E.—2

14

(y.) Methods. — (a) No attempt was made to make the facts elicited the common property of the class; (6) the errors made by individuals were properly corrected, but no attempt was made to make the whole class profit by this correction ; (c) as only the cleverest children were questioned, the weakest points in the class remained undiscovered. (z.) The sewing has evidently been much neglected. I do not think the causes assigned account for this satisfactorily. The general educational results obtained were very fairly satisfactory; on the whole they were similar in amount and kind to those of the previous year ; what difference there was showed that some improvement had taken place. The work of introducing useful plants into Native districts is being steadily carried forward. The mulbery and olive trees sent to Native schools are nearly all doing well. This year black-wattle seeds and arrowroot plants are being distributed, and, to favourable localities, a few date-palms. Ceratonias (carob bean) and cinchona plants will shortly be forwarded. Arrangements are being made to secure other suitable plants for next year. By such means it is hoped that in a few years most of the Native school glebes will contain trees and plants that are likely to be useful to both Natives and Europeans residing in the several districts. An attempt has been made during the past year to put the Natives into the way of improving the conditions under which they live by giving them some idea of the laws of health, and of the important advances that have been made by Europeans through the attention they have learnt to pay to such matters. A little book has been published for the use of children preparing for our highest standard ; in this the ordinary sanitary rules are explained, illustrated, and enforced. It is hoped that young Natives leaving school and taking some of this kind of knowledge with them may be led, not only to take better care of themselves than they probably would take without this kind of knowledge, but that they will also become, so to speak, centres from which information will be gradually diffused among the older Natives. I am glad to say, too, that the Hon. the Native Minister is having the book translated and widely circulated amongst the adult Natives, who will thus have an opportunity of learning something about the laws of health in a more direct manner. It seems to me that there is room for yet another little work of a somewhat similar kind. The object of this should be to give the Natives some idea of the most elementary principles of social economy, and of the nature of the laws and government under which we live. Such a book could not be made too simple, but it would also have to be fairly interesting. Any one that produced such a book would, I have no doubt, confer a very great benefit on the race. The Natives would certainly read the book (they read every Maori publication they can get hold of, except, perhaps, the Gazette), and it is impossible for any one to read about and study such subjects without becoming better fitted to discharge the duties of citizenship than he can be without some knowledge of the rudiments of the science that underlies even the most ordinary social, economic, and political arrangements. Without a little of this kind of knowledge, the Maori, shrewd as he is, cannot properly discharge his simple political functions, such as voting at elections, or form any satisfactory idea of the why and the wherefore of any of the institutions that he sees at work around him. In fact, the Maori is in a plight somewhat similar to that of the totally illiterate pakeha, who is, by the nature of the case, actually obliged to give his vote at an election to the candidate who can most successfully appeal to his prejudices and to his ignorance. Conclusion. —A review of the year's work shows that the results are more favourable than those of any previous year; had it not been for the fever in the north, they would have been still more satisfactory. Discouragements have, of course, been numerous; schools that seemed certain to be permanently successful have temporarily broken down; settlements that appeared to be quite on the right track have been injuriously affected by sudden outbreaks of superstition or fanaticism. On the other hand, great improvement has been noticed in places where it was quite unexpected. On the whole, the Natives appear to be growing more sober and more industrious, and to be gaining more knowledge of and respect for the better class of pakeha habits and customs. The changes which have been gradually taking place and differentiating the Maori settlements that have schools from those that have none are in many cases becoming so obvious that they attract the attention of even those who care for none of these things, while in some cases the change has caused considerable disgust to persons whose interests are not exactly forwarded by any improvement that takes place in the Maori race. It is almost touching to hear some of the regrets and lamentations that are made for the grand old times when perhaps a couple of hundred Maoris would visit a country township, and every man and woman of them be drunk within a few hours after their arrival. Those were the times when money was to be made. In some of the more civilised places, at the present time, fifty or a hundred Maoris will come in to the Eesident Magistrate's Court, or even to a Land Court, and nearly all ret.irn to their homes as sober as they came. The balance this year is decidedly on the credit side, and the outlook for next year is favourable also. I have, &c, The Inspector-General of Schools, Wellington. James H. Pope.