NEWS FROM NIUE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 652, 1 November 1909, Page 11

NEWS FROM NIUE.

:s : -.y •' Kf ■■ /• 'LETTER FROM THE CO3IIIISSIONEE. - ' Writing, to a friend, in' 'Wellington*-. Mr. >:H. C. Cornwall, - Resident Commissioner at' Niue, .and former official : of the Post, and Telegraph Department, states as ;• "The steamer' routes' aro-. ; now>very " suitable for ■ .«i jNow- Zealander wanting; a .change of scene arid olimate, especially- in the'/New Zea'-: land winter time. The weatner here is all that could be. wished for,'- but- trippers will.find thingsall too hot for them; during our summer. It is a mistake for . anyone to think that they 'will see native life: properly.at anyjof ; the regular ports of j call. ■ The natives at those places have become a hordo of beggars that .prey: on" the touriots for all they are'worth. It is at suoh'plaoes as the butlying islands,of the Cook Group, Niue, Palihotos. Tukalaus, etc., where natiro life miy'still' ba seeri: in puris natur-a'"-iome :littlo time ; ago Mr.'"Cornwall instituted d: school for at. Niue, and .was: instrumental - in'getting:&'■ school teacher sent down to: Nine -fri?m New '• Zealand. ■ Writing of his '.'he (ays:—"'With: regard■ to our .school it "vM iopehed with' great : feasting' on : August 10 hflJ. now become '- purely. l a boardine-soteol-theiithing I . have been, striving for all - along,:but'the natives would not agree to part with - J.their.children altogether - until . the eleventn hour. The) have notf- agreed to give their', oliildren' for at least: a year on condition that I agreed .to One day being, set. apart-each week as. visiting-day for, their parents iind, friends I readily agreed to that, and then asked them to ■ build: me a big nativo house for! the children to have their meate in. They at once assented to my wishes, and the house was', built ;iri "a "few days.: - The parents, brine in the week's food supplies for their ohildren every Saturday,, and shdrtly we shall be able :to supplement, it. by food grown in the school grounds. :, Everything very smoothly during the ,two; months that have elapsed since ' the , opening, and already a marked- change has come over- the .children. They have proved very amenable to discipline and apC^ifc■learmng,: and, I have. great hopes for the future of the establishment. Mr. Malcolm, tlio ■ schoolmaster: chosen, and .sent : 'dov: : ri-.by .tho' New Zealand Government, is 'proving:himself a,g?od.man.., With the help Ji'-flio boys ho is about to build a large worki shop,: which will contain -tjwlve. carpenters' benches, bssida a turning lathe, etc., and when tho*: is ■■ ttflfeTied' wo - are going to erect a blicksmit';'»:ehop and fit that out,. so you see tha+ bosidfls >. simple education in hnghsh we aro going'to. teach ■ them■ something that will bo of service to them in after years. Thero is going to be a change of , missionaries next month, ■ andour oldmissionary .. .E.. Lawes), who h'aS been the representative, of : the London Missionary : Society for over 40 yeats, will be leaving m January or February.