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of food for his scholars- -and this can only be done if the school-ground be close at hand. I can then employ the hard-labour prisoners in the planting of food, and help in many ways that will give the boys a greater time for proper school-work. My suggestions are,- That a poll-tax of not less than ss. per head shall be imposed on every adult male of eighteen years and upwards; that a suitable piece of land shall be taken under the provisions of the Order in Council establishing the Land Titles Court, and a boarding-school erected at a cost of not exceeding £2,000, which shall accommodate not less than sixty children, and that such building shall be sufficiently near the Township of Avarua to be available for European day-scholars; that the present master, Mr. Percy Hall, shall be retained as headmaster of the boarding-school and inspecting officer of outlying schools. The cost of this arrangement would be when in full operation as follows : Twenty masters at £20 per annum, £400.; headmaster, Mr. Hall, £250; assistant master or mistress, £80; school necessaries, £100: total, £830. The immediate cost would not, however, exceed £550 per annum, for there are only a few boys that we could employ as teachers. We should have to train them first. I have, &c, W. E. Gudgeon, Resident Commissioner. The Hon. C. H. Mills, Minister administering the Islands, Wellington.

Enclosure. Sir,— Rarotonga, 9th May, 1904. We thank you very heartily for the kind and ready way in which you have granted this interview to us to-day on the question of education in the Gook Islands. We also wish to acknowledge the kindness that you have frequently shown to us, and the favourable way in which you have regarded the educational work of the London Missionary Society in the past. We believe that you recognise quite as much as we do that one of the first and most important acts of any Government should be to make provision for education. However, with the exception of the existing maintenance grant to the Tereora Boarding-school, the Cook Islands Government is at the present time doing practically nothing to promote education in these Islands. The children are being taught by private societies only, which are supported by the voluntary contributions of people in other parts of the world. While these societies have generally done their best, yet no one admits that the present state of things is satisfactory; and we all think that the Government should now really make a serious attempt to grapple with the question of education in these Islands. We desire this morning to bring before you and to discuss a few suggestions that we have been considering, as to the way in which we think the Government might gradually take over and extend the educational work which we are at present endeavouring to the best of our ability to do. We shall, of course, be willing and happy to continue our schools until such time as the desired changes can be fully carried out. The following are the suggestions which we respectfully bring to your notice, and ask that you will give them your consideration, and also bring them before the New Zealand Government: — 1. We think, on principle, that the Government, and the Government alone, should be responsible for all secular education, and therefore that, as soon as may be possible, the Government should assume the maintenance, and also, of course, the entire control of all public schools in the Group. 2. This it should be possible to do without very much difficulty or initial expenditure, because the Government would not need to build and start schools, as would be the case in a wholly uncivilized community, but would only have to take over those schools which are already existing; for there are in all of the twenty villages of the Group substantial stone school buildings, which on certain conditions we should be glad to place at the disposal of the Government for educational purposes. 3. We would therefore suggest (a) that the Government should take over the Tereora School, and continue to carry it on as a higher boarding-school; and (b) that they should make the present sea-side school at Avarua a normal school for the training of Native teachers. These two schools should both be under the control of properly qualified white teachers, or it might be possible, and for some reasons it would be better, for one man to carry on the two. (c) That as soon as'suitable teachers are ready these should be appointed by the Government to the various village schools in the Group, at a'salary, say, of £15 or £20 per year; and these schools would then be entirely under the control of the Government. Of course, the training of such teachers will necessarily be a matter of time; but it ought to be possible, say in the course of eight or ten years, to have such qualified men in every school, and thus the entire educational system be in the hands of the Government. ■ . 4. The education provided by the Government will be entirely secular ; the religious instruction will be given by the missionary or Native pastor as at present, and only at such times as shall not interfere with the ordinary" lessons. These are, broadly, the lines on wdiich we should be very glad to do all in our power to help the Government. Such a scheme as we have here outlined contains all the essentials of a complete system--namely, a central normal training-school, a qualified Native teacher in every village, and a higher boarding-school to which the brightest pupils can be sent for further instruction, including manual training. We venture, too, to think that the annual cost of such a scheme would be as small as, if not less than, in any other that could possibly be suggested. . We trust that both the local Government and also the Government of New Zealand will give the matter their earnest consideration, and that before long an educational system, which need