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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4818, 31 August 1876, Page 2

A number of Maoris have recently presented a petition to Parliament upon a variety of matters. The following extract, which has relation to the Native Schools Act, is exceedingly interesting, ns evidencing a will on the part of the natives to have their children well taught, while some of the suggestions are worthy of every consideration ; —“ We desire that the Native Schools Act, 1867, should be amended to this effect ;—Let there be two classes of schools. First, for all children knowing only their own Maori tongue, also having a knowledge of all Maori customs. These should be taught to read in Maori, to write in Maori, and arithmetic. Second, all children of two years old, when they are just able to speak, should be taught the English language, and all the knowledge which you the Europeans possess. If this plain and easy course be followed, our children will soon attain to the acquirements of the Europeans. With reference to the first proposal, that only three things should be taught to those who can only speak Maori, we explain our reasons. First, the extreme difficulty of teaching them the English language ; second and most important, even if the youths were to attain to the acquirements which are taught to them, after they have long been speaking nothing but Maori and observing only Maori customs if they were to return to their Maori kaingas, it would not be long before they fell away and became as those who had not been to school at all, or a good deal worse. This is a great waste of public money and of the land of the parents of the children ; also it is a waste of time. We have an example set us in this respect by the results from many former schools ; those who did not attend them are bettor than those who did. Here is the case of a boy at that time educated at the Roman Catholic school. He was afterwards taken to Rome, and educated further in the colleges. Ho attained to high acquirements and knowledge of many languages—Latin, Hebrew, Greek, English, French, and many other foreign languages. He was ordained a priest, and came back to act as Roman Catholic clergyman amongst the Maoris of his place, Hokianga. After living with the Maoris of his tribe for two or three years, he abandoned his office and relapsed into his former state. Those children who did not go to Rome became superior to him. The time and money of the Roman Catholics expended upon him might as well have been thrown into the sea ; and all the schools in which our children have hitherto been educated have only had the same result, and thinking will anticipate only the same thing in the future. Had our children received a good sound education, it would have been for the benefit of both races, and there would have been a return for the public moneys spent, and also for the lands of the Maoris given and the time spent in the eduatien of the children. It is very distressing, lest it bo like unto the man and the schools above referred to ; if so, the expense incurred, the endowments and the time spent, might as well be thrown into the sea. With reference to the second proposal, it was thought that the little children should be taught English, &0., so that the first language which they might bo able to speak should be English. : They could at that age pick it up very easily ; and when the child was ready to take to school, he (or she) would go speaking English, and thus there would be no confusion with the teachers. : It is important to consider that should these children acquire knowledge, it would bo of a permanent character. It would be very difficult for them to pick up again the Maori customs from which they had been separated when quite little ; they would have to be taught those customs in a school for that purpose, if they wanted to learn them for their amusement. This system would repay fully all the outlay. : You should bear in' mind this proverb, ‘ If you want to pull up a kauri tree, you must do it when it is little so with the education of our children, they should be taught, when pliant. This system has been tried by one of us—namely, Hirini Rawiri Taiwhanga—during the last five years; and his younger children display great aptitude and quickness in learning English. ■ He had fourteen children, eleven of them Maoris, and in addition there were three European- children, who taught the others to speak English. There are now seven left, two having died, two have returned to their parents, two have been sent to European schools, and one white child has been sent homo. The children taken to the European schools belong to Heno Mohi Tawhai >nd Honi Tuhirangl The latter’s child gives great pleasure to his teacher, for he had a good of English when he went to his school, and it is very clear that ' if "children were taught in that way at school and could afford the expense they wpuld soon acquire European knowledge, The teachers for these schools should be parsons with three or four children, so that the children would do to teach the Maoris; or if they had none of their own, let them take some in as Hirini did. - Thera should be two schoolhouses, about two miles apart, one for the education of the youths; the other should be oo-

cupied by the schoolmaster and hia wife partly, and partly by the children and their mothers, until such time as they should become domesticated and sociable with the teacher’s children, when they could go away.' There should be one or two women to assist the schoolmaster’s wife in domestic' matters. There should also be a general playground for the European and Maori children together. There should not be a word of Maori allowed to be spoken in the school, and the master, his wife,- and children should be persons altogether ignorant of the Maori language. The schoolmaster should teach the big boys the three subjects which I first stated; and if they are sharp, they could then be taught more. The schoolmistress could teach the, little children their letters, &c., and the girls sewing, music, &p. If the Parliament would consent to embody these suggestions in an amendment to the Native Schools Act, 1867, it would be certain that in twenty-one years’ time the Maori children would be on an equal footing as regards their education with the Europeans ; but if the present system is to be continued, if our children were to be taught under it for a thousand years, they would not attain to what is called ‘ knowledge ;’ and in laying before you these seven subjects for your consideration, we, your humble petitioners, will ever pray.”

The City Council and the Hoard of Bducasion are now at loggerheads about the city reserves. The Board of Education want a school site, and applied to the City Council to give one ; but the Corporation Public Works Committee took very high ground, and after recognising “ the duty of the Council to foster, as far as consistent with its functions, a sound educational system for the children of the city,” went on to stale that in the present transitional state of legislation, it could not grant such a request. At the same time the Council took upon itself to read the Board of Education a lesson for having spent less money upon education in Wellington than had been raised in the city by way of rates; to lament that the ratepayers have not the least practical control in the matter; and further, to hint at the necessity of the Education Board reforming its ways. As a matter of course, the Education Board was not to be 'disposed of in this hand-basket fashion, and at the meeting yesterday a motion was carried which returns the Council a Boland for its Oliver. It is well pointed out that the expenditure in the city of Wellington has been some £3OOO in excess of the amount of rates received, and other paragraphs of the resolutions in polite language request the Council to mind its own business. It would be very interesting to learn who made the Wellington City Council a ruler and a judge in these matters. Eor a very long time it has not been remarkable for its business-like conduct in relation to streets and gutters, sothatits homilies come with a remarkably bad grace. It would have been far better had the Council replied to the application without giving itself airs. If there are nositesavailable,thereisanendof the matter; but if there are sites which can be spared, and which may be given without injustice to the citizens generally, we are not aware of any body which has greater claims upon the Council than the Education Board has. Education is of:paramount importance, and there are sufficient demands upon the funds of the Board without its going to enormous expense for the purchase of school sites, when such sites are available. The City Council holds these lauds in trust merely for the benefit of the ratepayers; and if there is a prospect of a change of trust resulting in the lands more largely benefiting the ratepayers, the City Council should be only too willing to accede to such a change.