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Schools for girls. The Government offers 123 scholarships, tenable at one or other of these schools for two years, to children of predominantly Maori race who pass the Fourth or a higher Standard at the Maori village schools ; most of the holders have passed the Fifth, Sixth, or Seventh Standard. At the end of the year thirty-eight of the scholarships were held by boys and forty-four by girls. To Maori children attending public schools who pass the Fifth Standard before reaching the age of fifteen scholarships of the value of £20 a year are granted, to enable them to attend a secondary school or to become apprenticed to a suitable trade. Under these conditions there are seven scholars attending secondary schools and seven boys serving apprenticeships. Further advance has also been made in regard to what are known as " nursing scholarships." There are now (1906) three probationers—one each at the Napier, Wellington, and Auckland Hospitals—while arrangements have been made for admission of three scholars as day-pupils. Six scholarships are offered by the Government to Maori youths to whom it is considered advisable to give university training. Three of these are reserved for those who wish to study medicine, and the remaining ones are open. At present there are three scholarships being held, one student taking the medical course, one arts, and one law. With reference to the conditions under which all the scholarships are granted, it seems evident that higher qualifications may now be safely demanded from those who wish to obtain secondary or higher education. There is already manifest a keen desire on the part of the Maori parents for instruction in manual and technical work of such a character as is likely to be most useful to the young Maori. The ready assistance they have given in various localities during the year in the establishing of workshops is evidence of this desire. The Department is also beginning to find that where boys and girls can obtain practical training of some kind at home, their parents do not wish them to attend a secondary school. It may be seen from these facts that the system of handwork and manual instruction in Native schools is now beginning to bear fruit, and an extension of the scheme is to be looked for as a natural result. For boys, instruction in elementary agriculture is probably the direction in which extension of technical work is desirable, while for girls needlework, cookery, and domestic economy may be further developed. The total expenditure on Native schools during the year was £24,077, which includes £95 paid from Native school reserves funds and £2,000 from Civil List for Native purposes. Deducting £36, recoveries from various sources, the result is a net cost of £24,041 for the year 1905, as against £24,881 for the previous year. Included in this sum is expenditure on new buildings and additions, £2,560; on secondary education (including boarding-school fees for holders of scholarships from village schools, apprenticeships, hospital-nursing scholarships, University scholarships, and travelling expenses of scholarship-holders), £2,116. The staff of the village schools included seventy-three masters, twenty-one mistresses in charge, eighty-seven assistants, and fifteen sewing-teachers. The masters received salaries ranging from £90 16s. Bd. to £269 ss. lOd. ; the head mistresses from £60 to £176 13s. 9d.; the assistants from £9 Bs. 4d. to £50 ; and the sewing-teachers from £6 16s. 3d. to £18 15s. In one school the master and mistress work conjointly, the total salary being £320 10s. at the end of the year. The assistants and sewing-teachers in the greater number of the schools are generally members of the teacher's family who give assistance in some part of the day's work. The assistance thus given is, however, becoming more valuable every year ; indeed, the Department regards the work done by the assistants in the preparatory classes as of prime importance. A new scale of salaries has been approved, approximating to that set forth in the Schedule to " The Education Act Amendment Act, 1905." The effect will be to produce a more even distribution of the amount paid as salaries to teachers, and to raise the salaries of assistants generally. As regards the race of the 3,863 children attending Native schools during 1905, 80-8 per cent, were Maori or nearly Maori, 8-6 per cent, were half-castes living as Maoris, 2-2 per cent, were half-castes, or nearly so, living as Europeans, and 8-4 per cent, were Europeans. Of the 3,786 children of Maori or mixed race attending public schools, 596 per cent, were MaOri, 59 per cent, were of mixed race living as Maoris, and 34-4 per cent, were of mixed race living as Europeans. The standard classification of pupils of Native schools at the end of the year was : —Preparatory classes, 1.223, an increase of 18 on the previous year; Standard I, 728, an increase of 97; Standard 11, 629 : Standard 111, 594; Standard IV, 439; Standard V, 159 ; Standard VI, 80; and Standard VII, 28.

No. 2. The Inspector of Native Schools to the Inspectoe-Geneeal op Schools. Sip.,— Wellington, 31st March, 1906. In accordance with instructions, I have the honour herewith to place before you my report on the general condition of the Native schools and the work done by them during the year 1905. At the end of 1904 there were in operation 100 village schools of various kinds. During the year three new schools were built, two were transferred to Education Boards, four were closed, and two were given up by the Department. At the end of the year 1905 there were thus ninety-five Native village schools. There are also six denominational schools which, at the request of their controlling authorities, are examined and inspected by officers of this Department—viz., Matata Convent, Putiki Mission, Tokaanu Soman Catholic Mission, andTeHauke Anglican Mission School—the latter two of which have been established during the year.