The Daily News. THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 1901. MEMORIAL TO QUEEN VIOTORIA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXIII, Issue 48, 7 March 1901, Page 2

The Daily News. THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 1901. MEMORIAL TO QUEEN VIOTORIA.

Amongst the many proposal* on foot for commemorating the memory of oar late beloved Queen noee, we believe, will meat with more general support and sympathy than the proposal to found a school for Maori girls. It has' loßg bten felt by those who are anxious for the welfare of the Maori race that so long as the Maori girls are left neglected, unedacatad, and uncivilised, all efforts to permanently reform the rao» are greatly handicapped. Marriage in the case of the young Maori man, no matter how highly educated he may be, means exposing him to influences in the direction of causing him to relapse into the state of his forefathers. If on the other hand the influence of the girl he marri«g is in the direction of raising, enoUing, and civilising him, there is great hope that the splendid raee to which he belongs may yet be savod from extinction and help to mould the destinies of the land which gave him birth and the great Empiro to which he belongs. We have been induced to make the remarks by the riuceipt ef a circular which gats out a scheme for the accomplishment of tha above object, and we jgse no reason to doubt its success if it is made trjfly a colonial and not a local scheme. If it is pwsible ta work it on non-sec-tarian lines it should be dene; but, to be thoroughly successful in the fullest sense of the term, it must He conducted on religous and not secular liDrs. The circular, which is from tha Primate, says:—"ln many quarters ! people will be wondering in what way they can erect a suitable and permanent memorial to our late beloved Quean. Attention is called to the following scheme, which is felt to be mos 1 ) appropriate and one which from its very nature should command itgslf to the sympathy of everyone throughout the colony : It is proposed that a school for [Maori girls be established similar to tha j one doing such excellent work at Hukj aiere, Napier, which, however, 13 in'ad'quata for the requirements of both 1 islands, it being always full and. conj stantly obliged to refute applications. A start was made to found such a school in Auckland a few years age, in commemoration ef the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, and known *>s the Queen Victoria School for Maori girls. Since, however, the whole community owes a debt to the Maori race, it is now proposed to take up this as a colonial rather than a local scheme, and place it upon a satisfactory basis by endeavouring to raise a sum of say £IO,OOO. At tha recent, meeting of the Anglican general Synod held in Napier, the matter was discussed, and the following resolution w»s papae.d; That this Synod has heard, With warm sj}provx], of the movement on foot to fisiablisti the Queen Victoria School for Maori girls in Auckland, as a permanent memorial in New Zealand ef our late beloved Queen, and commends the effort to the sympathy of the Ohnrch-peaplo in the province. We now wish to put > this scheme into efieet with as little deity as possible, and we appeal to the people of this country to assist in the e%kt. We urge the following reasons for supporting the spheme:—(l) The claim Qf Qur Maori ppem jj? for christian education is a very string and very urgent otie. Successful efforts have been made in various cent; es for th# .education of the boys, but comparatively iittle hflfl been done for the girls. It is of little use a higher moral and spiritual tone in the Maori kaiogas if the women of the future are l«ft without that slavating

influence which only christian educa tieu can supply: (2) very little hssj boon done in the past by thewomen of New Zealand for their Maori si store. This mill give a fresh opportunity before it is too late; (3) A school for Maori girls would be a most fitting memorial to our beloved Queet), in tbat it would carry out an object always dear to her heart, viz, the benefiting of the women of tha native races over which she ruled ; (4) Auckland has been selected as the most suitable position because (a) the largest number of Mioris (18,000) reside in that Diocese, and it h tha centre of some of tha largest. tribes; (b) less has been dono for them in the way of education than for those in other parts; and (e) a sma'l commencement has already been mad® thi-re; (5) It is believed that the Maoris thamselvas will cordially sympathise with and give assist; I aneo to the scheme.