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H.—l4a

The principal points which I desire to emphasize are (1) education. (2) sanitation and health. (3) agriculture. As regards the first- that is. education 1 find that the attendance of children within a. reasonable radius of European or Maori schools is not encouraged as it should he. and I am afraid the Maori Councils have neglected their plain duly in this matter. Until men are placed in power who know how to value education, the Maori children must grow up in. ignorance, to be hereafter Ihe prey, perhaps, of designing Europeans. But the members of the Maori Councils are generally elected according to the interest they take in the old Maori custom, and not, in the interests of the younger generation. 11l the backblocks (assuming sufficient interest can be secured), there are not enough schools. 11 is intended to shift the Ivokako (Waikaremoa.ua) Maori schoolhouse to Ardkeen (near to Frasertown European school). And yet in a pa half a mile from Eokako I counted sixty children of school age. How could these be expected lo travel to Ardkeen. more than twenty miles '. Is this looking after the educational interests of the Maoris ? Perhaps it may be said that when this school was open the Maori children did not attend, and that is so ; but the Maoris then were very much under the baneful maiia of Rua, whilst now they are decidedly off that personage, and are anxious to see the school reopened. In all the other districts except Te Uhi —a stone's throw from Wairoa— I found matters in a much better way : the parents in the latter case are to blame. Sanitation and Public Health. —On the whole, there has been an improvement in both respects. dlli' to the abolition, of whales: but even this has not in some cases been loi the benefit of the Maoris. A corrugated-iron or weatherboard building, unlined, perhaps without a floor, and unprovided with windows, is not as warm in winter as the well-constructed where of olden times. But the Maoris have gone only a part of the way. and need to go a little farther before they even approach the ideal of a sanitary and comfortable dwelling. Te Uhi. close to Wairoa,. is the worst pa. in all respects, and has gone beck considerably. The site is low. badly drained, and large pools of stagnant water he within a. few feet of the drinking-water supply, in the shape of wells, which are mostly holes for collecting soakage. There is. of course, no closet system of any kind, and i am surprised the pakehas have not made it their business to seek reforms in their own interests, to say nothing about the Maori. The population of Te Uhi is decreasing. not that the Maoris are dying out. I am glad to say. hut the young people who have visited other places from time to time are being driven out by insanitary conditions, and seek residence elsewhere; nor can they be to blame lor leaving a pa win re public health and decency do not count loi anything. At Kihitu I found a great improvement in this respect, also at Mohaka - one of the healthiest pas in the district lor grown-up people, but child life i? adversely affected by the cold winds from the sea and the scorching westerly winds. The Natives need some instructions as to the kind of breakwind trees that will grow and flourish near the sea. At Waimako, in the Urewera country. I found the sanitary conditions very good, and the water supply of the best. The population is increasing, but 1 saw indications that the girls are allowed to marry too young, some that looked like mere schoolgirls having as many as two children. There may also be too close intermarriage with blood relations, which might account for so many weedy children. Tangoio Pa, I found up to the mark in all respects, and evidently the Maori Council there are alive to their duty, not only in sanitary matters but in education also, there being a. large number of children at school on the occasion of my visit. Te Haroto Pa is a good second in both respects. Agriculture. —Taken, as a whole, the Maoris are well off lor crops. Shortness of seed last spring, and holding of tangis and huis. will account for them having less to sell this winter. They arc perhaps more industrious than in the past, but they are increasingly disinclined to wait twelve mouths lor. say, a. crop of maize ; they would far sooner lease to the pakeha. and. go to work for wages, and perhaps for some the gospel of work is not a. bad idea after all. Some of them are farming with more or less success, but the majority have yet a great deal to learn before they can work land profitably. In conclusion, while the Maori is face to face with difficulties caused by not having their lands individualized there will be some excuse for his want of industry, and 1 must sympathize with many who would like to rise but cannot do so. I plead lor the greater interest of the Maori Council iii sanitation and education, and this will pave the way for other reforms in the best interests of the Maori race. Wairoa County (Part). — Sub-enumerator 11. Cooper. Health. —I found the Maoris in excellent health, with the exception of two male adults and two children, one of the adults being laid up with a complaint which was very much like typhoid fever. In the Mahia, district the sites of most of the dwellings were high and dry and well chosen, and most of them arc built of sawn timber and wood-floored, with iron roofing. Tin' cooking is generally done in independent buildings with earthen floors. At Nuhaka the sites were generally good, with tic exception of part of Tahaenui, which becomes very wet in winter. A swamp in Nuhaka Village would be a source of danger in future. The most of the dwellings are built according to European fashion, the Natives in this locality being more advanced in views and more energetic than those of other localities. Whakaki. —At Whakaki the sites are on very wet ground, which badly needs draining. A lew of the buildings an' made according to European fashion : the rest are according to Maori style (without wooden floors. &c). The partition of the I lereheretau Block will cause much activity in building here, as hitherto the want of settled sites has delayed the erection of permanent homes. Already a few thousand feet, of timber are stacked on various sites. Ewitea. —Ewitea, though surrounded by swamps, is on open sandy soil, and is dry in the wettest, weather. Half of the dwellings are built of sawn timber, floored, &c, and the rest arc of a primitive