E.—3

12

Training in Industrial Occupation. —The importance of this form of education for the pupils of village schools and of secondary schools, though it has been stressed year after year in the annual reports, accounts for the more extended reference than usual in the preceding paragraphs. The subject has been exercising the minds of the teachers, and has been discusse;d, it is satisfactory to note, at the annual conferences. Any form of industrial training additional to the forms already mentioned will be welcomed from teachers who are competent to undertake it, for in any further progress that is to be; made; it is evident that the chief factor must be the teacher. It is, however, felt that for a great many of the teachers the subject has merely an academic interest. The comparative failure in many schools to utilize elementary agriculture as a subject providing a useful practical training is suggestive of a lack of honest endeavour in this respect. While the possibilities of the value and benefit of industrial draining arc undoubted, it is fairly certain that in itself industrial training is not a panacea for all the delinqueaioies that are laid at the door of the Maori as far as his inclination or disinclination to work is concerned. The natural indolence of the Maori arises to a large extent from the fewness of his needs, the comparative e;aso with which they are satisfied, and his limited outlook upon life; and it is just as foolish to imagine that the Maori, given an industrial training, will automatically take to regular work, as it is to imagine that his white brother, freed from economic necessity, will continue to engage in work that is no longer necessary to earn a living When economic necessity becomes a greater factor in the life of the Maori he will be; drive;n to regular and constant employment, from which he will learn to appreciate the material benefits to be thus derived ; and if this economic necessity is brought about by ambitions and by higher ideals that have been implanted within him regarding the need for a higher standard of living and comfort —the need for better living-conditions, better houses and furniture, better food and clothing for his family, better realization of the importance; and value, of the healthy upbringing of his children —he will bo more likely to engage in regular and constant employment, and thus become a more useful member of the community. His education, therefore, in addition to an industrial training that he can turn to practical advantage, must give him a wider outlook and implant within him ideals and ambitions that will serve as an incentive to advancement and progress. Secondary Education. Various institutions the purpose and aim of which arc to provide; a form of secondary education lor Maori boys and girls have been established by religious bodies in different parts of the Dominion. These institutions are —Queen Vie oria School for Maori Girls, Auckland; Turakina Maori Girls' School, Wanganui; Hukarcrc Girls' School, Napier; St. Joseph's Convent School, Napier; To Waipounamu Girls' School, Christchurch ; St. Stephen's Boys' School, Auckland ; Waerenga-a-hika (!e>lle;ge;, Gisborne ; Te Aute College, Hawke's Bay ; Hikurangi College, Carterton ; and Otaki College, Wellington. The schools mentioned being really continuation schools, their existence affords the Government the oppor unity of securing by moans of free places or scholarships a further educational course or pupils selected principally from Native village schools. Scholarships are,tenable at all of the schools mentioned above, with the exception of Hikurangi and Otaki Colleges. At the end of (he; year there were in attendance at the schools 258 boys and 230 girls, a total of 488 pupils. Of this total, fifty boys and sixty-two girls were holders of scholarships. One Maori girl attending the Christchurch Girls' High School was also a scholarship-holder. The course of work followed in these schools is designed te) provide as far as possible a training in such manual occupations as are considered likely to be of benefit to the pupils upon their return to their own settlements. The principal feature of the work in the girls' schools is the instruction in general domestic duties—cookery, sewing and dressmaking, including the cutting-out of garments, laundry-work, preparation of food for the sick and for infants, home nursing and first aid, and gardening. In the boys' schools the principal manual occupations are; woodwork and elementary practical agriculture. In regard to agriculture it is very satisfactory to note that at Te Aute College a farm of 600 acres is now being worked in conjunction with the college, and that the upper boys, in addition to the work in their own garelens and experimental plots, receive a practical training in work connected with farming operations. The results of the inspection of the secondary schools indicate that good work is being done. In one or two of the schools where the scholars return to school for a third and even a fourth year the more capable pupils are prepared and entered for the Public Service Entrance Examination. At the last examination quite a satisfactory number of the canelidates we;re successful. At Te Aute College selected, boys who return after passing the Public Service Examination may be prepared for Matriculation. Many of the girls on leaving the schools find employment as junior teachers in the village schools ; others take up nursing. At the present time there are over thirty-eight Maori girls engaged in teaching, some of whom have upwards of ten years' service. In all the schools referred to such matters as personal hygiene and health knowledge receive special attention, and a visitor to the schools cannot fail to be impressed with, the fine appearance of the scholars, who are evidently well cared for. The authorities of the schools are fortunate in having in their service as teachers men and women who take a keen and sympathetic interest in their scholars as far as their moral, intellectual, and physical welfare is concerned. Scholarships, etc. Scholarships or junior free places, tenable at such of the boarding-schools referred to in the foregoing section as provide a suitable course of instruction for Maori scholars, are awarded to pupils of Native village schools and other schools who have reached a certain standard of attainment