E.—2

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taneously with the actual reading. No doubt it was thought that the view thus finding expression merely maintained that a plan that succeeds well in public schools ought to be quite good enough for Native schools. The fact is, however, that the suggestion proposes, not , the adoption of the public-school plan, but one enormously more difficult. Public-school children in the lower classes bring with them to school a knowledge of the words they are going to use in the reading-lesson, and they know the meaning of these words. Our preparation consists simply in giving our Maori children this knowledge, and so putting them on the same level as that of public-school children just about to begin a new lesson. If a public-school teacher really wants to see how very useful our method is, he should get together a class of young English children knowing hardly any French, and try to make them read and understand a lesson from a French book by the process of mastering the pronunciation, meaning, and emphasis "simultaneously." The exercise would, I feel sure, prove very light-giving. English Conversation and English Composition. In their reports on methods much stress has been laid by the inspectors, for some years past, on the necessity of insisting on getting from Maori pupils answers in complete English sentences to ordinary questions put to them in the course of lessons. These reports have nearly always been discussed, more or less completely, by the teacher and the inspector immediately after the examinations. But it is only in a few schools that the plan alluded to has been adequately given effect to. It is now time to insist on its universal adoption, seeing that experience has shown it to be a very good one. Also, the English composition of Standard IV. children is still, in many schools, far from strong. The remedy for this should probably be to reject altogether such work in English composition as is now taken as good enough to entitle children to a weak pass in the subject. Curious Social Phenomenon in the Hokianga District. A rather curious illustration of the fact that the Maoris resemble the ancient Athenians in being ardent lovers of some new thing has occurred in connection with two of our Hokianga schools; These schools were for some time deprived of most of their pupils because a "spiritualistic craze " had come upon the people. It is not easy for the pakeha mind to understand exactly what the relation between table-rapping and keeping children from school really is, but for these Maoris there must have been some connection —greatly to the disgust of the teachers. The trouble has now passed away, and apparently with as little reason as it had for arriving. The case is mentioned here in order to show that Maori-school work has its own peculiar difficulties at times. Schools for the West Coast. Nearly the same kind of difficulty is experienced now in establishing schools on the west coast of the North Island as had to be encountered some twenty years ago, when a beginning was made on the east coast. The West Cbast Maoris are, from our point of view, uneducated, and do not quite see what good is to come to them or their children from school education. Besides this general difficulty, there is the particular one that the large majority of the West Coast Maoris have for many years formed a compact body, under leaders determined, rightly or wrongly, to have nothing to do with the pakeha or his ways. A deeply ill-used people they have thought themselves, who ought not to make any kind of terms with their oppressors. The cloud seems to be lifting somewhat now, and it may be that before long these Maoris will understand that a really strong desire exists in the minds of their European fellow-countrymen, as a whole, to treat them kindly and justly. But for some time to come the work of establishing schools on the West Coast must be, to a large extent, experimental. Eventual success is certain, but it may have to be waited for. Social Intercourse between Europeans and Maoris. It can hardly be out of place in a report of this kind to note changes in the relations between the two races, and to call attention to new factors that are emerging—through the influence of Native education inter alia. As time goes on the Europeans appear to be learning how to befriend the Maoris without simultaneously leading them into error. It is now pretty generally understood by Europeans who wish the Maoris well that many of our social practices, possibly innocent enough in themselves, cannot, to use a somewhat mixed metaphor, be transplanted into unprepared soil without leading to disastrous consequences. To put it in another form :It is now more clearly understood than it used to be that what is for a European a mere expression of generosity and good-will —an invitation, say, to " have a drink " —may seem to some Maoris a warrant for and an incitement to a " drunken spree." It is likely that the increasing sobriety of the Maoris is, to some extent, attributable to the increasing wisdom of influential Europeans in this regard ; although, no doubt, the good sense of the Maoris themselves counts,for a great deal. Rising Young Maoris and their Influence. A new factor is being gradually introduced among the data on which the solution of the Maori problem depends. In bygone years all hopeful views concerning the future of the Maori were at once airily set aside with the aid of the formula —" Well, you know, you can educate the Maori up to a certain point, but ." This formula with the unutterable ending is no longer of service. There are now in New Zealand many young Maori men and women who have advanced far beyond the reach of such criticism, and are well fitted in every way to take their place among the best Europeans—if the word "best " is used in any rational sense. Besides these there are here and there to be found young Maoris of very respectable or even high literary attainments. In correspondence, then, with the external agencies and appliances that are being brought to bear on the " civilisation " of the Maoris, there is an internal force at work which is bound to become more