E.—2

1893. NEW ZEALAND.

EDUCATION: NATIVE SCHOOLS. [In Continuation of E.-2, 1892.]

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

No. 1. EXTBACT FBOM SIXTEENTH ANNUAL EEPOET OF THE MINISTEE OF EDUCATION. Dubing 1892 two Native schools—Onuku (Akaroa), and Port Molyneux (Clutha) —were taken over by the Education Boards of North Canterbury and. Otago respectively. The school at Te Kao (Northern Peninsula) was closed at the end of the year on account of the infrequent attendance of pupils ; it is not unlikely that a renewed interest may be shown before long, if the necessity of working on the gumfields becomes somewhat less urgent than it has been. The Mangamuka School (Hokianga) also was closed: it is possible that if the building had been a mile or two nearer the principal settlements an attendance such as to justify the continuance of the school might have been kept up. The Ptotoiti School stands in a district now abandoned, and is consequently disused; but land near Te Ngae has been given and is about to be surveyed as a site for a school that will accommodate the children of several districts on the east of Lake Piotorua. The school at Taiba (Kaihu Valley) has been closed, there being no sufficient population at hand; but a new school is to be opened at once at the flourishing settlement of Opanaki, about six miles away, where the Maori people have provided a building for school use. Two schools that had been closed for some time —Whakarapa (Hokianga), and Te Awahou (Eotorua) —were reopened during the year; and an experimental school at Waiomio (Bay of Islands), which has since failed, was subsidised. The number of schools in operation at the end of the year was 67, including a part-time school at Matihetihe and the subsidised school at Waiomio, but not including the four boarding-schools. Three of the 67 being discontinued at the end of 1892, the new year began with 64 schools. Since the year ended, the schools at Ahipara (Mangonui) and Otamatea (Kaipara) have been discontinued, in consequence of diminished attendance ; and the schools at Matakohe (Kaipara) and Tangiteroria (Northern Wairoa), having become European rather than Maori schools, are to be closed at the end of June, that the Education Board may be free to act. One new school has just been opened at Otamauru (Whakatane) with every prospect of success, the Native people having shown their zeal and earnestness by erecting temporary buildings for school and residence. Difficulties with respect to titles have hitherto stood in the way of progress in the cases of the proposed schools at Parapara (Mangonui) and Te Ngaere (Whangaroa). I—E. 2.