PART II.—ST. STEPHENS.

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, Volume VIII, Issue 2, 1 May 1903, Page 122

PART lI.— ST. STEPHENS.

The City of Auckland has two native boarding-schools, one at Three Kings, under the Wesleyan Church management., and the other more important school at St. Stephen's, partly under the Government partly under the Trustees of the original endowment. St. Stephen's is known to everyone who takes an interest in the Maori race. It is classed as a secondary school, but we have to bear in mind that the terms applied to native schools have not their ordinary meaning. They are not under the same system or the same regulations as schools and colleges for whites. Education is not compulsory among Maoris, and the standards are lower. Our

secondary schools and colleges are meant either to prepare pupils for matriculation or to take them through their University course. Te Aute does some of this work, but St. Stephen's does not aim at preparing pupils even for matriculation. No Latin nor Algebra, nor Eucli-d, nor any extra subject is taught. It is 's&n Industrial School, but here again we must not suppose it has the least resemblance to the ill-famed Industrial Schools for neglected and criminal children. The word simply means that the native pupils are taught how to work in the house, in the garden, and in the workshop. Its history goes back to Auckland's earliest days. It was built by the great evangelist of Anglican Christianity in New Zealand, Bishop Selwyn. First of all, in those old missionary days that seem as if separated from the present by a chasm of time, the Bishop founded St. John's to be the centre of Christianity and civili-

zation in the wilds of the North Island. Here he had students specially trained for the Church, settlers' sons taught on the lines of Eton boys, and Maoris and Islanders taught the elements of Pakeha knowledge and industries. But his great scheme broke down, and the different branches were scattered in various places. He established, nearer the wharf and little town, a school for Maori girls under the superintendence of Archdeacon Kissling. Bishop Patteson, who stayed here just after landing in New Zealand, describes the house as " a large one-storied building of wood, no staircase in it, but only a succession of rooms." " It stands,'' he continues, "on a tableland about 400 yards from the sea, commanding glorious views of the harbour, sea and islands which form, groups close round the coasts/ At that time there were one or two native deacons, and from fourteen to sixteen girls. Two of the old buildings remain, separated by an open courtyard, and they are still just as Patteson describes them.

Otic contains the dormitories, din-ing-hall and kitchen. The other consists of a row of rooms built for the parents of the native pupils. For the Maoris of those times knew not what to make of the Pakehas, and would not give up their daughters to their care, so they had to be settled on the estate. It is a long, low building, the back and front of dark volcanic stone, the front nearly all taken up by wooden doors and old-fashioned diamond-pane; 1 windows. It is now used for the prentices' bedrooms, for mangling room, linen press, and various other purposes. The girls' school did not flourish. It is said they were not so amenable to discipline as the boys, and used to escape out of their windows at night, and wander down town. Then war broke out, and the parents went off and took their daughters with them, and the whole school melted away. Afterwards the Maori boys were sent here from St. John's, and St. Stephen's has remained a school for them ever since. This year there are sixty-four scholars and five or six apprentices. The scholars are of two completely different classes. Thirty-four are chosen by St. Stephen's Trust from orphans, waifs and strays among the natives ; the remaining thirty are tiip. pick of those remote outlying primary schools working in the roadless North, boys who come in on scholarships offered by the Government to their race. Naturally there is a great difference of capacity amongst them. One quarter-caste I saw, a child with a fair complexion but Maori type of countenance, who had been found running wild in the |j|uJkato. His father had divorced his^mother arid afterwards died, leaving two children more than orphaned.

St. Stephen's is kept in excellent order, and the dusky pupils are taught in the most practical way that cleanliness is next to godliness. A different boy is chosen each week to take charge of the kitchen and cook. Every kind of work done on

the place is done by the boys, except, for some help with the washing, and everything is well done too. The floors and tables are scrupulously clean, the house linen neatly folded, the stores all in order. Once a year the whole interior, including walls and ceilings, is cleaned with carbolic. The long row of beds in the dormitories are covered with snowy coverlets. Now, passing out of the house buildings, we may give a passing glance at the flower and vegetable gardens, flourishing in the charge of the boys. There is no room for farming here, but all over the large courtyard the boys had been digging deep drains, and laying underground pipes — no light task for them. Beyond the courtyard is a pleasant grassy cricket and football ground, where the pupils amuse themselves as they please, out of lesson-time. The gymnasium, which stands by itself, is one of the features of the place, and is well equipped with horizontal and with parallel bars, and with Roman rings, while Indian Clubs are neatly stacked along the side of the walls.

Entering the schoolroom, we find scholars of all shades of complexion, one almost sooty black,, others all varieties of tawny brown, one or two quite white and slightly freckled, in no way distinguishable from Europeans. The countenanceand general appearance of the Maoris seem to be changing from that of their ancestors, and approximating to that of the British, amongst whom, they live. They still keep the thicker features, and the full, dark rolling eye, and the almost gloomy expression common to all native races, lit however, by flashes of winning amiability, the spontaneous smiles of childhood. They aredocile, well-behaved boys, intent upon their work. The highest form is somewhere between Standard VI. and Standard VII. What they do learn is taught thoroughly, and it must be better to teach them a few subjects than many, for we are dealing with human beings whose minds-

are much less complex than our own. They excel in memory subjects, and in imitation. As one might expect, they can draw and map well. Some of the large maps on the wall would do credit to any school, and there are two very good pencil sketches of old Maori chiefs also decorating the schoolroom. Their singing does not possess the weird fascination of Islanders' voices, that billowy rising and falling characteristic of them, and peculiar to them, but it has somo resemblance to the so-called "burr," which is like the backwash of a

wave dragging over a rough coa?3t. The Maoris require a large hall or the open-air to sing in, and cannot do themselves justice in a small building like the schoolroom. They would excel in a good rousing soldiers' chorus, or some military hymn, as they have no idea of pianissimo effects. Still, the singing- of the St. Stephen's boys is really fine ; they have strong, fulltoned voices, and are well-trained. The discipline seems admirable.

The Headmaster, Mr. Davies, has been in charge for the last thirty years, and is now teaching" some of the children of his old pupils. The Superintendent, Mr. Smith, has held his position for twenty-three years. In Maori schools, it is particularly necessary that there slhould not be frequent changes, for a teacher needs a very uncommon knowledge of native character in order to be successful. Technical instruction, chiefly in the nature of cabinet work, is given in the workshop. This was built and painted entirely by the boys

themselves. Inside I found four boys at work, vigorously planing planks, and putting their whole heart into the task. They had just set about making a rather elaborate cupboard with panels^, drawers and handles, the design for which was sketched on the blackboard. Four different boys are chosen each Monday out of the school, and these employ their lesson-time in the workshop during that week. The woods used were kauri, mottled

totara, honeysuckle, and grained rimu. The modern Maoris, I was informed, cannot tell one timber from another, though their ancestors knew each one by the smell alone. They were working when I called, for the Maori Girls' Bazaar, and some of their show productions have been sent away, but what remained gave a good idea of the whole. There was a neatly finished box for clothes, a number of easels, small picture frames, and the framework of a model roof. Their most important undertaking has been the ornamental entrance gates to the institution, entirely made by the boys. The Maoris are eager for this kind of work, though they ace rather in a hurry to get a lot done than to do anything thoroughly. A poor young cripple, Piki Porima, shows a talent for wood-carving, and has been allowed to indulge it, though as a rule the Government regards that occupation as frivolous and unremunerative. Piki had made two ornamental boxes, one of maple-coloured wood, the other stained dark brown, and decorated with a design of twigs, leaves, ?Aiid a creeping lizard. Besides this, various other pieces of his work, ornamental panels and so on, are to be seen. This boy came from Kawhia, and was taught there in the Primary School, where the master, who took a great interest in his pupils, encouraged him to follow his bent. Possibly he may make his living at the art. One cannot help thinking, on visiting this school, how much the natives are changed since the days of Sel-

wyn and Patteson. St. Stephen's is one of the most successful results of the Bishop's industrial system. Most of the boys on leaving, settle on the land. It is desired they should stay amongst their own people, and, by their example, raise them to the level of Europeans. Some are carpenters in the Waikato.. Some stay in the City, and are apprenticed to trades. One is now at tailor in Auckland. Some are in the Civil Service, a fjeiw in .the Post Office, and in the Lands' Department. Four have become native ministers. On the whole, the school fulfils its object, that of making the Maoris able to compete with their white neighbours. The Government report pays a high tribute to the effect of St. Stephen's on the native race : — " All over the Northern parts of the Colony one may meet, here and there, intelligent, well set up men, who can converse with one in good English, can transact most kinds of business, and are competent to initiate wise ; plans and undertakings for the benefit of those depending on them. Sober, shrewd, intelligent men are they who, clinging to their own people and their old way of life to a large extent, have yet modified it beneficially at so many points that it would be hard to suggest a mode in which they would have been of greater service to themselves and their people— a way, in short, in which they would have made better use of their lives. The kind of men here alluded to have the same stamp on all of them ; it is the^ stamp of St. Stephen's, Parnell."

(to be continued.)