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him, and when after spending two or three years in a higher school the boys and girls return home lack of means prevents their keeping up the same style and opens the way to various kinds of trouble. There is another difficulty that threatens the present arrangements for affording higher educar tion, and this is the religious difficulty. The various institutions are all connected with some Church, and parents and persons having authority in matters of religion will not allow their children to attend a higher school which is managed by some denominational body other then their own. In the case of the girls the difficulty is not insuperable, as there are schools of various denominations ; in the case of the boys, however, there is nothing but the Anglican Church schools, and this fact has prevented many clever boys from proceeding with their education. During the year some girls attending one of the higher schools were compelled to leave and return home. It seems to me that the controlling authorities should, in the case of Government scholars, arrange that there shall be no interference with the religion of their pupils, for whom arrangements might be made enabling them to attend their own church. It is gratifying to note that in the case of the girls' schools, at any rate, the controlling authorities have recognised the importance of giving the pupils a practical training in such subjects as are calculated to make them useful members of the community to which they must return. The time is spent in English and other subjects as far as the requirements of the public school syllabus, and also in domestic economy in all is branches. Lessons on health and physiology are included, and it might be found possible to have ambulance lectures delivered to the girls at the schools. St. Stephen's School has improved considerably in usefulness since the establishment of manual classes there, and I am pleased to be able to record the fact that the Department was able at the beginning of this year (1906) to let to an old St. Stephen's boy the contract for building the shelter-shed at his former village school. Te Aute College aims at the Matriculation Examination as its goal, and finds that it has little time to give to manual and technical instruction, although there can be no doubt that the greater number of the boys would benefit most from such instruction. The Maoris are, on the whole, keenly alive to the value of handwork, and, indeed, some of those pupils entitled to admission to St. Stephen's or Te Aute did not avail themselves of the privilege because there were established at their particular village schools workshops at which they could receive the training. European Children in Native_ Schools. With regard to the higher education of the children of European parents attending Native schools, I am pleased to state that the difficulty formerly existing in this respect appears to have been overcome by the provision of the regulations respecting free places in secondary schools—subclause 2, (d). To every Native school about to be examined are sent forms for scheduling the names of candidates who wish to take the examination for the certificate of proficiency as defined by the regulations under " The Education Act, 1904." The examination is conducted in strict accordance with the regulations for public schools, and teachers are enjoined to see that European children attending Native schools shall avail themselves of the facilities of obtaining free places in secondary schools and in district high schools. There are at present European children from Native schools holding free places at the Auckland Grammar School. Maori Children in Board Schools. Since 1900, scholarships have been offered to Maori children who have passed Standard Yin any public school, and there were during 1905 seven scholarships of this class held at various secondary schools. As the candidates come from places more or less European, where the Maori has sufficiently advanced in civilisation and European habits, I think that the conditions of these scholarships should be revised so as to make the necessary qualification a Standard VI certificate of proficiency, which, indeed, some of the recent applicants have possessed. This would enable the Department to select only the most highly qualified youths with a view to giving them higher education. Apprenticeships. Maori boys who have passed Standard IV, or a higher standard, have the option of becoming apprenticed to a trade such as is suitable for Maoris. The scheme has not been so universally successful as one could wish, but the degree of success achieved warrants the Department in still adhering to it. Indeed, I think that as time goes on greater demand will be made by young Maoris in this direction. The authorities of St. Stephen's School, Auckland, have during the year lent valuable assistance in making arrangements, and have found suitable masters for some of the boys. Eeference to the tables in this report will show that there are this year eight apprentices, as against four last year. The trades chosen by these are such as are calculated to be of the greatest benefit to the boys as Maoris—viz., carpentry, blaeksmithing, saddlery, engineering. Training op Maori Nurses. As some confusion has arigen between Maori nurses and State-trained nurses, I am setting out the history of the Department's scheme for the training of Maori girls as nurses. The first proposals on this subject were made in 1898, to the late Hon. W. C. Walker, by the late Inspector-General of Schools, the Eeverend Mr. Habens, on a suggestion of the late Inspector of Native Schools, Mr. J. H. Pope. The scheme then devised consisted in sending two girls who had passed the second year's examination at one of the Napier boarding-schools to the Napier Hospital as trainees for one year in the theory and practice of nursing and dressing, and of cooking for invalids. At the end of the year's training it was intended that the girls should be sent back to their settlements in the usual way, but fitted by what they had learned at the Hospital to be effective preachers of the gospel of health to their people.