3

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A domestic bereavement caused the master to apply for removal to a less isolated district; his place has been taken by a teacher who has shown considerable ability at one of the smaller southern schools. Ahipara. —The fever had been very severe here. Eleven children had died. The epidemic had thrown the school quite out of gear, and it was suffering a recovery at the time of my visit. There is good reason to hope that a permanently satisfactory state of matters is in course of being established in the district; some of the discordant elements appear to have been got rid of, and Mr. Bishop, in a recent communication to the Department, states that the school is more satisfactory now than it has been for many years. What is wanted at Ahipara is that some intelligent young chief, who understands the pakeha and his ways, should endeavour to bring about a union amongst the divided tribes and families of the district, and should take the lead in all matters affecting their interests and welfare. There are not wanting well-educated young Maoris who could play such a part, but none of them seem willing to exert themselves in this way. Pukepoto.— Seven of the children belonging to this school had died, but only one of these had attended since the outbreak of the fever. The Natives bear testimony to the teacher's zeal and assiduity in attending to their needs during the epidemic. In spite of the existence of such a drawback as this fever, fair results were obtained; no more could be expected, seeing that hardly any of the children examined had completely recovered. One would have thought that the Pukepoto Natives had had enough of sickness and death to last them for a considerable time, but it is reported that, now that the epidemic has quite ceased, the Natives have taken to importing invalids and corpses, so that subjects for tangihanga may still be available, and that they have thus been able to have five of these festivals since the fever went away. This would almost appear to be a grim joke, but it is to be feared that it is quite true. Pamapuria. —The old Kaitaia School has been moved to Pamapuria, which is thoroughly central. There is every reason to anticipate a successful future for this school, which ought to be the largest in the district. Awanui. —The master is on good terms with both the Natives and the Europeans, and his school bids fair to be as successful as the nature of the district will permit. Gum-digging is the bane of the school. As parents can by this kind of work get enough rough pakeha food to support them, they cultivate but little, and are constantly going away to dig gum at the North Cape and elsewhere, and taking their children with them. Beally, Awanui can hardly be considered a permanent settlement at present; by-and-by the gum will be exhausted, and then, probably, the Natives will settle down to farming, their natural occupation, and a better state of things will exist. Peria. —The epidemic was particularly severe here, and nine children died. In spite of this calamitous state of affairs, the school was in admirable order in every respect. The master was inclined to take a gloomy view of the future prospects of his school: there is only a limited number of children in Peria itself, and there are jealousies existing that prevent the people of the surrounding settlements from cordially co-operating for the success of the school. The Peria people do their best, but their power is limited. Still, there ought to be no reason to despair about the school. Surely the Natives round about Peria will sooner or later see that the .Government cannot waste itsl resources by giving a school to every little kainga, and in the end they will certainly determine to make such small sacrifices as are needful to enable their children to attend one of the best schools in the colony, and get a suitable education there. Te Moari, Kaeo. —This will probably become year by year more of a European school; the time cannot be very far distant when it will be advisable to hand it over to the Board, and remove the master to another locality. In the meantime Heremaia Te Ara, the chief of the district, is doing all that he can to keep up the Native attendance, and, if he were thoroughly supported by the other Natives —if these showed more willingness to make small sacrifices in order to get their children educated—the evil day might possibly be indefinitely postponed; meanwhile, the number of the Europeans in the district is very rapidly increasing. Some legislation seerns to be needed on a point involved in the case of this school. Heremaia showed great public spirit in presenting the Government with a site for a Native school at Te Moari when the chiefs of surrounding districts made great difficulties about the matter. It would be very hard if, in two or three years' time, this became a European school, with a Committee hostile to the Natives, and perhaps doing their best, by indirect means, to exclude Native children from the school altogether. I would suggest, therefore, that, before a Native school is handed over to a Board, the Natives who have given the site to the Government should receive its value at the time of transfer as compensation. Unless some regulation of this kind can be made, the Natives will hesitate about giving a school site, because they will fear that a time may come when the children of their race will be quietly prevented from attending their own school, while they themselves will have given away their land to the pakeha without receiving any adequate recompense. In the recent communication before referred to, Mr. Bishop remarks that the general prospects in his district are fairly encouraging, considering the great demoralisation that the fever has naturally caused. He states, too, that the teachers have done good service with the drugs supplied by the Native Department, their work in this direction being more effective than skilled but irregular medical attendance. Mr. Bishop concludes by saying that the Maori race is doomed, until sanitary rules are strictly enforced by legislation. Hokianga. Mr. S. von Stunner, 8.M., is the District Superintendent. Nearly all the schools under his care are in excellent order, and doing very thoroughly the work expected of them. The following is an extract from a letter lately received by the Department from this gentleman: "During the past month I visited six of the Native schools in my district. After the usual inspection of the buildings and the teachers' books and registers I in each case put the children through a short examination, with the most satisfactory results. On the occasion of the Inspector's next visit he