NEW GUINEA NATIVES

Hokitika Guardian, 4 February 1922, Page 1

NEW GUINEA NATIVES

AUSTRALIA’S EDUCATION PROgOSAHS. SYDNEY, January %5 In fulfilment of <t}i,e obligation of Australia as a jQignd.ajicay power to safeguard native interests in late German \ tiff HnijSf.a, fiff being pre- | payed tjP pnoynojo tjiejr welfare and improve their education. The scheme pre- ! payed ,fpy j&e 'territory has been based on the experience of many officials. Tiw s best points of these reports are being retained jn the endeavour to formulate a scheme. Great c a re will be exercised in selecting tbe first boys for industrial training. Only the brightest boys will be taken for the purpose. A few from each tribe, or part of the territory, will be selected, probably with the assistance of the missionaries; for the success of the first schoo] will undoubtedly influence the enthusiasm of other natives. About 30 boys will be trained during the first year. The bright natives will then be picked out, and probably drafted into the works department or apprenticed to the trade for which the<have shown aptitude. It is believed that boys of from 9 to 12 year's of age. will be the most suitable for training, with probably a few elder boys, up to 18 years, to act as 'monitors. The natives, although probably from the same stock, differ widely in appearnnce, character, language and intellectual development. Taking them as a whole they are a happy, childlike people, and do not seem to have many vicious tendencies. The time of tlhe selected boys will be divided between ordinary school work and work in the “shop.” Work in the “shop” will include elementary c arpentering knowledge, such as the sharpening of a plane iron on an oil stone, Hie use of the carpenter’s rule, setting out and cutting of a tenon, the measuring of wood, etc. Plumbing would be taulght in the same wav, commencing with the cutting of iron, the use of soldering iron, “fixing” the finest work. So also with decorative painting. In Hie school-room the subjects will include the English language and reading and writing. Other factors whien would go far towards the making of character will not be neglected. N°tive boys will be taught the value of plenty of coal water and fresh air of whic hat the present time they know little.

Strict cleanliness will be enforced upon all occasions, and an effort will be made to make the studies interesting With this latter object in view, it is

probable that there will be some form of recognition of the work accomplished his training will not “go bush,” but by continuing at his trade will gain kudos either in dress or money, or even a form of rank. It will take many years of patient teaching before the call, of the wild and indolent life of the native cease to influence the young men, but the sche™( now in hand will do much to counteract such influences. , It is considere 1 that there

is no reason why the school should nrt be self-supporting in a ?e v year’s rime. Tlie boys could be take’’, out in gangs to repair bridges, roads, fences, and broken floors, and thus do work that is at present given to Kongs exorbitant prices. “Pidgin” English it is stated would have to be cut out com-

pletely, as the boys from Talasea would

. I not he able to talk with the boys from ! Kaewieng, and the boys from Man'ns with those from Malang or other parts , If “pidgin 5 ’ English were cut out, good English would have to be used. One of the experts who has been advising the Administrator considers that the education scheme should not be confined to industrial training. “Should it be found later on,”' he writes, “that certain natives will make suitable clerks they should be carefully watched and given special .training. If, too, there are some amongst the pupils who are exceptionally clever, these should oe kept at school, with the object of train ing them to become assistant teachers. As the colony progresses, we will require larger schools at other centres than Rabaul, and the native- must be given the opportunity of filling any position they are capable of filling. It is probabl that a three years’ trial will be given to the school to be opened in Rabaul. If the school is i success, schools in other districts will be opened. The white personnel from the head school in Rabaul. If the school is a success, schools in other districts will be opened. The white personnel from the head school ip Rabaul ' will be drafted to these out-stations, and native assistants sent with them. 1 Eventually, the school at Rabaul would be considered as a central or high ' school, at which the assistants for the 1 other districts could he obtained. The Federal Ministry intends to appoint two technical instructors who will teach the natives. Apnlicatjons for these positions will shortly be invited j and it is understood that the salaries will be between £4OO and £SOO a year.