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I.—B

The reasons why the expenditure, per head, on children educated in Native village schools is relatively high are as, follow : (a.) There are no large schools ; the highest average at any school was fifty-six, and there were only three schools with an average of more than fifty. The average attendance at all the seventy-five schools open during the year was only 26-9 for each. (6.) As Native schools are intended to be not merely schools, but also civilising agencies and centres for spreading European ideas and habits amongst the Natives, it is absolutely necessary to give fair salaries, to provide satisfactory residences and school-glebes, and to pay reasonable attention to the comforts and convenience of teachers in order that suitable persons may be attracted to the service and kept in it when they have learnt their business, (c.) Books, stationery, prizes, &c, have to be provided for the pupils, because, in most cases, it would be useless to expect Maori parents to make such provision, '(d) Owing to to the isolated position of most of the schools, the cost of everything connected with the service tends to be higher than in the case of European schools of corresponding rank. Any material reduction in the salaries of Native-school teachers would be almost certain to lead to the withdrawal of the best teachers from the service; in any case, Native-school work would cease to attract suitable persons, and the staff would rapidly deteriorate. There is, I feel sure, no branch of the public service in which it is more important to have honest and faithful workers that it is in this. From the very nature of the work, teachers in Native schools are left almost entirely without direct supervision, and in many cases the only effective check on their work is afforded by the Inspector's annual examinations. Under such circumstances it is plain that, if possible, men should be got who will do their work whether they are supervised or not; such men cannot be induced to occupy for long positions that will not afford them adequate remuneration. Besides this, I may say that, while I consider a successful Native school a most valuable institution, and well worth all the money that may be spent upon it, a Native school under an indolent or incompetent master is the most useless of all educational institutions, the effect of it being to make the Natives disgusted with education, and finally thoroughly hostile to schools and all connected with them. In my opinion, therefore, any attempt that may be made to reduce the cost of Native schools should take the form of a reduction in the number of schools, by the closing of those schools that are not doing satisfactory work. The number of such schools is very small, but there are a few that never have been, and are never likely to be, worth the money expended upon them. Of course it is easy to understand that the establishment of a Native school is, to some extent, an experiment, and that it is often impossible to predict with certainty the success or failure of a school askecl for by, and established in accordance with the wishes of, the Natives of any particular district. Great care has been taken by the department to establish no useless schools; this care has been rewarded by satisfactory, but not complete, success. I think that there are two tests that should be applied when the question of the closing of a school as a village school has been raised ; these are : first, the average attendance; and, secondly, the standard passes obtained by the school. Failure to satisfy the first of these tests should lead to the closing of the school, failure to do satisfactory work should cause the school to be brought down to the ranks of a subsidised school in the first place, and should the failure continue the school ought to be closed. I think that there is only one other question that needs to be dealt with here. It is sometimes asked why Native schools cannot be managed by the Boards of the districts in which they are situated. The answer is that the modes of teaching, managing, and examining young Maoris must necessarily be altogether different from those used in dealing with white children. Specialisation of function is evidently needed, and nothing but specialisation of organ can fully satisfy the need. It seems to me that any attempt to do Native-school work by means of an organization intended for widely different purposes must necessarily be a failure. I have, &c, The Chairman, Education Committee. James H. Pope.

Mr. M. Cohen to the Chaibman, Education Committee. g IE Dunedin, December, 1887. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 29th November, covering a circular from the Education Committee, and, in reply to the latter, I have to say that I regret exceedingly that I am not able, owing to the press of business, to give as full replies to your questions as the importance of the subject demands. My personal experience is confined to a little over four years' service on two of the largest Committees in Dunedin ; but I have endeavoured, by close study of the educational literature at my command, to make myself familiar with the working of the systems in vogue in Australia and elsewhere. It must, therefore, be understood that such opinions as I venture to offer are mainly based on a comparison with such means as I have indicated of other school-systems with onr own. , I may be permitted to say, at the outset, that for some time past I have been endeavouring, with the assistance of a number of fellow-workers in this district, to obtain legislative sanction to a number of amendments of the administrative clauses of the Education Act; and that some of the suggestions I am about to make will lose their force if the Act be not amended. 1. I have always urged that the school-age should be raised in the large towns. I am of opinion that no child under seven years should enter our primary schools; but, with the knowledge that under existing conditions such a plan would lead to the closing of the schools in sparsely-popu-lated districts, I would favour, as a tentative measure, the raising of the age to six years in the towns. A capitation grant of £3 15s. ought, even then, to furnish sufficient to maintain both classes of schools; but I apprehend that if the Legislature, in its wisdom, should decide to cast on School Committees or local bodies in charge of education the duty of maintaining efficiently the schools intrusted to their management, it will either take care to make provision for enabling that function to be properly undertaken, or, failing that, will make a direct vote for the purpose. But I