E.—2

16

The Hon. Mr. Walker having approved of the scheme, the Department approached the Napier Hospital Trustees on the subject and they agreed to give it a trial. It was decided that the girls should board at their respective schools, and that they should attend the Hospital daily from 9.30 a.m. to 4 or 5 p.m., and while there be under the same rules as probationers, payment for them being made at the rate of £20 per annum. Thus arose what subsequently is known to the Department as the day-pupil system. The following paragraph from a memorandum by Mr. Pope, dated the 18th August, 1898, should, I think, be quoted here, as being of the first importance in connection with the scheme : " The principal dangers to be guarded against are (a) the diverting of these nursing scholarships from the object aimed at — e.g., by making them the means by which Maori girls could have advantage over better-educated European girls in competitions for permanent employment as hospital nurses, or (b) by allowing the scholarships to be regularly secured by persons in whom the Maoris as a body have only a limited amount of confidence—thoroughly Europeanized half-castes, for instance, who have quite cut away from the Maori way of life. In short, these scholars should be in full sympathy with the Maori people and with their own peculiar schools. This clearly explains why the Department has always endeavoured to arrange that scholars should be chosen from Maoris whose family life is of the Maori type, and not already half Europeanized, or even almost undistinguishable from that of ordinary European familes." The Matron of the Napier Hospital reported that the first girl chosen was doing well, and one year, in her opinion, being not enough, advised the Department to extend the scholarship for another year. Dr. Baldwin, of Auckland Hospital, in a letter to the Eight Hon. Mr. Seddon, subsequently expressed the opinion that one year's training would be of little use, as he found even in the case of his staff (European) the full period of three years to be too short in which to give a thoroughly sound training. The extension was therefore agreed to. The first trainee had by this time (1899) given such satisfaction to the Hospital authorities that they offered her a position on the staff, which she accepted, on the grounds that under the existing scheme she had neither knowledge of nursing nor money, and to go amongst the Maoris and depend on them would be useless. The next trainee was also recommended for extended training, and the Hon. the Minister decided in 1902 that the duration of the scholarships should be extended to two years, and to three years if considered desirable. In 1904 it was represented to the Department that the scheme even now was not complete enough to give the mana or weight which the Maori nurse should have, and which could only be impressed upon the Maori people by the nurses having a certificate of efficiency in nursing. The whole question was thereupon reviewed, with the idea of securing duly qualified Maori nurses who should be trained on the understanding that after qualifying they should live amongst their own people, that the medicines supplied by the Justice Department be at their disposal, and that in time nursing homes be established in some central position amongst Maori kaingas. It was decided, however, that the day-pupil arrangement should still remain, as it affords both the Hospital authorities and the girls themselves an opportunity of seeing whether the work is likely to prove congenial. These proposals were approved by Cabinet on the 9th July, 1905, and it was decided that provision should be made in the Hospital Bill for Maori-girl probationers to be trained as nurses. The Department communicated with the authorities of the Napier, Gisborne, and Wellington Hospitals, asking them to admit Maori girls as probationers on the staff. The Napier and Wellington Hospitals agreed (Napier taking one probationer and two day-pupils), but the Gisborne Hospital authorities could not see their way to accept the proposals. The two girls who had served as day-pupils in Napier were thereupon admitted to the staff of the Wellington and Napier Hospitals respectively, and other day-pupils were to be selected in their places. After the establishment in Auckland of Queen Victoria School for Maori Girls, and of Turakina Girls' School, near Wanganui, the Department approached the Hospital authorities of these two cities with a view to their taking girls who had passed through these schools. It was further suggested that, in the case of their complying, the first positions as probationers should be filled by those who had just served (during 1905) an apprenticeship as day-pupils at Napier, and who would otherwise have to wait until 1907, when the two probationers appointed to Napier and Wellington respectively had completed their three-years course. Both bodies agreed to admit Maoris, but the Wanganui Hospital Trustees stipulated that all candidates should be twenty-one years of age—this an impossible condition in the case of Maori girls—and, further, that only girls from Turakina should be admitted. The former condition is likely to prove an insuperable obstacle in the way of the project. The Auckland authorities agreed to take a Napier day-pupil on the staff as probationer, and also to take one girl from the Victoria School as day-pupil. As, however, the day-pupils serve only one year, while the probationers serve three, it is evident that more day-pupils would have to be turned out (nine) than under existing conditions places as probationers could be called for (three). The Department has therefore had to call a halt in the case of the day-pupils until more places as probationers are available than at present. What is necessary now is that the Department should endeavour to secure the co-operation of the Hospital Department in finding places for probationers at other hospitals suitable for the purpose of training Maori girls. By the day-pupil arrangement the Education Department should be able to provide annually at least two, and probably three, girls who have had a year's preliminary work. It is important that the candidates should be possessed of qualifications not less than Standard VI certificate of proficiency in order that they may pass the necessary examinations, that they are healthy and of good character, and that they are Maoris in habits of life. These conditions are most likely to be secured by the selection of girls from those attending one or other of the four secondary schools for Maori girls. These may fairly be regarded as the best qualified, and they, as well as their conditions of living, are intimately known to this Department,