8.—2

4

under obligation to you, and who are responsible to give you account of the distribution and work of the books. Fifty-four of the books were given to my disposal. I had not much time to dispose of them all. I took very great care in giving away v/hat I was able to distribute. Before I parted with a single copy I always took great trouble in making the receiver understand what he had to do with it. I also added a sort of introduction (like Mr. Ballance's) to the book, and a few hints. I warned every one who accepted a copy that I would be round at any time to see him, and to see what he had done with the book, what good he had obtained from it, and how good he had kept it. Every one who took a copy seemed to think himself bound to do what I wished him to do; so you may learn from this that I have some hope that the book would do some good this time, especially when the eyes of those who have it have been opened to think a little upon their fate, by the epidemic which raged among them not long ago. Of course we shall not expect every one to take interest in it; there are some very obstinate men among them, such as seem to think they know just as much as the Pakeha. The copies which I was not able to distribute I have entrusted to some of my people who would likely do what I have instructed them. Apirana, his brother, and myself spent very enjoyable and useful holidays. I think we have indeed been very energetic in carrying out what we planned. It would take too much time if I were to tell everything. Allow me, therefore, to cut it short by saying that on the whole the work was very satisfactory. Mr. Pope paid us a visit last week, and told me how anxious you were to hear from us. He also asked me if we could send you a report of our work during our previous holidays. Since his visit we have held a meeting in connection with the Association, when our Central Committee was formed. The meeting has been adjourned for next Saturday night, when reports from various members shall be heard by the whole school. I have a very detailed report to bring before the meeting. Ido not mind sending mine to you if it is only written out more carefully. Expect Apirana's. Of course all our movements shall be made known to you sooner or later. We shall try to do as much as we can in bringing our Association into full swing—if it will ever be. Our highest intention is to put our plan through the press preparatory to its circulation. Have I said enough? If so, let me conclude my letter with thanks for the help we have received and may receive from you. Believe me, yours truly, Mr, "W. J. Habens. Beweti Mobgan.

No. 2. Extract from a Paper entitled "A Present-day View of the Maori Eace," by Mr. J. Thornton, Headmaster of Te Aute College, published in the Ghitrch Missionary Intelligencer (London) for March, 1892. But it is to education chiefly that we must turn as a means for raising the people generally. I do not hold with those who think that, of necessity, the Maori race is doomed to extinction. I believe that education—physical, mental, and sanitary—rightly applied, will work its salvation. It is only wdthin the last dozen years or so that the Maoris have manifested any widespread desire to have their children educated. Previous to that, large numbers of adults managed, by hook or by crook, to educate themselves sufficiently to be able to read and write their own language to the extent, at least, of inditing a Maori letter and spelling out a chapter from the Maori translation of the Scriptures. But their desire for a system of popular education in English is of comparatively recent date. This desire has been liberally responded to by the Government, and an excellent system of village schools is the result. There are at the present time, out of a population of little more than forty thousand, considerably more than two thousand children—nearly 90 per cent, of them pure Maoris —in attendance at these schools throughout the country. The teachers are a carefullyselected body of men, whose very presence in the chief centres of Maori population is no mean civilising influence. Very lightly, marriage is regarded by the Education Department as a sine qua non of employment, the teachers' wives in most cases assisting in the work of the school, and drawing a salary. Under certain conditions Maori girls are received as inmates into the master's house, with a view to familiarising them with English domestic habits. Though required to assist in the work of the house, they are in no sense treated as menials, but rather as "lady-helps" for the time being. The Government holds out every encouragement to the master to identify himself with the good work of raising the Maori to a higher level of civilisation. His instructions give him clearly to understand that his work is not merely to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic, but that he is to regard himself as a city set upon a hill, a centre of light and progress. The Maoris are not difficult to get on with, and I believe as a matter of fact that in nearly every instance the teachers of these Maori schools, cut off as they are generally from immediate European intimacies, do throw themselves heartily into their work, and not only secure good scholastic results, but win the confidence and goodwill of the Maori adult population around them. Illustrated periodicals and newspapers are regularly forwarded by the department to each Maori school, and are subsequently circulated amongst the adults of the village. The whole educational policy of the New Zealand Government as regards the Maoris is eminently paternal. There is nothing rigid or unsympathizing in connection with it. By kindly encouragement it seeks to prepare the mind of the Maori people for the reception of a better order of living—a policy far more likely to prove ultimately successful than the attempt to force upon them a civilisation for which they are at present unprepared. Then, again, there exist several institutions of a higher standing than the village schools, in which scholarships are awarded to the most successful pupils of the latter, and where, as boarders, the children have the additional advantages of a home-life. In establishments of this kind certain