have, &c, Jambs H. Pope.