MR. COBBE AT NIUE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 910, 1 March 1930, Page 6

MR. COBBE AT NIUE

PRIZE-GIVING AT NATIVE SCHOOL ISOLATED PACIFIC ISLAND THE SUN’S Special Reporter ALOFI, February IS. It is not often that such an important personage as a Minister of the Crown visits such an out-of-the way island at Niue, and when the Ho if. J. G. Cobbe landed there on February 17 on his way to Samoa, the island made the most of the occasion. Two days before the Maui Pomare was due at Alofi, the headquarters of the resident commissioner, a wireless message was received on board inviting the Minister of Defence to present prizes to the children of the Government school at Tufukia. Before the prize-giving, Mr. and Mrs. Cobbe, together with most of the MauiPomare’s passengers, were shown over the school —a huge whitewashed redrooted building set in a clearing among the palm trees, and overlooking the blue and sparkling Pacific. In the three classrooms 180 native children, varying in ages from six or seven to fourteen, were busy at their lessons—always with a weather eye on the visitors. The headmaster, Mr. H. Hamilton, explained that their work was practically the same as that done by New Zealand children up to the fourth standard. In addition, the native children are taught to read and write both in English and in the Niuean language. The weaving of mats, baskets, and hats, as well as woodwork are also included in the curriculum. Particular attention is paid to hygiene. A word of command and the classrooms were cleared, and the children had fallen in under their native teachers outside the school. They made a picturesque sight in their white European clothes, the girls in light frocks and the boys in “shorts” and shirts. Then followed an exhibition of marching, physical drill, boxing, basketball, dancing and games that would have done credit to white children in a big city school. The display ended with a march-past, and “eyes right” for the Minister was given with almost military precision.

After handing out the prizes, Mr. Cobbe congratulated both the children and their teachers on their proficiency both at work and at play. The senior native teacher translated his speech into the Niuean language. Both he and Mrs. Cobbe were showered with gifts of basketware, throwing-sticks, and fine shell necklaces, all made by the native children. There are well over 600 native children on Niue, which is ail island roughly 12 miles long and eight across, lying 1,350 miles north-east of Auckland. The Government schools at Tufukia and Hakupu, both of which are inder the control of Mr. Hamilton (the only white teacher on the island), account for 250 of these. The remainder attend London Missionary Society schools in the various villages scattered round the coast.