A.—3.

No. 172. S IRj Cook and other Islands Administration, Wellington, 23rd March, 1906. I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 10th January, forwarding the No. 116. Return of Imports for the Quarter ending the 31st December, 1905. I am sorry to see that the volume of inward trade has been so small, but I think the position is sufficiently explained by the circumstances you have mentioned. I have, &c, The Resident Commissioner, Nine. C. H. Mills.

No. 173. Cook and other Islands Administration, Wellington, 23rd March, 1906. Memo, for the Right Hon. the Premier. Referring to the despatch from the Secretary of State for the Colonies to His Excellency the Go- No. 147. vernor, dated the 19th December (Government House record 44/1906) relative to the flags of Rarotonga and the Cook Islands, I have to state that I have now received a reply from the Resident Commissioner of Rarotonga, to whom the question was referred, and he states that the flags are correctly depicted on the Admiralty plates, and that they are the only local flags known to the islands within the boundaries of New Zealand's territory in the eastern Pacific. Colonel Gudgeon suggests tTiat the Rarotonga flag be retained for the present. It is the flag of Makea, and was in existence before the establishment of the protectorate, and a certain amount of sentimental interest attaches to it in consequence. As to the others, there appears to be no reason why they siiould be retained any longer. The Resident Commissioner states that he flies the blue ensign over the Government Offices at Rarotonga. C. H. Mills.

No. 174. g IR) Cook and other Islands Administration, Wellington, 23rd March, 1906. I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 12th January, relative to the proposal to appoint a European teacher for Niue. I will forward a copy of your letter to the applicant, so that he may know exactly what life on the island would mean for him in the event of his receiving an appointment there; but as I have already advised you by wire, dated the 18th January, the whole question of education in the Cook Islands and Niue has been submitted to the Education Department, Cabinet having decided that the Education Act should be applied to the islands. A memo., of which I enclose a copy, has been addressed to the Right Hon. the Premier by the Secretary for Education, but I have not yet learned what steps it is proposed to take in the matter. . Under the circumstances the question of an appointment must remain in abeyance tor the If you care to make any comments on the proposals outlined in the memo, enclosed, I shall be glad on receipt of a letter from you to forward it on for the of the Education Department. Ihave,&c The Resident Commissioner, Niue. a - mills.

Enclosure. Education Department, Wellington, 2nd March, 1906. Memorandum for the Right Hon. the Minister. Education Scheme for the Cook Islands and Niue. The character of the scheme depends upon the answer to the question whether or not the policy of the Government is to anglicize the Natives in the same way as the Maoris in New Zealand are being anglicized. . In New Zealand Maoris form a small minority, and therefore if they were, not anglicized they would remain for ever a semi-barbarous people living side by side with a British population. This would obviously have been a source of social danger ; indeed, a similar policy has failed conspicuously in the case of the Indians in the United States of America. It would therefore seem that it was wise to attempt to raise the Maoris to the British standard of civilisation, and therefore of necessity to teach them English. Maoris who have been to our schools are consequently bilingual, like the Welsh and some of the Scotch Highlanders. Where the Native race is in a large majority, and likely to remain so, as perhaps with the Cook Islands two courses are open. Either (a) they may be partially anglicized, and the best of them be taught English, which would always in that case be a foreign language as far as the Natives of the islands were concerned; or (b) they may be treated as the Maoris are, and the attempt made to anglicize them entirely. Of course, in either case the process is very gradual. If the policy (6) be adopted, the process takes longer (it has taken fifty or sixty years in New Zealand and is not complete yet); the result is, however, more complete.

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