E.—2

1892. NEW ZEALAND.

EDUCATION: NATIVE SCHOOLS. [In Continuation of E.-2, 1891.]

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

• • • No. 1. EXTEACT FEOM FIFTEENTH ANNUAL EEPOET OF THE MINISTEE OF EDUCATION. The number of Native village schools at the end of the year is 67, including Matihetihe, carried on in conjunction with Waitapu. During the year four schools were given up, and two old schools were reopened, and one new one established. The immediate cause of closing in each of the four cases was the smallness of the number of pupils. This appears to have been due at Pukepoto to the comparative proximity of another school which attracted the children of intermediate places ; at Whakarapa, to tribal jealousy and the position of the school, which has proved to be not sufficiently near the principal settlement of the neighbourhood ; at Waikare, to the indifference of the people; and at Kopua, to the decline of population. Whakarapa is to be reopened shortly, and it will most likely be found necessary before long to remove the school-buildings to a more suitable site. The one new school of the year is at Whangaruru ; it may be regarded as in a sense the successor of the Waikare School, and it is at present being conducted experimentally in an inexpensive way. The reopening of Te Teko School was consequent upon the return of the Natives to the settlement, which they were compelled to abandon on account of the condition to which it was reduced by the volcanic disturbance of 1886. At Little Eiver the school was closed early in 1890 in the vain hope of inducing the Maori children to attend the Board school, and it has now been re-established at the urgent request of the Native people, supported by their representatives. At the four boarding-schools for Natives there are 74 pupils introduced by the Department, besides 120 who may be regarded as foundation scholars. Of the Government pupils, 44 are the holders of scholarships obtained in the village schools. The numbers in detail are —St. Stephen's, 46 (including 22 Government pupils, 20 of whom hold scholarships); Te Aute, 73 (including 11 Government scholars); Hukarere, 54 (including 8 scholars and 12 other Government pupils); St. Joseph's, 21 (all Government pupils, of whom 5 hold scholarships). Hukarere and St. Joseph's are girls' schools. At the village schools the average attendance for the year is 1,837. For the last quarter of the year the attendance is 1,703 (938 boys, 765 girls), with 2,231 on the roll (1,231 boys, 1,000 girls). Of the number on the roll (2,231), the half-castes are 239, the Maori (including those in whom Maori blood predominates) are 1,589, and the Europeans (including children of mixed race inclining to European) are 403. Only 51 are under five years old, and 78 over fifteen ; of the rest, 1,207 are under ten and 895 above ten years old. I—E. 2.