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end of 1908 was 303, the average attendance being 289. These schools are not Government institutions : they are established by various denominational bodies and maintained by revenues derived from lands held in trust or by funds provided directly for the purpose by the churches interested. There- being no secondary schools specially established by the Government for the higher education of Maori children, a limited number of free places is provided by the Department at the above-named institutions. These free places are open to Maori children attending any school, and the regulations in connection with them have been issued in an amended form during the year. The syllabus of weak for holders of junic free- places or scholarships has been designed to see lire such industrial training as is most desirable in tin- case of Maoris elementary practical agriculture and woodwork for boys, and domestic science (including cooking, laundry-work, housewifery, dressmaking, and health) for girls. Maoris in learning English have already taken one foreign language; to put them, therefore, on an e-cpial looting with European candidates Maori is included among the optional subjects In the Civil Service Junior Examination. For this reason, and also because it is desirable to foster the study of their own language h\ educated Maoris, the Maori language and literature are- included in the syllabus of the- Native secondary schools. With the exception of Te Ante College all tin- secondary schools have for some time past engaged in the work now defined by the syllabus prescribed by the regulations. The various girls' schools have reached a very high stage of efficiency, and the value of the training afforded by all of them is undoubted. The examination results were uniformly most satisfactory: in several cases they were excellent. A uniform dress of a serviceable nature has been adopted in some of the girls' schools during the year, and the making of the dresses forms a part of the instruction in sewing an arrangement which is at once useful and economical. In addition to the- practical instruction which they get in their own schools, the girls of llukarere and St. Joseph's Schools receive training in cookery at the Napier Technical School: while a class in home-nursing and hygiene is conducted by the Wanganui Technical School for the pupils attending Turakina Maori (oils' School. In short, in these institutions the training offered to Maori girls comprises all that experience and wise judgment havedemonstrated as being necessary to give them a sound practical education which shall be to their immediate benefit, and which must ultimately have- a far-reaching effect on the race-. In a similar way the boys' schools. St. Stephen's and Te Ante College, are doing work of an important nature. The former scl 1 offers the means of a good manual training. It has a well equipped workshop, in which the boys are taught woodwork under a capable instructor. Elementary agriculture is also taught in a practical manner. Te Ante College has lor years occupied itself more with classical than with industrial education, and aims at producing candidates lor the public examinations. Recently, howeve-r. a distinct change has been made in t In- school curriculum, and woodwork now forms an important subject at the school, the amount of literary instruction having been in somedegree- curtailed. No one will deny that the Maori boy should have ae-ce-ss to the highest degree of education to which it is possible for him to attain, but few will assert that such education is necessary or even desirable for every one-. In fact, in the- process of getting a few Maori boys through the Matriculation Examination the whole- usefulness of a school may In- considerably impaired. Much has been said in support of giving Maori youths such education as will fit them for the higher walks in life : unfortunately, however, these walks the- great majority an- destined never to tread in our opinion Maori boys and girls would be better occupied in learning something of the dignity of labour. In these days the education of the Maori, as indeed that of the European, should be in tin- direction of fitting him lor his work in life. It would undoubtedly be of greater service to them to know the principles and practice- of a culture, the elements of dairy-farming, wool-classing, and the management of stock, than the- declension of Latin nouns and verbs. From the report of Ihe General Superintendent of Education, Manila. Philippine Islands, we may here' quote the- following : " Training in the English language- and literature supplies the- place in the Philippine system of the classical studies of the- American school programme. The great need of Filipino national life is precisely in the direction of effort to acquire material benefits. Thy graces of the- culture studies may well await later lessons. The crying need now is for a stimulus which environment and racial history have- for centuries denied a stimulus to practical activity. It is with that training which gives the most tangible benefits that our secondary and specialized education purposes to concern itself." The Sherman Institute United States Indian School, with a capacity for 550 students, was founded in California in 1901 to meet the needs of the advancing Indian youth of Southern California. The school is graded with the- city schools, with special attention given to the correlation of the class room work with that of the industrial departments. To quote from the report, "The school ranch is a little training school in itself. On the 110 acres irrigation and general farming as raising grain, alfalfa. and wheat hay, the care of the dairy herd, dairying, and the raising of hogs and poult ry are- thoroughly taught. Vegetable-gardening is emphasized with the result that large quantities of vegetables are supplied to the school proper throughout the yar. Girls receive instruction and training in all that pertains to the duties of ranch-housekeeper, such as caring for the home, cooking, kitchen-gardening, care of poultry on a small scale, care of milk, and butter-making. No department of Sherman is morepopular for its valuable opportunities and instruction than the ranch. As part of the school-plan the outing system is practised each year. Students have no difficulty in securing positions, the girls in the best families of Southern California, and the boys on ranches and in other industrial lines." It seems to us that these principles might well be applied, if not in whole, at least in great part, to our scheme of secondary training for Maoris. Scholarships. In addition to the free places available at the- various boarding-schools previously referred to, the Department makes provision for industrial, nursing, and University scholarships. Industrial scholar ships or apprenticeships are now regarded as senior free places. The original arrangements for appren-

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