REPORT ON SCHOOLS ESTABLISHED BY SIR GEORGE GREY.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume III, Issue 4, 15 May 1863, Page 12

REPORT ON SCHOOLS ESTABLISHED BY SIR GEORGE GREY.

The boys are well fed, They have bread and tea, with plenty of milk, for breakfast; when the farm is fully stocked with cattle, it will cost nothing but trouble to add butter and cheese. For. dinner they have meat (generally pork) and potatoes, fruit whenever they like to gather tad cook it, rice and sugar twice a week, and pea soup or other vegetable soup instead of meat twice a week. Supper is similar lo breakfast. lam very anxious to give them plenty ot green vegetables! and. ihey do have as much as can be got,, but my garden this year has been a failure. If lb is diet appear too liberal, it must be remembered lhat most of ihe boys are engaged during a part of the day in physically hard work. Cooking is done by a European. The mode in which the day is spent is as

follows:—The boys get up at 6 o'clock, and have short prayers in the hall at 6*30; they then "turn-to" in a body to cut up firewood and ca«ry up water from the river to last the day. I intend to do away With the latter part of their task by having a well dug in the middle of the yard. Breakfast is at about 7, and after breakfast, if the hewing of wood and drawing of water is over, the boys are drilled by the farming-man, an old 58th soldier, till 8 o'clock, when the school bell rings. The morning school is from 8 to 10, and is conducted by Mr. Glanfteld, sent up for the purpose by Mr. Taylor, Inspector of Native Schools. The Rev. John Morgan attends turte d%ysaweek to "teach religion." From 10 o'clock until lin the afternoon is devoted to Industrial work with the interval of an hour for dinner. At 4 o'clock every boy is at liberty to leave otf work uijess kept on for punishment. This has very seldom been necessary. All sorts of games are promoted after •* o'clock—bathing, rounders, and cricket are the favourites; at the last, which was quite new to them, a few boys can now play very fairly. Supper is at 6 o'clock; after supper Mr. Glanfield has an evening school for an hour and a half, which has been attended by two or three half-caste lads from the neighbourhood in addition to the regular scholars. At half-past eight there are evening prayers with music, after which the bays go to bed. I now proceed to give an account of the industrial works in operation at the school.* Cooking. —Each in succession has to cook for a week. I look upon this part of the work as simply disagreeable drudgery. At the Mela nesian school at Kohimaiaina, cooking is made, under the tuition of the Rev. L. Pritt, both interesiing and instructive, and the results, as any one who has visited that admirable institution can testify, are excellent. This requires an educated cook, which we have not got. lam sensible of the necessity for reform in this department. Farm work.— -This has beeit under the superintendence of Mr. Marsden Clarke. Two, and latterly three, European labourers have been employed. This has been necessary from the very dilapidated state of the fences on the farm, and from our having the timber

for repairs and enlargements to-cart a rtisfence of four or five miles over unbridged river and swamps. This has swallowed up an immense amount of labour. Besides caning the timber, a garden was fenced in, dug, and sown with various vegetables at the Tamo, where the Rev. J. Morgan lives, but has, as before said, failed, chiefly from want of water—it was a mistake to make Hat so great a distance from the school (more than a mile) where it could not be watched and attended to. About ten acres of fern land were cleared *nd planted with potatoes, which give every promise of a good crop; three or four acres of manuka scrub were also cleared and planted with maize. A large crop of hay has been got in. A good deal of clearing and fencing has been done in the neighbourhood of the school buildings. At all these works, Maori boys have been employed as much as possible. Carpenter's work.—Mr. Gliitham was engaged as head carpenter as soon as the school was c: mmenced He was sent into town to buy a complete set of carpenter's I tools for the school, and to get a journeyman to come up the country with him. He brought back his son, who can speak Maori, and appears in every way suitable to the place. Mr. Cbiibam and his son live upon the premises in the out-house winch was formerly inhabited by the boys, and have their meals at the school. One of the outhouses, which was in a very leaky condition, but bad hitherto been used as a school-room, was turned into a carpenter's shop, and benches and other conveniences for carpenter's work erected. Eight of the boys have been employed at various times as carpenters, and have made fair progress; it has not been possible from the exigencies of farming and other work to keep each boy to one particular trade, but I aim at doing this as much as possible, and with a greater number of boys it would be feasible. Tailor's tcori.—Since the commencement of the school, I have had George Millar, of Rangiaowbia, in constant pay. It hanot yet been possible to make a tailor's work-shop, but a room in Mr. Cbitbam's bouse is used temporarily for the purpose. AH the clothes, maurasses, table-cloths, fcc, 9*s* premisest ore made in ibis shop, and when not working for the school, private work for Europeans and Maories in the | neighbourhood is taken in and charged for W-to* whool. William Thompson had aj pair of trousers made, for which he paid it. '

and which never reached bini, liaving been intercepted and appropriated by Ti-ori-ori, the Assessor. Qnly one boy wprks regularly as a tailor, .he se>ys very well, can *: cut out trousers. All boys are m.pde to sew well enough lo mend tlieir own clothes, and are turned into tailors on wet days. Several are reported as being fair hands, but the profession does not seem attractive. Blacksmith's toorfc.—The ftangiaowjiia black smith is a are constantly emplqying huii ifl different capacities, and when working Tor the seJiool a boy is a j ways sent to work as his jmqjte. The forge is the property of the school, the gift of Sir George Grey in former days. I wish to put it up en the school land, and lake the blacksmith into regular employment, charging the Natives for ull work done tp their ploughs, &c. It is at present at some distance, on Maori land, and the blacksmith works on bis own account and pays rent for the use of the forge. [To have the blacksmith's work altogether in our hands would probably not pay commercially, hut it would gain the Government a great deal of power.] At planting time, the Kihikihi and Kangiaowhia Natives are absolutely dependent on the blacksmith, to make their broken and iieglected ploughs fit for work. Shoe-making,—AW the tools, &c, have been procured, and the man was just about to begin work when I was at Otawhao at Christmas. He is a. very respectable sober man, who has long resided in the district. He has been two or three months in my employment as cook, in which situation he gave universal satisfaction. Printing.—k bouse has been built for the printing press, which is at present on its way up the river. Mr. J. Yon Dadelszen, a well educated youth, employed until recently by the Bishop of New Zealand, is appointed printer. Arrangements for teaching the last two trades have been made on speculation, in consequence of the great desire expressed by Natives who have visited the school that such trades should be taught. It is hoped that fresh boys may come to the school on purpose to learn these trades. I am anxious .to add a ".turning lathe"

and a "retail shop" to the industrial works, if the progress of the school should ever justify me in doing so; At present Ido not recommend that any more trades should be undertaken. TheJ)oys are required to go to such work as they are told off for, though in arranging the work their known tastes are consulted as. far as possible. While at. work,- every.boy is expected to obey ihe orders of the European to whom he is sent; all complaints oft either side to be made to me. lam told by all the Europeans that the boys work very well, and very few complaints are made.