MAORI SCHOOL COMMITTEES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2125, 6 July 1907, Page 1

MAORI SCHOOL COMMITTEES.

(Special to Times. AVELLINGTON, last night. The following remarks regarding Maori School Committees appear in the annual report of the Inspector of Native Schools (Mr. AV. AV. Bird), which was presented to Parliament to-day : “AVith regard to the Maori Committees, I can say from fairly intimate knowledge of the case, that the Department owes a (treat deal to their enthusiasm, interest, and support. I grant that there are committees who seem to be altogether inert, but this is not so in the majority of cases—indeed, it has put a restraining hand on some. I have before me at present a letter, the writer of which informs me that some of the members of his committee arc lazy and set a bad example, as their children are irregular ill attendance. He asks that they may therefore be removed without further delay, and that he and a friend of his, who is noted for his energy, may take the place. In another school, the chairman, to whom I am greatly indebted for valuable_assistance in many ways, acted first and reported afterwards. The committee, that had been only elected at the end of the year, proved to bo lazy. Ho had therefore dissolved it and elected a new one, which was working much better.”