MEMORANDUM 1. When Christianity was first introduced into the country, natives were in the habit of attending school for about one hour daily after morning prayers. In this way the great bulk of the population obtained a knowledge of reading and wirting. 2. When those who were first instructed had acquired this knowledge, it was no longer necessary for them to attend School and the children seeing that their parents were not attending, and being withal under very little restraint they were allowed to grow up in ignorance. 3. The School which is required in a purely native district is a village Day School, to be conducted by a native master, inasmuch as the salary of an English master except in particular cases, will be larger than can be supplied.f 4. In the province of Napier the children pay one shilling a week in all schools which come under the head of Parochial Schools, but in the country where the community is small, and consequently the Scholars few, the Master receives from the Provincial Government a sum not exceeding £50 annually. In the towns where the Scholars are more numerous, the assistance given by the Government is smaller in amount. I would suggest that in a native school, the Master being a native, the sum of £10 yearly should be given, in addition to any help he may obtain from the parents of the children. 5. It will not be found that, in the native village, the children will submit to a longer confinement than two hours which it would be most convenient to arrange for the early part of the day. 6. The great difficulty is to provide teachers, and I know of no other means of obtaining them, but to train them in a Central School. 7. In a mixed district, if Parochial Schools are already in operation, I would propose that the native children should attend upon the usual terms of one shilling a week. In these schools they will rapidly learn English the acquisition of which will be mainly promoted by familiar intercourse with English children. 8. Schools of a higher grade will only be within the reach of a few, but still they will be open to those who appreciate the superior advantages. William Waiapu Wellington Aug. 7. 1867