5

E.—3

Satisfactory reports are made on the progress effected during the year in the teaching of the ordinary subjects of the curriculum. Woodwork and cookery are taught in some of the schools, with good results. In one section of the Auckland District the pupils of the Native schools attend a manual centre established by the Education Board for the instruction of public-school pupils in those subjects. Arrangements have also been made for the inclusion, where possible, of Native schools in the scheme of agricultural instruction adopted by the Auckland Education Board for public schools. A special class in the subject for Native-school teachers was held at Tauranga during the year, beingattended with good results by teachers from twelve Native schools. There is a necessity for affording further opportunity for Native-school teachers to receive instruction in the physical exercises now in vogue in the public schools. In many schools where the teachers have not received instruction the old system is still followed, the work being performed, however, very satisfactorily. Lifesaving drill and the Boy Scout movement have been introduced with much success into a few schools. Natives attending Public Schools. From the reports of Inspectors of Schools in the districts where the number of Maoris attending public schools is large it appears that the Natives suffer to some extent from the fact that the methods of teaching employed, especially of teaching English, are not suited to their requirements. Better results are obtained in this subject when a combination of the look-and-say and phonic methods is adopted. Unfortunately, however, a large number of Maori pupils attend small schools staffed by inexperienced and often inefficient teachers, under which circumstances the work is backward and progress unsatisfactory. The trouble of not having mastered the language thoroughly in the lower classes becomes a severe handicap to the Maori in the upper classes, making nearly all the subjects of the curriculum much more difficult for him than they would otherwise be. The result is that only a small proportion of the Maori scholars beginning in the preparatory classes in public schools reach the upper standards or do work there equal to that of the Europeans. From results obtained in Native schools it appears that the fault does not lie in lack of intelligence on the part of the Maori pupils, but in the unsuitable methods of the earlier teaching. Irregular attendance, nomadic habits, and want of class-books are also mentioned as factors tending to hinder their progress, the general opinion being that under uniformly favourable conditions the Maori would become a credit to the education system in public schools as he has already done in Native schools. Secondary Education and Free Places. Continuative education for Maori boys and girls is provided at ten institutions established by various denominational authorities. The Government subsidizes these institutions by providing a number of free places, each of the value of £20 and tenable for two years, to all Maori pupils who have qualified in terms of the regulations. There were 457 pupils on the rolls of these schools at the end of 1916, of which number forty-three boys and fifty-eight girls held free places. The standard of the Public Service Entrance Examination represents the limit of the curriculum of the schools, several pupils who entered for the examination being successful in passing. Attention is given more especially, however, to the industrial and domestic branches of education, the aim being to equip the Maori children for the work in life for which they are best suited. Two Makarini and one Buller Scholarship were awarded to Native scholars at the end of the year. Senior free places are provided for boys in the form of industrial scholarships, which enable the holders to be apprenticed to suitable trades. These scholarships have not of late been eagerly sought after, the boys finding that they can secure higher wages in other ways, and no scholarships were held in 1916. Senior free places for girls take the form of nursing-scholarships. Four